Internal linking means linking from one page on your site to another page on the same site. It is the cheapest SEO work available because you control every link: it tells Googlebot which pages exist, tells readers where to go next, and shows by anchor text what each target page is about.
What is an internal link?
It is a normal HTML link where the destination is on your own domain:
<a href="/pricing/">see our pricing plans</a>The visible words are the anchor text. Menus, footers, breadcrumbs, related-post boxes and links inside body text are all internal links. Links in body text carry the most context, because the sentence around them explains the target.
Why does internal linking matter for SEO?
- Discovery. Google finds most pages by following links. Google’s link guide says every page you care about should be linked from at least one other page on your site. A page with no incoming internal links is an orphan page, and Google may never find it unless it is in your XML sitemap.
- Meaning. Google’s SEO Starter Guide says anchor text tells users and Google something about the page you link to.
- Reach. A new page linked from a popular page gets crawled sooner, and readers who land on one page see the next step.
- Structure. Links reveal which pages are your main ones. Topic clusters use this: every supporting page links back to one main guide.
Google gives no ideal number of links per page. Its advice is plain: if you think it’s too many, it probably is.
What links can Google actually follow?
Google’s documentation says it generally crawls only <a> elements with an href attribute.
| Link type | Google follows it? |
|---|---|
<a href="/page/">text</a> |
Yes |
<a href="/page/"> added by JavaScript |
Yes, if the final markup is the same |
<span onclick="go('/page/')"> |
Not reliably |
<a href="javascript:go('/page/')"> |
Not recommended |
Image link with alt text |
Yes, and the alt text acts as anchor text |
<a href="/page/"></a> with no text |
Empty anchor, a wasted link |
If your menu or “load more” runs on JavaScript, test it with the URL Inspection tool, and see JavaScript SEO.
How do you build internal links, step by step?
- List your money pages. Pick the 10 to 20 pages that earn leads or sales, plus your best guides. They are the targets.
- Find your strongest pages. In Google Search Console, sort the Performance report by clicks, and use the Links report to see which pages have the most internal and external links.
- Link from strong to important. Add a sentence-level link from a page that already ranks to a page you want to lift.
- Write descriptive anchors. Google says to use concise text that makes sense out of context. Write “our pricing plans”, not “click here” or “read more”. Vary the wording naturally and never stuff keywords.
- Fix orphan pages. Crawl the site, compare the crawl to your sitemap and analytics, and link every page that has no incoming links.
- Link new content on day one. Add links to each new post from two or three related older posts, and link back from the new post.
- Put the main pages in the navigation. Menus and footers give every page a path to your main sections (see site navigation and breadcrumbs).
- Repair broken and redirected links. Update links so they point to the final URL (see broken links).
A good habit: every time you publish, search your own site for the topic (site:yourdomain.com "topic") and link from each page that mentions it.
How do you measure the result?
- Crawl numbers: the crawler’s inlinks column shows how many internal links each page gets. Target: no important page with zero.
- Search Console Links report: lists your most-linked internal pages. Compare it to your priority list.
- Indexing: check that pages you fixed move from “Discovered, currently not indexed” to indexed (see the page indexing report).
- Rankings and clicks: watch the target pages’ impressions and clicks over four to eight weeks.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Generic anchors like “here”, “this article” or “learn more”. Google says to avoid them.
- Orphan pages that only the sitemap mentions.
- Mass links in one place. Dozens of links side by side in a paragraph dilute each one. Google advises giving links surrounding context.
- Links that exist only in JavaScript click handlers.
nofollowon your own pages. Usenofollowfor untrusted outside links andugcorsponsoredwhere they apply, not on pages you want found.- The same exact anchor everywhere. It looks forced to readers.
- Linking to redirecting or broken URLs. Every hop wastes crawl effort and slows readers.
Where can you learn more?
The free digital marketing module of the Fe/male Switch startup school walks a new startup site through its first on-page and linking steps. Next steps on SEO100: check your site navigation, then plan your pages in topic clusters so links have a clear pattern.