If you’re managing a website, working in SEO, or handling marketing, you probably already know that links are a big deal for search engines. But here’s the thing—most people focus solely on backlinks (links from other websites to yours). And while those are super important, internal links are just as critical for your website’s success. They’re the key to spreading authority, also called “link juice,” throughout your site, which can make a real difference in how well your pages rank.
Without backlinks, search engines like Google or Bing might not trust your site. But even if you have a ton of great backlinks, without internal links, that authority won’t get passed around to the other pages on your site. So, if you’re looking to boost SEO, focusing on internal linking is crucial.
What’s an Internal Linking Strategy?
Think of an internal linking strategy as your game plan for connecting different pages on your site. These links help guide both visitors and search engines through your content, making it easier to explore, understand, and ultimately rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s also a way to show your expertise and trustworthiness by creating a well-organized and valuable experience for your users.
But more than just linking any random pages together, it’s about being strategic. You want to connect pages that naturally fit together, ensuring that both Googlebot and your visitors have a smooth experience navigating your website. When your internal links are well-thought-out, they become a tool to enhance crawlability and indexation, boosting your site’s overall performance.
Why Internal Linking Matters
Internal links are about much more than just connecting pages. They play a crucial role in shaping your site’s structure, directing traffic flow, and signaling page importance to search engines. Essentially, they allow you to spread the authority gained from external backlinks across your entire website, boosting your overall SEO performance.
3 Key Benefits of Internal Linking:
- Smoother website navigation: Internal links create an easy-to-follow path for users, guiding them through related content. This improves the user experience (UX), making it simpler for visitors to find the information they’re looking for.
- Stronger website structure: Links help build a hierarchy of your pages, making it clear to search engines how your site is organized. This is critical for crawlability and helps Google understand what pages are most important. Internal links act like road signs for crawlers, showing them the paths through your content.
- Distribute link equity: When a page on your site has external links pointing to it, the authority or “link juice” from those links can be passed on to other pages through internal linking. This means that even pages without their own backlinks can benefit from the authority of others, helping them rank higher.
Internal links do a lot more than just boost SEO. They keep visitors engaged, reduce your bounce rate, and increase the time users spend on your website by helping them find valuable content. Plus, by making your site easier to crawl, you make it more appealing to search engines.
Extra Benefits You’ll See:
- Lower bounce rates: Internal links keep users exploring different parts of your website, reducing the chances they’ll leave after viewing just one page.
- Improved crawlability: Internal links make it easier for search engines to crawl your entire site, ensuring more pages get indexed and ranked.
- Stronger keyword relevance: Linking to pages with relevant content helps reinforce the importance of specific keywords, helping your pages rank higher for those terms.
- Better user experience: By guiding users through related content and helping them discover useful information, you can keep them on your site longer and increase conversions.
Internal vs. External Links: What’s the Difference?
It’s helpful to understand the difference between internal links (which connect pages on your own site) and external links (which point to other websites).
Here’s a quick breakdown:
| Internal Links | External Links |
|---|---|
| Links between pages on your own site | Links from your site to another domain |
| Improve site navigation for users and crawlers | Help build credibility by linking to trusted sources |
| Pass authority (link juice) within your site | Help show your content is backed by authoritative sources |
| Limited by the number of pages on your site | Virtually unlimited; can link to many reputable sources |
Both types of links are vital for a well-rounded SEO strategy. External links help build your website’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), especially when you link to authoritative sites. Internal links help consolidate that credibility across your pages, allowing search engines to better understand the relationships between the content on your site.
Are Internal Links the Same as Backlinks?
Here’s where it can get confusing. No, internal links aren’t the same as backlinks. Backlinks are when another website links to your site, and they’re one of the most valuable factors in off-page SEO because they act as “votes” of credibility from other domains.
Internal links, on the other hand, are part of your on-page SEO. While backlinks help you build authority from the outside, internal links help pass that authority around within your site, giving more visibility to pages that might not get as much attention otherwise.
Backlinks are critical to SEO success because they signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable. However, internal links ensure that once you’ve gained that trust through backlinks, it gets spread effectively throughout your entire site.
How to Build an Effective Internal Linking Strategy
Now that you know the basics, let’s talk about how to build a strong internal linking strategy that improves both SEO and user experience.
1. Identify or Create Pillar Pages
Pillar pages are the backbone of your content. They cover broad, high-level topics and serve as central hubs for related content (known as topic clusters). For example, if you have a pillar page on “SEO Basics,” you might create cluster pages that dive into more specific topics like “On-Page SEO” or “How Google’s Crawlers Work.”
When developing pillar pages, it’s crucial to target high-volume keywords that your audience is actively searching for. These pages are typically long-form content that covers a subject in detail, which gives them the potential to rank well for broader search terms.
Pro Tip: Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to identify the best keywords for your pillar pages, and always ensure your pillar content addresses user intent.
2. Build Topic Clusters Around Pillar Pages
Topic clusters are groups of related content that link back to the main pillar page. They provide more detailed information on specific aspects of the broader topic. This helps both users and search engines understand the hierarchy of your content.
For example, a pillar page on “Content Marketing” could link to clusters like “Best Practices for Blog Writing” or “How to Promote Your Content on Social Media.” You could even have secondary clusters or supporting pages that dive deeper into individual strategies, creating an intricate web of interrelated content.
The idea is to build a content silo that makes it easy for search engines to crawl and index your pages while reinforcing the E-E-A-T signals that are vital for SEO success.
3. Choose the Right Anchor Text
Your anchor text is the clickable part of a hyperlink, and it’s important to choose text that’s clear and descriptive. Instead of using “click here,” make sure the anchor text tells users (and search engines) exactly what the linked page is about.
For example, instead of “click here,” try “read more about on-page SEO.”
Using relevant anchor text helps Google understand the relationship between your pages, which can boost your rankings for those keywords.
4. Use High-Authority Pages to Pass Link Juice
If you’ve got certain pages on your site with a lot of backlinks and high authority, use them to pass that authority (or link juice) to less popular pages by linking them together. This can help improve the rankings of your lower-performing content, making your overall site more robust.
Pinpoint these high-authority pages using SEO tools like Moz, which assigns Page Authority (PA) and Domain Authority (DA) scores, so you know which pages will pass the most equity through internal links.
Internal Linking Best Practices: Do’s and Don’ts
Even with a solid strategy, there are a few best practices to follow to get the most out of your internal links.
Do Link to Content-Heavy Pages
It’s tempting to link to your homepage or contact page, but that won’t give you much SEO value. Focus instead on content-heavy pages like blog posts, product descriptions, or detailed guides—pages that offer real value to your visitors.
Do Use Descriptive Anchor Text
Make sure your anchor text clearly tells users what they’ll find when they click. For example, “Learn about technical SEO audits” is far more helpful than “click here.”
Don’t Overload Pages with Links
Including too many links can confuse users and dilute the effectiveness of each one. Google once recommended keeping links per page below 100, but now the focus is more on quality and relevance. A good rule of thumb is to aim for 3-5 internal links per 1,000 words of content, ensuring each one is relevant and helpful.
Don’t Forget to Update Old Content
Updating old content is one of the quickest ways to boost SEO performance. Add new internal links to fresh content and check for broken links that could negatively affect your user experience and rankings.
How Internal Links and Keywords Work Together
When placing internal links, consider how your target keywords fit into the overall context. It’s not just about sprinkling keywords everywhere—it’s about making sure the anchor text and the linked content make sense together.
For instance, if your pillar page is about SEO, you’ll want to link to cluster pages that focus on relevant subtopics like keyword research, link-building strategies, or Google’s latest algorithm updates. This not only enhances user experience but also helps boost semantic relevance, which is a key component of semantic SEO.
Semantic SEO and Internal Linking
Semantic SEO is all about optimizing your site to match the intent behind a user’s query, not just the literal match of the keywords they type into Google. It’s about creating meaningful content that search engines understand deeply, based on the relationships between the words and topics on your pages.
Internal linking plays a big part in semantic SEO. When you link related pages together using clear, descriptive anchor text, you’re creating a semantic network within your site. This network helps search engines understand the context and relevance of each page, and how each piece of content fits into the broader theme of your site.
For example, if you’re writing about “Healthy Diet Plans,” and you link to a page on “The Benefits of Organic Foods,” you’re creating a meaningful relationship between these two topics. This helps search engines see that you have a deeper level of authority on nutrition, and it allows Google to better rank your site for related queries.
Tips for Leveraging Internal Linking for Semantic SEO:
- Use internal links to connect closely related topics, reinforcing your overall content theme.
- Incorporate LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing) naturally throughout your anchor text and content to provide a richer context for search engines.
- Make sure that each linked page adds unique value to the topic, helping users and search engines see the full picture of what you offer.
By linking related content in a strategic way, you help Google understand the depth of your content and the relationships between different pages, which ultimately helps you rank better for a wider range of keywords.
