Internal linking is the practice of linking from one page on your website to another page on the same website. Navigation menus, breadcrumbs, related-article blocks and links inside your body copy are all internal links.
It is one of the few SEO levers you fully control. No outreach, no budget, just a better connected site that is easier for people and search engines to understand.
What is internal linking?
An internal link is any hyperlink whose destination is on the same domain as the page it sits on. Internal linking is the deliberate strategy behind those links: deciding which pages link to which, with what wording, so visitors can find related information and search engines can discover and understand your content.
Internal links are different from backlinks, which come from other websites. Backlinks are earned. Internal links are built, and they shape how your site architecture works in practice.
Why internal linking matters
Search engines find pages largely by following links. Google's link best practices say every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site. A page with no internal links pointing to it, often called an orphan page, can be hard for Google to find and may be treated as unimportant.
Internal links also give context. The words you use in a link, and the text around it, help Google understand what the linked page is about. Google's ranking systems guide describes link analysis systems that look at how pages link to each other to work out what pages are about and which might be most helpful.
For AI search, clear internal linking helps in a quieter way. When your pages on a subject are connected into a logical cluster, it is easier for crawlers to reach all of them and easier to show depth on a topic, which supports topical authority.
How internal linking works
Crawlable links
Google can reliably follow links built with an <a> element and an href attribute that points to a real URL. Links that only work through JavaScript click handlers, or that use span elements, may not be followed. If your site relies heavily on JavaScript, check rendered pages with the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console.
Anchor text
The clickable words in a link are its anchor text. Google recommends anchor text that is descriptive, concise and relevant to both pages, and warns against generic phrases like "click here" and against stuffing keywords into links. A simple test is to read the anchor text on its own and see whether it tells you where the link goes.
Link types
Sitewide links in headers and footers help people navigate but say little about any single page. Contextual links inside body copy are usually the most useful for meaning, because they sit next to related text. Breadcrumbs and related-content modules fill the gaps between the two.
Internal linking best practices
- Find and fix orphan pages. Crawl your site with an SEO crawler and compare the results against your XML sitemap. Any important page with no internal links needs at least one from a relevant page.
- Link in context. When you mention a topic you have covered elsewhere, link to it right there, on the first natural mention.
- Write descriptive anchors. Use words that match what the destination page is about, phrased naturally. Vary them rather than repeating the same exact keyword every time.
- Build topic clusters. Connect a main guide to its supporting articles and link the supporting pieces back to the guide and to each other where it helps the reader.
- Point links at pages that matter. Your key service, product or money pages should be linked from relevant, well-visited content, not buried four clicks deep.
- Keep the count reasonable. Google gives no ideal number of links per page, but its guidance suggests that a page with too many links probably has too many.
- Repair broken internal links. Update links when you move or delete pages so they point straight to the final URL rather than through redirect chains or to 404 errors.
- Use Search Console's Links report. It shows your most internally linked pages and which pages link to a given URL. Google notes it is a sample, not a complete list, so pair it with a crawler.
Internal linking in practice
Imagine a home-fitness equipment store with a detailed buying guide for adjustable dumbbells, plus separate articles on home workout plans, storage ideas and dumbbell versus kettlebell comparisons. Before any changes, those articles link only to the homepage and the shop.
After a quick audit, the team links each article to the buying guide using descriptive anchors like "how to choose adjustable dumbbells," links the guide out to the relevant product category, and adds a short related-reading section at the bottom of each post. Nothing new was written, but now the guide is reachable from every related page and the topic hangs together. This is a hypothetical example to show the approach.
Common internal linking mistakes
- Relying only on navigation menus. Menus are necessary but generic. Contextual links carry far more meaning.
- Using "click here" or "learn more." These anchors tell search engines nothing about the destination.
- Over-optimizing anchors. Using the exact same keyword in dozens of links looks forced and reads badly.
- Nofollowing internal links. To control crawling of your own pages, Google points to robots.txt, and to keep pages out of results, a noindex tag. A nofollow attribute on internal links is rarely the right tool.
- Forgetting old content. When you publish something new, go back and link to it from older relevant posts, not just the other way around.
How Butter approaches internal linking
Internal linking is built into our on-page work. On the GEO+SEO plan, unlimited on-page optimization includes adding and improving contextual internal links, and our technical SEO fixes cover broken links and crawl issues that leave pages stranded. When we publish articles for clients, we link them into the existing topic structure so new pages are reachable from day one. GEO plan clients get on-page recommendations, including internal linking suggestions, in their monthly report.
Frequently asked questions
How many internal links should a page have?
There is no magic number. Google says it has no ideal count but that too many links on a page is a warning sign. Link where it genuinely helps the reader, which for a typical article might be a handful of contextual links plus navigation.
Do internal links help SEO?
Yes. They help Google discover pages, understand what those pages are about through anchor text and context, and see how your content fits together. They are one of the simplest improvements you can make without outside help.
What is an orphan page?
An orphan page is a page that no other page on your site links to. Search engines may struggle to find it, and visitors almost never will, so important orphan pages should get at least one relevant internal link.