What is an Internal Link?
On-Page SEO
An internal link is a hyperlink that points from one page on your website to another page on the same website. Unlike external links (which point to other sites), internal links keep visitors within your domain.
Every time you link to another blog post, your homepage, or a glossary term on your own site - that's an internal link.
Why internal links matter for SEO
Internal links help search engines understand your site in three ways:
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Discovery: Google finds new pages by following links. If a page has no internal links pointing to it, Google might not find it at all.
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Structure: Links show relationships between content. A page with many links pointing to it signals "this is important." Links from related content signal "these topics connect."
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Authority distribution: Pages that rank well pass some of that authority to pages they link to. Strategic internal linking can help newer or weaker pages perform better.
Why internal links matter for readers
Beyond SEO, internal links improve user experience:
- They help readers find related content they're interested in
- They keep people on your site longer (good for engagement metrics)
- They provide context without you having to explain everything in one post
A reader learning about meta titles might also want to understand meta descriptions. Linking between them is helpful, not salesy.
Internal linking best practices
Use descriptive anchor text
The clickable text should describe what the linked page is about. "Click here" tells readers (and Google) nothing.
Bad: "For more information, click here."
Good: "Before choosing keywords, understand search intent - what people actually want when they search."
Link to relevant content
Only link where it adds value. Forcing links into unrelated content looks spammy and confuses both readers and search engines.
Ask: would a reader actually benefit from visiting this linked page right now?
Don't overdo it
There's no magic number, but cramming 20 links into a 500-word post hurts readability. Every sentence becoming a link is distracting.
A reasonable guideline: 2-5 internal links per 1,000 words, placed where they genuinely help.
Link from high-authority pages
If you have pages that rank well and get traffic, links from those pages are more valuable. They pass more authority to the destination.
Review your top-performing content and add links to newer posts you want to boost.
Make sure they work
Broken internal links frustrate users and waste crawl budget. Periodically audit your site for 404 errors. Tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs can find them.
Internal links vs. external links
Both have their place:
- Internal links keep readers on your site and help SEO within your domain
- External links point to other websites and can add credibility (citing sources, referencing data)
A healthy site has both. Linking out to authoritative sources doesn't hurt you - it shows you've done your research.
How to build an internal linking habit
When writing a new post:
- Identify 2-3 existing posts that relate to your topic
- Link to them naturally within the text
- After publishing, go back to those older posts and add a link to your new one
This two-way linking strengthens the connection between related content. Over time, you'll build clusters of interlinked posts around core topics - exactly what search engines want to see.
Put this knowledge into practice
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