Internal links are critical for a successful SEO strategy.

One of the most undervalued and ignored strategy, internal linking help navigate users through your digital content and gives search engine crawlers information about how your website works.

Internal links are found on almost every page on the internet. You’re probably already using them, even if you don’t know it. 

If you want to optimize your content for SEO, you need to understand everything about internal linking.

What Is Internal Linking?

Internal links are links from one page to another within a single domain. It is recommended that every website with more than one page should be connected through internal linking.

For instance your website’s home page- In the top navigation, you likely have a menu that links to other internal pages. This could be your About, Shop, and Contact pages.

This internal linking structure is essential for SEO because it establishes a site architecture and improves your link equity.

Having multiple web pages attached to a singular domain improves your chances of being ranked by allowing search engine crawlers to index more content.

Internal linking is a simple issue of site design and architecture, and the search engines expect it. All websites have a design and architecture that keeps them structured logically, like the silo model.

Internal linking also helps the users to improve experience on your site, find what they are looking for and spend more time on your website as links keep driving them deeper to more articles on your website.

Internal Linking Best Practices & Guide

Step #1: Written content on the site

Even if you have a single article, that’s okay. That’s your starting place. If you don’t have any written content but want to create some, check out our 7 Practical Writing Hacks to Boost Your Content.

Step #2: Continually writing new content for the site

Getting into a regular publishing schedule is important for internal linking to be effective.

Step #3: Link to and From Content-Heavy Pages

The best internal links are those that connect one article to another. This creates a strong internal linking structure deep within the site.

If you have good site architecture, you’ll have enough links to the site’s main pages, such as the homepage, About page, Contact page, etc.

Step #4: Create Text Links Using Anchor Text

Your internal links should use anchor text which should include phrases that describe what the target link is about.

Here is an example of strong anchor text:

If you wanted to link to an article about the 5 tips for improving user engagement on website, you could do it this way:

Here are a few important techniques to boost user engagement on website.

Step #5: Add an Appropriate Number of Links Per Page

Don’t under play the internal links and don’t over stuff the internal links on a page. Websites have a “freshness value” that Google detects and uses as part of its ranking algorithm.

According to Moz, search engine crawlers have a limit of 150 links per page. After that, they stop spidering.

Overstuffing your page with links could negatively impact your SEO.

Be sure to link, but don’t overdo it. This will help both the search crawlers and your user experience.

Step #6: Update Old Articles With New Internal Links

You’ll get the most power from internal linking if you combine it with another SEO technique as explained by Neil Patel —updating old content.

When you update old content, Google’s crawler sees it again, indexes it again, and may increase its ranking in the SERPs.

We recommend updating your old articles regularly. Here is a good process to follow on your old blog articles:

• Add a new paragraph of content at the beginning, explaining your updates.
• Add several new paragraphs throughout, adding additional or updated information.
• Remove or replace outdated stats or information.
• Add several new internal links to content you’ve recently created.
• Add links in places where it’s logical and value-added.

Remember, internal linking isn’t only about linking new content to older content. It’s also about circling back to older content and creating internal links that connect to your newer work.

So have you used internal links on your website pages?