What is an Internal Link?
An internal link is any hyperlink leading to a page or resource on the same website. Internal links establish the website’s hierarchy and help users and search engine crawlers navigate and discover new pages.
For example, think of your website navigation. You have links to different pages on your site, like About Us, Shop, Blog, etc. These links are referred to as internal links since they connect two pages on the same domain.
Why are Internal Links Important?
Navigation
Internal links allow users to navigate from one page to another within the same website. Imagine how difficult it would be for users to explore different pages on your website without a menu or text links.
Search Engine Crawling
Search engine crawlers, such as Googlebot, use internal links to discover new pages on websites. However, there are other sources for discovery. Google uses sitelinks and external incoming links for that too. So a web page with no internal links (known as an orphan page) can be indexed and even rank well. However, internal links signal the page’s importance to Google, which can influence page rankings and recrawl frequency.
Passing PageRank
Apart from helping users and crawlers navigate the website, internal links also pass PageRank (link equity) from one page to another. When Page A links to Page B, some PageRank gets passed to Page B, thus helping it rank higher on Search Engine Result Pages (SERP). That is why internal links should not be neglected in your overall SEO strategy.
For example, if you add a link to your new blog post from the home page of your blog, you’ll not only help users and crawlers find the post faster, but you will also pass some PageRank from a page with high authority to this newly created page. This can help boost its search engine rankings.
Influencing Sitelinks
Internal links help influence sitelinks on SERPs. Have you seen the search results like this for a particular website?
Because Google understands your website pages better with the help of internal links, it can generate this SERP feature. This helps your site get more visibility and generate additional clicks on SERPs.
Best Practices for Internal Linking
1. Use Descriptive Anchor Texts
Google uses the anchor text as a context signal to better understand the page you’re linking to. So using anchor texts like “top 10 cafes in NYC” will provide Google with more context about the page than some generic anchor text like “click here.”
Anchor texts also have a significant impact on user experience. When users read content and come across a link, a descriptive anchor text will help them identify the context of the referenced page.
2. Don’t Rely on Navigation Links Alone
Internal links can be classified into two categories: structural links and contextual links. Structural links include your website navigation, footer, headers, and sitemaps. These links generally remain consistent across all website pages (also known as sitewide links).
Contextual links are links within a paragraph that contains similar ideas or trends. For instance, you have a post about the “10 best cafes in NYC.” You recently posted another article on “Things to do in NYC” with a paragraph that talks about the different cafes in the city. That paragraph is a perfect place to put a contextual link to the “10 best cafes” article.
Although structural links will help users and crawlers navigate the site, contextual links are usually more relevant and contribute to Google’s understanding of the linked page.
3. Be Mild in Using Internal Links
In layman’s terms, the more outgoing links a page has, the less “link juice” each linked page gets. Keep this in mind if you want to use internal links to boost the PageRank scores of some particular pages.
Besides, a “wall” of links is barely something your visitors want to see on your pages.
4. Audit Your Internal Links Regularly
It’s a good practice to audit your internal links regularly.
It will help you uncover if your website has any issues related to internal links, such as:
- Broken links
- Excessive links to redirecting URLs
- Nofollow internal links
You will also be able to identify the orphan pages on your website that may be missing the potential from internal links.
5. Look for More Internal Link Opportunities
Finding internal link opportunities for your new and existing content must be a part of your overall SEO strategy.
The easiest way to identify them is to make a “site:” search on Google with your target keyword. This will return all pages on your site that Google finds relevant to this topic, even if those pages don’t mention the keyword itself.
We got a list of relevant pages from which we could link to our article about gated content.
This method, however, is time-consuming.
The Internal Link Opportunities Report in the free Webmaster Tools and Site Audit will give you internal link suggestions on autopilot.
FAQs
What’s the Difference Between Internal and External Links?
Internal links are hyperlinks that point to another page on the same website, whereas external links point to a page on a different website.
How Many Internal Links Should a Page Have?
There is no fixed number of internal links that a page should have. It depends on the length and structure of your content. However, it's essential to ensure that the links are relevant and add value to the user.
Can Internal Links Impact SEO?
Yes, internal links can significantly impact SEO by improving site navigation, helping with indexing, passing PageRank, and signaling the importance of pages to search engines.
