Internal linking means pages on a website linking to each other. Done right for SEO, it means linking to important pages from within content using descriptive, varied anchor text, leaving no page without links, and keeping key pages no more than three clicks from the homepage. Internal links guide both Google and your visitors.
Backlinks come from other sites and you have limited control over them; internal links are entirely yours. This article is not about external links but about the link architecture inside your own site: which page should link to which, from where and with what wording.
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How do internal links help SEO?
Internal links help SEO in three ways: they make it easier for Google to discover pages, they describe each page's topic through anchor text, and they distribute the authority a site has built up to its important pages. A page with many internal links tells Google the site considers it important; a page with none is often ignored.
- —Discovery: Googlebot finds new pages largely by following links; a sitemap helps but does not replace links.
- —Context: an anchor such as «corporate website in Kocaeli» states clearly what the target page is about.
- —Priority: pages linked from the homepage and popular posts get crawled more often and receive a stronger signal.
- —User experience: links that show a relevant next step keep visitors on the site longer.
What is a hub-and-spoke structure?
A hub-and-spoke structure is an internal linking model in which a strong hub page covering a main topic links back and forth with spoke pages that cover its subtopics. Spokes link to the hub and the hub links to the spokes. The structure shows Google the topic is covered in depth and concentrates authority on the revenue-driving hub page.
For example, an SEO service page can be the hub, with blog posts such as «how to write meta titles», «how long SEO takes» and «keyword research» as spokes. Each post links to the service page where the topic fits, and the service page links to a few of the most useful posts. The blog series on the 404 Ajans website follow the same logic, with every post linking to its relevant service page.
How should you choose anchor text?
Anchor text should clearly describe the target page's topic, fit naturally into the sentence and vary across the different links pointing to the same page. Generic text like «click here» provides no context, while using the identical exact-match keyword in every link looks unnatural and can create risk rather than benefit.
- —Descriptive: text that explains the target, such as «yearly website running costs».
- —Varied: linking to the same page from different posts with variations like «our SEO service», «local SEO support» or «SEO for Gebze businesses».
- —Contextual: placing the link next to the paragraph that discusses exactly that topic.
- —Avoid: meaningless text such as «click», «more» or «this post», and using the same anchor for two different pages.
What are orphan pages and click depth?
An orphan page is a page that receives no internal links from anywhere else on the site; click depth is how many clicks it takes to reach a page from the homepage. Orphan pages can only be found via the sitemap and usually rank poorly. Keeping important pages at a click depth of three or less strengthens crawling and importance signals.
Orphan pages are often campaign pages that were removed from the menu, old posts buried deep in blog pagination, or service pages that dropped out of the menu in a redesign. The fix is to link them from related content or, if they are genuinely redundant, 301-redirect them to the relevant page.
What is the difference between contextual links and navigation links?
Contextual links sit inside a paragraph and relate directly to the topic being discussed; navigation and footer links repeat on every page to help people move around. Google follows both, but contextual links carry stronger context thanks to the surrounding text. Navigation links describe site structure, while contextual links describe topical relationships.
Mega menus and footers with hundreds of links add the same links to every page and can dilute the signal. Keep the menu to main services and categories, and link more specific pages from within related content. Breadcrumb links also show users where they are and spell out the hierarchy clearly for Google.
How many internal links should a page have?
Google sets no fixed number of internal links per page; the test is whether each link is useful to the reader. In practice, 3-8 meaningful in-content links are usually enough for a blog post of 1,000-1,500 words. Linking every other phrase dilutes the value of the links and hurts readability.
Why is nofollow on internal links a mistake?
Nofollow on internal links is a mistake because it tells Google not to follow your own page and wastes the signal that would flow to it. This tactic, once known as «PageRank sculpting», stopped working years ago. If you do not want a page indexed, the right tool is a noindex tag on that page, not nofollow on links to it.
- —Screaming Frog or Sitebulb: crawl the whole site and list orphan pages, click depth and nofollowed internal links.
- —Google Search Console, Links report: shows which pages receive the most internal links; if a key page sits near the bottom, something is wrong.
- —Ahrefs Webmaster Tools: free site audits and internal link opportunities for verified site owners.
- —Simple check: for every important page, answer «which pages link here?».