Internal linking is the practice of linking your own pages to each other. It costs nothing, needs nobody else's permission, and most sites do almost none of it deliberately.
That makes it the cheapest improvement available to a site that already has content.
What internal linking actually does
It does three separate jobs, and they are worth telling apart.
First, it helps a reader carry on. Somebody who finishes a page and finds a relevant next step stays; somebody who finishes and finds nothing leaves. Second, it helps a search engine discover pages, because crawlers follow links and nothing ever reaches a page that nobody points at. Third, it distributes authority. A search engine treats a page with many links pointing at it, from inside and outside, as more important than one with none.
The third job is the one people focus on and the first is the one that pays fastest.
Find the pages nothing links to
An orphan page is one that no other page on your site links to. It can still be in the sitemap and it can still be indexed, yet it sits alone with no support and nothing sending readers to it.
Most sites have more of these than anybody expects, usually the pages built for a campaign, or older articles that dropped off the blog index. Finding them is the first internal linking job, and a crawler tool does it in minutes. Alternatively, list your important pages and check by hand which ones you can reach from the home page in three clicks.
Write link text that means something
The visible words of a link tell both a reader and a search engine what to expect on the other side. "Read more" tells neither of them anything.
So describe the destination. A link reading "how we price local SEO work" is better than one reading "here". It sets expectations, it helps somebody decide whether to follow it, and it gives a search engine a clear signal about the target page.
Vary the wording naturally. Using the identical phrase for every link to a page reads oddly and looks manufactured, whereas real writing produces variety without trying.
The hub and spoke structure
The most reliable internal linking shape is a hub with spokes. One broad guide covers a subject. Several detailed articles each go deep on one part of it. The guide links down to every article, and every article links back up to the guide.
This works for two reasons. It matches how somebody actually reads, moving from an overview into the part they care about. It also concentrates the signal: the guide accumulates authority from every article beneath it, and each article inherits context from the guide above it.
You are reading one now. This article is a spoke, and the overview of search engine optimization is the hub it points back to.
Where to put an internal linking link
Inside the body text, where somebody reading is most likely to follow them. A link buried in a footer that appears on every page carries far less weight than one placed in a sentence that gives a reason to click.
Related post lists at the bottom are fine, and they carry less weight than an in text link, because readers rarely reach them and a template usually picks them rather than a person.
How many internal links per page
There is no correct number, and chasing one misses the point. A useful rule is that every link should exist because a reader might genuinely want it, and no link should exist to hit a quota.
In practice a thorough article naturally carries a handful. A page with forty internal links in the body is usually padding, and each link then counts for less because it divides the reader's attention.
Internal linking mistakes worth avoiding
- Linking to the same page from every article using identical wording.
- Leaving important pages three or four clicks from the home page.
- Linking only from new pages, so older content never gets refreshed support.
- Using "click here", which wastes the most useful signal you have.
- Pointing links at an address that redirects, which works but adds a step for no reason.
Links from a page nobody visits
One nuance is worth knowing. A link from a page with no traffic and no authority passes very little, so adding fifty links from an empty archive page achieves almost nothing. The links that matter come from pages people actually reach.
That is a reason to link from your strongest pages rather than only from new ones. Your busiest guide, your most linked article and your home page all carry weight worth spending, and spending it on the pages you want to grow is exactly what internal linking is for.
A routine that takes an hour a month
Open the last few pages you published. For each, ask which older page a reader might want next, and add that link in the body. Then ask which older pages should point at this new one, and add those too.
That is it. Done monthly, internal linking quietly turns a pile of pages into a structure, and the effect compounds because every new article strengthens the ones already there.
Frequently asked questions
What is internal linking?
It is linking your own pages to each other from within your content. It helps readers continue, helps search engines discover pages, and passes authority between them. Unlike links from other websites it costs nothing and needs nobody else to agree.
Does internal linking help rankings?
Yes. Links pass authority between pages, so a page supported by several relevant internal links is treated as more important than one nothing points at. It also gets that page discovered and crawled, which has to happen before ranking is even possible.
What is an orphan page?
A page that no other page on your site links to. It can still sit in the sitemap and still be indexed, yet nothing sends readers or crawlers to it. Most sites have more than anybody expects, usually campaign pages and older articles that fell off an index.
What link text should I use?
Words that describe the destination, so both the reader and the search engine know what to expect. A link reading "how local SEO pricing works" is far more useful than one reading "click here", which wastes the clearest signal you control.
How many internal links should a page have?
No fixed number. Every link should exist because a reader might genuinely want it, and none should exist to hit a quota. A thorough article naturally carries a handful; forty in one body is usually padding, and each one is then worth less.
What is a hub and spoke structure?
One broad guide covering a subject, with several detailed articles each going deep on one part of it. The guide links down to every article and each article links back up. It matches how people read and it concentrates the topical signal on the guide.
Where should internal links go on the page?
In the body text, inside a sentence that gives a reason to follow them. Related post lists at the bottom are fine but weaker, because readers rarely reach them and they are usually generated automatically rather than chosen for that article.
How often should I review internal linking?
An hour a month is plenty for most sites. Look at the pages you published recently, add links from them to older relevant pages, and add links from older pages to the new ones. The effect compounds, because each new article strengthens what came before.