Internal linking is nearly always underestimated
Website owners spend on backlinks yet neglect internal linking - even though internal links are what spread link equity across the domain and help Google discover and properly rank the deeper pages of a website.
Internal linking is the network of links within a website that connects its pages. For Google, internal links serve three purposes: they pass PageRank between pages, help Googlebot find and crawl every URL, and reveal topical relationships between pages.
What anchor text is
Anchor text is the visible part of a link that people click. In the code it sits between the <a> and </a> tags. In a link reading "website SEO audit", for instance, the anchor text is exactly those words. Anchor text helps Google understand what the linked page is about.
Anchors can be exact match (identical to the query), partial match (the query plus other words), branded (the company name) or generic (a bare URL, "here", "read more"). Descriptive anchors work best for internal links - more on that below.
Internal link structure: why it matters
For websites with several language or regional versions (for example, en-GB, en-AU and fr), internal linking has an extra dimension: a sound internal link structure within each version helps Google index every version properly.
How internal links affect SEO in Google
How PageRank flows through a website
PageRank is an algorithmic measure of a URL's authority based on the link graph. Internal links spread PageRank between pages:
pages with strong incoming authority: the home page, the blog home page, categories. They collect the most PageRank from external backlinks.
Passing authority to commercial pages: if authority builds up on the home page while service and product pages receive no internal links from authoritative content, those commercial pages are left short of PageRank.
Strategy for websites: blog articles that attract backlinks as informational resources should link to commercial pages. This passes part of the blog's PageRank to the service pages.
Website crawl architecture
Googlebot crawls a website by following internal links. Pages that have no incoming internal links ("orphan pages") are crawled rarely or not at all:
"orphan" pages: find pages with no incoming internal links using the page indexing report in Google Search Console or Screaming Frog. Such pages often go unindexed not because of their content but because crawlers simply cannot reach them.
click depth: pages one or two clicks from the home page are crawled and indexed more often than pages four or more clicks deep. For blogs with a big archive, make sure articles can be reached through category navigation, not just chronological pagination.
An internal linking strategy for your website
Internal link anchor text
Internal anchor text is one of the most direct on-page SEO signals. In practice:
descriptive anchor text: internal links with descriptive anchors in the page's language ("internal linking for websites", "website SEO audit") give Google far more topical context than bare URLs or "click here".
singular, plural and other word forms: Google understands plurals, verb forms and synonyms. An anchor such as "SEO audits" carries the same meaning as "SEO audit". There is no need to stick rigidly to one exact form.
Varied anchors for a single page: if ten internal links with the same anchor text point to one service page, Google may see keyword stuffing. Mix your anchors: topical variations, descriptive phrases, branded links.
Topic clusters built with internal links
The modern approach to internal linking is the topic cluster:
pillar and cluster pages for Google: choose a "pillar" page on a broad topic (for example, "SEO for small businesses"). Around it, create "cluster" pages on specific subtopics ("technical SEO", "internal links", "backlinks for Google"). Cluster pages link to the pillar and to each other.
Why topic clusters help in Google: topically connected internal links help Google recognise the website as an expert source on a particular subject rather than a collection of unrelated pages.
Internal linking on a multilingual or multi-regional website
For websites with several language or regional versions (for example, en-GB, en-AU and de):
Internal links stay WITHIN each version: pages of one version should link only to pages of the same version. Internal links that jump between language versions confuse Google and send duplicate content signals.
Use hreflang instead of cross-version links: connect the language and regional versions of your website with hreflang tags, not with links between the versions.
Keep anchor text in one language: anchors in each version are written in that version's language. Mixing languages in the anchors of a single version sends Google confused language signals.
Technical aspects of internal links
Joomla/WordPress and internal links
Joomla websites: in Joomla, use SEF (search engine friendly) URLs so that anchors and href attributes contain readable addresses. The Related Articles module in Joomla provides automated internal linking based on article meta keywords.
WordPress websites: plugins such as Link Whisper suggest internal links automatically from your content. Manual editorial links (contextual links within the text) are worth more to Google than automated sidebar or footer links.
JavaScript links and Google
Google crawls links generated with JavaScript (React, Vue, Angular), but with a delay, because JavaScript rendering happens in a second crawl wave. For critical internal links (navigation, links to commercial pages), plain HTML links are a safer choice than JavaScript-generated ones.
Auditing your website's internal links
Tools for an internal linking audit:
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: crawls the website and shows every internal link, orphan pages and link depth. The free version covers up to 500 URLs, the paid one has no limit.
Ahrefs Site Audit: automatically detects orphan pages, internal links to 4xx pages and opportunities to strengthen internal linking. A paid tool.
Google Search Console Links Report: shows how many internal links point to each page. Pages with no incoming internal links need attention first.
Internal linking and GEO: how AI crawlers read a website
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI crawlers move through a website via its links, just like Googlebot. A page that is hard to reach is less likely to become a source for AI answers. A well-connected topic - an article leading to a service, the service leading to prices and FAQs - helps AI see that the website covers the subject thoroughly and can be trusted as a source.
How we build internal links for our clients' pages is explained in detail on the stage page Internal links.
FAQ: internal links for SEO
How many internal links should a page have? There is no hard limit. Google advises keeping the number of links on a page "reasonable" (the old unofficial guideline of about 100 is outdated). For blog articles, 3-7 contextual internal links that fit naturally into the text beat 20 links added mechanically. Every internal link should make editorial sense.
Should internal links to thin content pages be nofollow? No. Using nofollow on internal links to steer PageRank ("PageRank sculpting") does not work. If thin pages should not be crawled, use a robots.txt disallow or a meta robots noindex - not nofollow on internal links.
How does internal linking help new pages get indexed? Linking to new pages from established, authoritative pages on your website is the quickest way to get new URLs crawled and indexed. Googlebot follows internal links on its regular crawls, and a link from a strong page (the home page, popular articles) makes a new page much quicker to discover.
Conclusion: internal linking as an ongoing SEO tool
Internal linking is not a one-off optimisation but an ongoing process. New articles should receive incoming internal links as soon as they are published. Commercial pages should be checked regularly for enough incoming internal links. Orphan pages should be brought into the link structure. Topic clusters need to be kept current with links between clusters. This systematic approach builds a lasting structural SEO advantage for your website in Google.
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