What are internal links?

Internal links are links on your own website that redirect visitors and search engines to another page within the same domain. For example, a link from your home page to your services page, or from a blog to a relevant case study.

For users, internal links are useful for easy navigation through your site. For Google, they are essential to understand how your website is structured and which pages are important.

Why are internal links important for SEO?

Internal links are one of the most underrated SEO factors. While many entrepreneurs mainly look at external links (backlinks), they forget that the internal structure is just as important.

The benefits of strong internal links are:

• Better indexation: Google crawls your site more efficiently and finds new pages faster.
• More authority: you can pass link value (link equity) to important pages.
• Higher rankings: well-connected pages have a better chance of ranking in Google.
• Better user experience: visitors find what they're looking for faster, so they stay longer.

Examples of internal linking strategies

As an SEO specialist, I always use internal link building strategically. A few examples:

• Cornerstone content: important, comprehensive pages that you often link to internally (for example, your main services).
• Contextual links: relevant links in the text itself, such as in a blog article to a product page.
• Breadcrumbs: a navigation structure that helps users and search engines understand where they are.
• Preventing orphan pages: pages that don't link to anything or have no inbound links.

Common mistakes with internal links

1. Too many links on one page → Google values quality over quantity.
2. Always use the same anchor text → vary for a natural link profile.
3. Forget important pages → for example, your most important service pages.
4. No hierarchy → Making all pages equally important is counterproductive.

My advice as an SEO specialist

Internal links are a powerful, free SEO tool that hardly anyone uses enough. By smart internal linking, you can control your website's authority, retain visitors longer, and help your most important pages reach the top of Google.

That's why I include internal link analysis as standard in every SEO audit. This often provides visible improvements quickly without having to write new content.