What is an internal link, and what should it accomplish?

An internal link connects pages on the same website. An external link goes to another website. Menu links and links within an article can both be internal links, as explained in Yoast's guide to link types.

Start by writing the reader's task above your working notes. Try “choose a suitable service” or “understand delivery before ordering.” Then judge each proposed link against that task.

Keep the search benefit in perspective

Google uses links to discover pages and assess relevance. That gives internal linking a clear role in SEO, which means improving how your site can be found through search. See Google's link best practices.

Do not turn that explanation into a forecast of higher positions. Set a practical first objective: a visitor reading a relevant article should have a clear route to the useful destination. Check that route yourself before looking for changes in search performance.

If you are also organising your page inventory, use the guide to creating an XML sitemap as a separate follow-up task. Keep today's linking exercise focused on connections people can actually follow.

Which pages should you link to first?

Choose important destinations that fit the subject of the referring page. Key products, services and substantial reference guides are sensible candidates. These priorities appear in Ahrefs' internal linking guidance.

Build a small destination map

Create a spreadsheet with the destination, the question it answers and the existing pages that discuss that question. Add a column for the sentence where a link might belong. Leave the cell empty when there is no convincing connection.

Hypothetical example: an independent accountant offers bookkeeping and payroll services. An article about preparing monthly records could link to bookkeeping support. A guide about hiring a first employee could point to payroll help.

For that example, resist linking every paragraph to both services. Read each proposed sentence as a prospective customer. Would you understand why the service is being mentioned at that moment?

• Choose the destination before drafting its link text.
• Read the destination and check that its information is usable.
• Find existing content that introduces the same need.
• Record a specific reason for adding the connection.
• Leave unrelated pages out of this editing pass.

Google recommends that every page you consider important receive a link from another page on your site. Use this as a basic check on your destination list. The recommendation is in its internal linking section.

If several destinations seem interchangeable, pause and assign a clear purpose to each. Decide which page answers the reader's immediate question. Avoid making the visitor choose between vaguely labelled versions of the same next step.

What makes good anchor text for internal links?

Anchor text means the visible words someone clicks. Google recommends descriptive, reasonably concise wording that fits both the current page and the destination. Its anchor text guidance also advises against forcing keywords into links.

Write the destination as a useful phrase

Draft the sentence normally, then select the words that name the additional information. If the sentence needs a long sales pitch to justify the link, reconsider the connection. Keep the reader's question in front of you.

Treat these as examples to adapt. Do not use “delivery areas and times” if the linked page only explains shipping charges. Change the wording or choose a more suitable destination.

For a quick review, read the selected words without the surrounding paragraph. Guess what page will open. Then open it and compare the two.

If you are linking from an article about presenting products, a sentence about preparing photographs could point readers to optimising product images for search. A paragraph about search-result copy could instead point to writing a meta description. Use each connection only where that question actually arises.

Where should links go, and how many should you add?

Place a link where the reader needs the extra information. Ahrefs recommends putting important contextual links in the main content, early where appropriate. A contextual link is simply a link within the surrounding discussion. See its placement recommendations.

Read for the next question

Hypothetical example: a furniture shop publishes a guide to measuring a dining area. After explaining how to consider table size, it could offer a link to suitable table collections. Put delivery details beside the discussion of receiving the furniture, rather than squeezing every destination into the opening paragraph.

Review the draft aloud. When you mention a subject that needs a fuller explanation elsewhere, mark the sentence. After reading the whole page, decide which marked points deserve links.

Google says there is no ideal number of links for every page. Use that guidance instead of setting a compulsory quota. Source: Google's link-count advice.

Ask a colleague to explain the purpose of each proposed link. Remove the ones neither of you can justify. If a short paragraph asks readers to choose between several destinations, rewrite it around the most useful next step.

When reviewing older content, look inside the article as well as at its closing recommendations. Find the sentence that introduces the relevant issue. Add a short explanation if the connection would otherwise feel abrupt.

How can you check that your links work properly?

Check the destination, the wording and the implementation separately. First open the published page and follow the link. Then confirm that the destination matches the promise in the sentence.

Give technical checks a clear owner

Google generally needs an HTML a element with an href address to crawl a link. A clickable element that relies only on a script event is not reliably extractable. Share Google's implementation examples with your developer if the setup is unclear.

• Open each edited page on a phone and a computer.
• Follow each added link to its intended destination.
• Replace incorrect addresses and remove irrelevant connections.
• Check that the link text remains clear in the published sentence.
• Record unresolved problems with the page address and a short description.

For broader access questions, use the guide to writing a robots.txt file as a separate investigation. Ask the technical owner to identify the actual problem before changing settings.

If the work accompanies a website move, include it in your plan for changing domains without losing SEO. Record the intended final destination of each important link.

Start with a spreadsheet and manual review. Before evaluating Ahrefs, Yoast or another tool, write down the task you cannot comfortably complete yourself. Judge the tool against that task, and still review the suggested connections before accepting them.

What should your internal linking routine include?

Make link review part of publishing and updating content. Assign an editor to propose connections and someone to check the published result. On a small site, the same person can do both passes at different times.

1. Before editing: choose a destination and find relevant existing pages.
2. While editing: write useful link text within a complete sentence.
3. After publishing: open the links and record corrections.
4. During the next review: revisit connections affected by new or removed content.

Keep the work log simple: referring page, destination, anchor text, reason and check result. Mark an edit complete only after opening the published link. Separate “added” from “checked” so unfinished work stays visible.

If you later compare search traffic or enquiries, record other changes made during the same period. Avoid crediting every improvement to internal links. First report what you can directly verify: the planned connections exist, the destinations are correct and the wording is clear.