Internal Linking: The Unsung SEO Strategy To Transform Your Site

Smooth Linking and Transition Between Webpages Enhances User Experience

When people talk about SEO in conversations,  the focus is usually on backlinks, keywords, and quality content. While all matter, internal linking is the often-overlooked powerhouse working quietly in the background, holding your entire strategy together.

Internal linking is a strategic, structure-defining tool that connects your webpages and shapes how users interact with your site and how search engines understand it.

Implemented correctly, internal linking strengthens your content architecture, enhances user experience, improves discoverability, and directly contributes to better Google rankings.

This guide is aimed at outlining why internal linking is the unsung hero of SEO and how to utilise it effectively for your business. 

Internal Linking Defined

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page on your website to another page on the same domain. Unlike external links, which point visitors away to different sites, internal links keep the user within your domain.

These links serve both humans and search engines:

• For users: Internal links help them navigate your site, find related content, and explore deeper.

• For search engines: Internal links help crawlers discover pages, understand your site’s structure, and assess content relevance and authority.

Internal Links have Three Core Functions: 

(1) Navigation - helps users move seamlessly across your site.

(2) Hierarchy – signals which pages are most important through link frequency and placement.

(3) Authority Flow – distribute link equity (commonly known as “link juice”) from strong pages to others.

How this work would be, for instance, if you ran a coaching business and had a popular blog post titled “How to Stop Overthinking” and a high-converting page titled “Book a Free Clarity Call.” If you linked the blog to the call-booking page with relevant anchor text, you'd be guiding readers to take action while telling Google that this service page matters.

Internal Linking and Google Ranking

So why is Internal Linking good for your Google ranking?

You can publish the most brilliant, SEO-optimised content, but if it’s buried deep in your site without proper internal links, Google may struggle to find or rank it.

Search engines use both external and internal links to discover content. Internal linking acts like a roadmap, helping Google bots and human visitors to move through your website logically and efficiently.

Internal linking delivers a variety of benefits to your website:

• Improved Crawlability and Indexing - internal links ensure crawlers can find and understand all your valuable content.

• Better Keyword Association - using keyword-rich anchor text to link pages reinforces what these pages are about, which improves keyword rankings for both source and destination pages.

• Link Equity Distribution - high-authority pages (like your homepage or top-performing blogs) pass on their authority to other pages to help or low-traffic pages gain visibility.

Link equity is like water flowing through a system of pipes. If one page has a high volume of equity due to getting backlinks or ranking well, it can share this wealth by linking internally to other pages. This gives newer or lower-traffic pages a chance to rise in search rankings. 

The more strategically you distribute this authority, the stronger your entire website becomes, which is why internal linking is an equity-building move that pays off over time.

Reduced Bounce Rates and Improved Conversion Pathways

Internal links give visitors reasons to stay longer and explore more. This increases time on your website and decreases bounce rate, which are both behavioural metrics Google considers.

Conversion pathways can be improvised by you using links to funnel users from educational content to conversion-focused pages like contact forms, lead magnets, or service pages.

Every internal link is an opportunity to guide your user and signal importance to Google, making them a powerful dual-purpose asset for your business.

Internal Link Types 

Navigational Links appear in menus, headers, sidebars, and footers. They help users find foundational content like your “About”, “Services”, or “Contact” pages.

Contextual Links are placed inside the body of blog posts, articles, or landing pages. These help readers to explore related topics within your site and assist Google in understanding page context.

Footer Links typically link to legal pages, FAQs, or lesser-used resources. Whilst these pages have less SEO value, they are useful for usability and structure for website visitors.

Breadcrumb Links display the user’s location within the site hierarchy, which can contribute towards providing improved user experience and crawlability.

Finally, Category and Tag Links are commonly associated with blogs and eCommerce sites. They are useful for grouping similar content and aiding internal discovery.

Whilst all these links play their own integrated part in your whole SEO strategy, contextual links carry the most SEO value and user engagement potential. Prioritise these over the others if you’re pressed for time, as they enhance user experience by linking related topics and keep them on your website. 

Internal Linking Boosts SEO 

Here’s how internal links boost SEO in the real world:

• Google Discovers More Pages -  Googlebot follows your links as if they were a trail. If your blog post links to a new service page, then that service page is more likely to get indexed and ranked.

• Keyword Strategy Gets Reinforced - By linking pages with relevant anchor text (e.g., “branding for coaches”), you will help Google connect that phrase with the linked content.

• Site Architecture Becomes Clear - Frequent internal links to a few key pages tell Google these pages are important, which helps to establish a hierarchy that informs crawling and ranking decisions.

• Topical Authority Grows - Linking related content together creates a network around a core topic. This signals depth and expertise to Google for it to assess the significance of the content against its E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) framework.

Internal linking also supports the entire customer journey from the Awareness Stage, where users find a blog post via search, through the Consideration Stage, where the post links to a detailed guide or case study and finally the Decision Stage, where the guide links to your booking form or service page.

Here’s an example illustrating how your customer journey could flow: 

Blog: “Signs You’re Ready for a Business Coach” → Service page: “1:1 Coaching Package” FAQ: “How Long Does Transformation Take?” → Lead magnet: “Free Transformation Roadmap Checklist”

Essentially linking these stages together will walk visitors through the funnel naturally and effectively.

Relatable and Logical Internal Linking Improves Crawlability

Internal Linking Best Practices

Getting the most from internal links requires you to be intentional and focused:

A. Use Descriptive Anchor Text - your anchor text should tell both users and search engines what the linked page is about. E.g., Weak: “Click here” /  Strong: “Download the SEO strategy checklist”

B. Link to Relevant Pages Only - never force a link just to hit a quota. Each internal link should offer additional value and context to the reader. It will impact your crawability.

C. Prioritise High-Value Content - your cornerstone or pillar pages deserve the most links, and these must be the pages you want to rank highest.

D. Keep Link Count Reasonable -  aim for quality over quantity. A recommended 3-10 relevant links (depending on page length) per page is a good benchmark.

E. Regularly Audit and Update Links - broken or outdated links are the scourge for user experience, and they hurt your SEO. Run internal audits at least quarterly to keep on top of this.

It is recommended to consider keeping a spreadsheet or using project management tools to track where your internal links exist. This will help to avoid repetition, identify which pages are under-linked, and coordinate updates across your team if multiple people are creating content. 

In the long run, this documentation will save you time in making your internal linking strategy operate efficiently and align with scaling your business.

Anchor Text Optimisation Tips

Anchor text should be clear, concise, and relevant to the linked page whilst at the same time sounding natural to a human reader.

Here are some effective Anchor Text examples:

• “brand strategy tips for solopreneurs”

• “Coaching package for new managers”

• “on-page SEO guide”

There are different text patterns that you can use for Anchor text:

1. Exact match: “SEO coaching”

2. Partial match: “custom SEO coaching plans”

3. Branded: “Senet’s coaching framework

4. Generic (use sparingly): “learn more,” “this guide”

   
   

Anchor text may seem small, but it can drastically affect your rankings.

Clear, descriptive links help users to better understand where a link leads to, reducing bounce rate and improving the experience for everyone who visits your site.

Tools That Can Save You Time in Optimising Internal Linking

Leaving internal linking to chance is a risk not worth taking. The following tools can save time and deliver data-driven insights:

• Google Search Console - checks internal links per page and spots under-linked content

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider - performs a site crawl and can find orphan pages

• SEMrush - analyses anchor text ratios and visualises link architecture

Internal Linking for Service Providers

If you provide professional services that include coaching, consulting, web design, etc., internal links can help connect your content to your offers in a natural, trust-building way.

Examples:

• Problem-Solution - Blog: “Why Your Website Isn’t Converting” → Page: “Conversion Optimisation Services”

• Education to Action - Guide: “What Is SEO?” → Page: “SEO for Coaches – Service Page”

• Testimonials and Proof - Case Study: “How We Helped a Therapist Triple Clients” → Page: “Book a Free Call”

Using internal linking to create intuitive next steps will mean that you don’t leave users wondering where to go next. This improves user experience for your visitors and crawlability for search engines.

Building a Scalable Internal Linking Strategy

A scalable internal linking strategy grows with your content, ensuring every new page connects logically to your core offers. It boosts SEO by distributing authority, improving crawlability, and reinforcing site structure.

This ongoing system can be broken down into a 5-step process to help users navigate smoothly while guiding Google toward your most valuable, high-converting content.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Structure

• Find orphan pages and broken links

• View internal link counts

• Analyse link flow and anchor text usage

Step 2: Identify Cornerstone Pages

• Identify 5–10 webpages that you want to rank most

• Make sure they consist of: 

  • service pages

  • blog guides

  • conversion-focused landing pages

Step 3: Build Supporting Content

• Create blog posts or resources that naturally link to your cornerstone content.

• Example: “How to Prepare for a Coaching Session” → “Book a Free Intro Call”

Step 4: Add Internal Links Strategically

• From new to old content and vice versa. 

• Use keyword-rich anchors

• Test usability

Step 5: Repeat Monthly

• Schedule internal linking as part of your content process

• Identify every new page as a chance to build smarter connections

• Review all internal links at least monthly

Common Internal Linking Mistakes

Avoid these missteps to prevent your SEO strategy from getting tripped up:

1. Over-Optimised Anchors - avoid using the same keyword over and over again (e.g., “life coach for women”) as this will look unnatural and spammy. Use variations to prevent this (e.g, “coaching for burnout,” and “support for women leaders,” etc.)

2. Orphan Pages - these are pages with no incoming internal links, which makes them virtually invisible to Google and users. To resolve this, every important page should be linked from at least one other page (preferably more).

3. Linking Unrelated Pages - Do not attempt to link unrelated pages to prevent them from being “orphaned ones”. For instance, linking a blog about wellness to a page about branding services because it's available will confuse your topical relevance (and crawlability!). Make sure you stay within topic clusters that flow logically.

4. Poor Mobile Experience - internal links that are too close together or hard to tap on will frustrate your mobile users. The use of padding and self-testing your pages on your mobile regularly will ensure user experience is not compromised.

Final Thoughts

Internal linking is essential.

It may not be glamorous, but it’s a foundational SEO tactic that multiplies the value of everything else you do.

Without it your best content can remain hidden, your site structure may feel disjointed, and your conversion paths will be less efficient. With it your pages get discovered and indexed faster, Google better understands your site’s focus, and visitors stay longer, engage more, and convert at higher rates

The next time you publish a new blog or update a service page, I recommend that you ask yourself these two questions:

• Where should this link to?

• Where should this be linked from?

This is because every internal link you add is a strategic bridge between ideas, pages, brand and your future customers.

Internal linking is silent engine room working behind the scenes to support your entire strategy.

Your website is the roadmap for both visitors and search engines. If you want to have higher ranking and exemplary customer experience then implement internal linking practices.

They will remove the obstacles and potholes to enable the passage through your website for both these entities passage will be smooth, related and logical towards your conversion pages.

Book a consultation call to discuss a review of your internal linking at https://www.kevinadavidson.com/consultation-call