{"id":164780,"date":"2023-08-21T00:03:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T05:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=164780"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T21:23:28","slug":"internal-links-for-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p>Internal links are one of the most underused SEO levers. In this guide, I\u2019ll show you how they work, how to structure them, and how to use them strategically to move rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What are internal links?\" data-section=\"what-are-internal-links\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are internal links?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internal links are hyperlinks that take visitors from one page to another on the same website. Their main purpose is to help visitors navigate your site, but they also play a significant role in&nbsp;SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a simplified view of what an internal link looks&nbsp;like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1070\" class=\"wp-image-164797\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-1.png\" alt=\"Illustration showing how internal linking works\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-1.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-1-636x425.png 636w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-1-768x514.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-1-1536x1027.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And here\u2019s what an internal link looks like in HTML&nbsp;code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><code>&lt;a href=\"https:\/\/example.com\/\"&gt;Internal Linking&lt;\/a&gt;<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Internal links are \u201csuper critical\u201d for SEO\" data-section=\"internal-links-super-critical-for-seo-according-to-google\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Internal links are \u201csuper critical\u201d for SEO (according to Google)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internal links are important for SEO because they help search engines discover your pages, understand what each page is about, and distribute ranking authority (PageRank) across your site. Without them, search engines struggle to crawl and rank your content effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond that practical purpose of getting visitors from A to B, internal links have a strategic role in how search engines understand and rank your&nbsp;site.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked in a <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/xgmh67PD6p4?t=1520\">\u201cGoogle SEO office-hours\u201d video<\/a> whether internal linking was still important for SEO, John Mueller said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, absolutely\u2026 Internal linking is super critical for SEO. It\u2019s one of the biggest things you can do on a website to guide Google and visitors to the pages that you think are important\u2026 What you think is important is totally up to&nbsp;you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/1516281845299.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Senior Search Analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondly, internal links direct the flow of <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">PageRank<\/a> around your site. Even though the PageRank toolbar disappeared in 2016, PageRank remains a signal Google uses for ranking.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><\/p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DYK that after 18 years we\u2019re still using PageRank (and 100s of other signals) in ranking?<br><br>Wanna know how it works?<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CfOlxGauGF\">https:\/\/t.co\/CfOlxGauGF<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3YJeNbXLml\">pic.twitter.com\/3YJeNbXLml<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Gary \u9be8\u7406\uff0f\uacbd\ub9ac Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/methode\/status\/829755916895535104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9,&nbsp;2017<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Tip<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>You can use <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/url-rating\">URL Rating<\/a> as a replacement metric, as it has a lot in common with Google PageRank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"497\" height=\"252\" class=\"wp-image-164803\" style=\"width: 373px; height: 189px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image19-3.png\" alt=\"Example of UR Rating, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Generally speaking, the more internal links a page has, the higher its PageRank. However, it\u2019s not all about quantity\u2014the quality of the link also plays a vital&nbsp;role.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as passing authority, internal links allow visitors to jump straight to the content you want to show them, allowing you to control the user experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you run an e-commerce store, you may want to link to your best-selling or seasonal products directly from your homepage. This is helpful for visitors who want to jump straight to the products and purchase them, and also creates a good user experience by creating a strong internal linking structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>You should look at it in a strategic way and think about what you care about the most, and how you can highlight that with your internal links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/1516281845299.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Senior Search Analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Google and other search engines also use internal links as signposts to help discover new pages on your website.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say that you publish a new webpage and forget to link to it from elsewhere on your site. Assuming the page isn\u2019t in your <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-sitemap\/\">XML sitemap<\/a> and doesn\u2019t have any <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/what-are-backlinks\/\">backlinks<\/a>, Google will find this page hard to discover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/fundamentals\/how-search-works?hl=en&amp;visit_id=638276731156130182-1640361947&amp;rd=1\">Google has to say<\/a> about&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Some pages are known because Google has already crawled them before. Other pages are discovered when Google follows a link from a known page to a new&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal links can also provide context for search engines like Google. They do this through <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/anchor-text\/\">anchor text<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1108\" height=\"664\" class=\"wp-image-172946\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-12.18.30.png\" alt=\"John Mueller says anchor text gives additional context\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-12.18.30.png 1108w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-12.18.30-680x408.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-12.18.30-768x460.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1108px) 100vw, 1108px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, if you have a page about red dresses and have multiple internal links pointing to that page using descriptive anchor text like \u201cdresses,\u201d \u201cred dresses,<em>\u201d<\/em> and \u201cred maxi dresses,<em>\u201d<\/em> those help Google to understand the context of the linked page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Types of internal links\" data-section=\"types-of-internal-links\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Types of internal links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the main types of links you\u2019ll see on the&nbsp;web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Navigational links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most visitors to your website find their way around using your site navigation. These are some of the most important internal links on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what they look like on the Ahrefs website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1170\" height=\"166\" class=\"wp-image-164805\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image7-6.png\" alt=\"Navigation menu on ahrefs.com\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image7-6.png 1170w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image7-6-680x96.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image7-6-768x109.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contextual links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Contextual links appear in the main body of the content on a webpage. They\u2019re typically used to expand on ideas, refer to resources, define terms, or direct readers to other relevant content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of a contextual link to our keyword research tool:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1208\" height=\"672\" class=\"wp-image-164809\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image17-4.png\" alt=\"Contextual link example on Ahrefs' blog\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image17-4.png 1208w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image17-4-680x378.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image17-4-768x427.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1208px) 100vw, 1208px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Breadcrumb links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal links can also be used to indicate relationships between pages. One of the best examples of this is breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs allow users to trace their journey back to the homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1098\" height=\"72\" class=\"wp-image-164811\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-5.png\" alt=\"Breadcrumbs example\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-5.png 1098w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-5-680x45.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-5-768x50.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1098px) 100vw, 1098px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re typically placed at the top of internal pages like product pages or blog&nbsp;posts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google has also indicated that it treats them as normal links (as part of PageRank computation).<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We likes them. We treat them as normal links in e.g. PageRank computation<\/p>\u2014 Gary \u9be8\u7406\uff0f\uacbd\ub9ac Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/methode\/status\/877842242358185984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22,&nbsp;2017<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Footer links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>These appear at the bottom of the page. Here\u2019s an example of the footer links in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/\">Ahrefs\u2019 blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Footer links typically include links to your contact page, privacy policy, and other important pages on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"647\" class=\"wp-image-164812\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-6.png\" alt=\"Footer links on Ahrefs' blog\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-6.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-6-680x220.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-6-768x249.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-6-1536x497.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While footer links are useful for extra detail, they\u2019re not the primary method of navigation on most websites.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related content sections&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Related content modules\u2014at the end of posts or in sidebars\u2014keep users engaged and spread authority horizontally across your site. They\u2019re especially useful for surfacing older content that remains relevant.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On our blog, we do this through a \u201cFurther Reading\u201d box that links to related articles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195902\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-14.png\" alt=\"Related links section on Ahrefs blog \" width=\"1550\" height=\"818\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-14.png 1550w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-14-680x359.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-14-768x405.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-14-1536x811.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1550px) 100vw, 1550px\"><\/p><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to set up an internal link structure for SEO success\" data-section=\"setting-up-internal-link-structure-for-seo-success\">\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Internal link best practices: how to build internal links for&nbsp;SEO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Setting up a solid internal linking structure helps your website rise through the ranks by directing authority to the right places. Here are the internal link best practices at a glance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Plan your site structure using a pyramid hierarchy; keep every page within three clicks of the homepage.<\/li>\n<li>Organize content with a mix of topic clusters and siloing.<\/li>\n<li>Link to the pages you care about most\u2014your key products, services, or cornerstone content.<\/li>\n<li>Link to contextually relevant content that genuinely helps the reader.<\/li>\n<li>Write descriptive, varied anchor text instead of generic phrases like \u201cclick here.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Place your most important links in the main content body, early in the&nbsp;page.<\/li>\n<li>Keep it intentional: 3\u20135 contextual links per article is a good starting point.<\/li>\n<li>Add internal links when updating older content to connect it to newer material.<\/li>\n<li>Get pagination right with real HTML links and proper canonicalization.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure crawlers can see your links: keep them dofollow, maintain mobile parity, and use absolute URLs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s walk through each of these in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Plan your internal linking structure&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re starting a new site or even restructuring an old one, the first step is to plan your internal linking structure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pyramid structure is one of the most popular structures for internal linking, as it naturally creates a top-down internal linking structure.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of what it looks like. The arrows show the internal links from page to&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1532\" class=\"wp-image-164799\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-2.png\" alt=\"Flowchart showing how a pyramid structure creates a logical site hierarchy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-2.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-2-444x425.png 444w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-2-768x735.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-2-1536x1471.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating a basic internal link structure is the first stage in starting a successful internal linking strategy. This approach has also been recommended by&nbsp;John:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>The top-down approach or pyramid structure helps us a lot more to understand the context of individual pages within the&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/1516281845299.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Senior Search Analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as the top-down linking approach, you can also add breadcrumbs to make it easier to navigate around your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1098\" height=\"72\" class=\"wp-image-164813\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-6.png\" alt=\"Breadcrumbs example\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-6.png 1098w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-6-680x45.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image12-6-768x50.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1098px) 100vw, 1098px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Breadcrumb links enable visitors to understand where they are on the website and to trace their journey back to the homepage.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Organize content with a mix of topic clusters and siloing<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll often hear two terms here: content silos and topic clusters.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A silo is about folder structure\u2014grouping pages under a shared URL&nbsp;path.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<pre><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">example.com\/seo\/<\/span><br><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u251c\u2500 example.com\/seo\/keyword-research<\/span><br><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u251c\u2500 example.com\/seo\/link-building<\/span><br><br><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u251c\u2500 example.com\/seo\/technical-seo<\/span><\/pre>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A topic cluster is about the linking network\u2014a pillar page linked reciprocally to a set of related subtopic pages.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-194919\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/diagram-showing-topic-cluster-model-with-central-p.png\" alt=\"Diagram showing topic cluster model with central pillar content circle connected by hyperlinks to surrounding cluster content nodes of various shapes.\" width=\"680\" height=\"390\"><\/p>\n<p>Both help Google understand topical relevance; they just approach it differently.<\/p>\n<p>In practice, most strong sites today combine both. You\u2019ll have a clean URL structure like \/seo\/keyword-research or \/seo\/link-building, but those pages also link across topics where it\u2019s useful. This is what you see on sites like Ahrefs or Hubspot.<\/p>\n<p>Think in topic clusters first and use clean site architecture as support\u2014not a strict silo system. Strict silos discourage linking between sections, which means you miss out on passing authority and context across related topics. Clusters give you the same topical relevance signals without those artificial walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Link to internal pages you care&nbsp;about<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve planned the basics of your internal linking structure, it\u2019s time to start linking to the internal pages of your website you want to highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For ecommerce businesses, it could mean their key products or services. For publications, it could be their most important content on a particular topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Ahrefs, we usually internally link to our SEO tools from our key&nbsp;pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of this from Ahrefs\u2019 homepage, showing our core SEO tools are prominently linked to using internal links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1772\" height=\"906\" class=\"wp-image-164815\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-5.png\" alt=\"Example of linking to SEO tools, via ahrefs.com\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-5.png 1772w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-5-680x348.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-5-768x393.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-5-1536x785.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1772px) 100vw, 1772px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach helps guide visitors to some of the most important parts of our site architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can link to whatever you like, but it\u2019s best to link to the things on your website that you care about the&nbsp;most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Link to relevant content&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Internally linking to content that\u2019s contextually relevant on your site helps provide extra information for the readers about the topic you\u2019re writing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, when writing about SEO, the reader may encounter some technical jargon that they may not necessarily understand\u2014but the internal link helps to provide context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a quick example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1096\" height=\"184\" class=\"wp-image-164816\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image16-3.png\" alt=\"Internal link to relevant content, via Ahrefs Blog\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image16-3.png 1096w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image16-3-680x114.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image16-3-768x129.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1096px) 100vw, 1096px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This approach enables the reader to click on the link to learn more about that&nbsp;topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On our blog, we also link to relevant content through a \u201cFurther Reading\u201d box that looks like&nbsp;this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1380\" height=\"296\" class=\"wp-image-165137\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/further-reading-box.png\" alt=\"&quot;Further Reading&quot; box, via Ahrefs Blog\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/further-reading-box.png 1380w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/further-reading-box-680x146.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/further-reading-box-768x165.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1380px) 100vw, 1380px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is another method you can use to help point readers to relevant content on your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another consideration with internal linking is the context of the link. Gael Breton believes that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>In content, as long as it contextually makes sense to link to another page of your site, you should do&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gael Breton\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/LNZquooH_400x400.jpg\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Gael Breton,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Co-Founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.authorityhacker.com\" target=\"_blank\">Authority Hacker<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s an example of what this can look like on an ecommerce website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"2082\" class=\"wp-image-164801\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3.png\" alt=\"Flowchart on internally linking between relevant pages in different sections of a site \" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3-327x425.png 327w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3-768x999.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3-1180x1536.png 1180w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/internal-links-3-1574x2048.png 1574w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as being contextually relevant, it\u2019s worth considering how powerful the pages you\u2019re linking from&nbsp;are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s say you\u2019ve just written a new post and you want to add some powerful internal links to it. What\u2019s the best way to do&nbsp;it?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how I\u2019ll approach it for free using <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/webmaster-tools\">Ahrefs Webmaster Tools<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Head over to your most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a> and click on <strong>Page Explorer<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enter your keyword into the search bar (e.g., \u201conline advertising\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Change the filter to <strong>Page text<\/strong> (page should update once you\u2019ve clicked it)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In this example, there are 21 results. You can then sort the pages by organic traffic. This enables you to see the pages with the most traffic first\u2014likely to be powerful pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1070\" height=\"504\" class=\"wp-image-164821\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-6.png\" alt=\"Results ordered by organic traffic, via Ahrefs' Site Audit\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-6.png 1070w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-6-680x320.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-6-768x362.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1070px) 100vw, 1070px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve got your list, it\u2019s just a question of working through it and adding the internal links to your new page to these powerful pages.<\/p>\n<h3>5. Write anchor text that describes the destination<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The clickable text in your links tells search engines what the target page is about. This is an easy win that a lot of people overlook.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cClick here\u201d wastes an opportunity. \u201cOur guide to email segmentation\u201d tells both users and search engines exactly what they\u2019ll find. So be descriptive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s also a good idea to vary your anchors. Linking to the same page with identical anchor text every time looks unnatural. Use variations: \u201cemail marketing strategies,\u201d \u201cbuilding your subscriber list,\u201d and \u201ceffective email campaigns\u201d can all point to the same page while covering different keyword angles.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>6. Place important links where they\u2019ll be seen and clicked<\/h3>\n<p>Search engines weight links based on how likely users are to click them\u2014a concept called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seobythesea.com\/2010\/05\/googles-reasonable-surfer-how-the-value-of-a-link-may-differ-based-upon-link-and-document-features-and-user-data\/\">\u201creasonable surfer\u201d model<\/a>. Not all links on a page carry equal&nbsp;value:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Highest value<\/strong>: Links in your main content body. These are contextual, editorial, and positioned where engaged readers will actually click.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Medium value<\/strong>: Navigation and breadcrumbs. They matter for structure but are discounted as template elements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lowest value<\/strong>: Footer links and deep sidebar content. Users often ignore these areas, and algorithms have adjusted accordingly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Place your most important internal links early in the content, above the fold when possible. The same goes for the links on your homepage.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195903\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image8-13.jpg\" alt=\"Ahrefs - link importance vs link placement \" width=\"1999\" height=\"903\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image8-13.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image8-13-680x307.jpg 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image8-13-768x347.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image8-13-1536x694.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/website-navigation\/\">Website Navigation Best Practices for SEO: Ultimate Guide&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3>7. Link intentionally, not excessively<\/h3>\n<p>One of the most common questions SEOs get is how many internal links a page should have. There\u2019s no magic number, but for a typical article, I\u2019d say 3\u20135 contextual links work well alongside your standard navigation. It\u2019ll depend on the length and depth of your content, but that\u2019s a solid starting point.<\/p>\n<p>The reason you don\u2019t want to go overboard is that every link on a page dilutes the value passed through the others. A page with 100 links passes roughly 1\/100th of its equity through each&nbsp;one.<\/p>\n<p>So yes, too many internal links can hurt your SEO\u2014not just because of diluted PageRank, but because excessive linking can make your content harder to read and may signal to search engines that you\u2019re prioritizing optimization over user experience.<\/p>\n<p>Ask yourself this simple question: does this link genuinely help someone understand the topic? If not, cut&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<h3>8. Add internal links when updating content<\/h3>\n<p>Publishing new content doesn\u2019t automatically connect it to your existing library. Building those bridges is one of the highest-impact SEO habits you can develop. So, when refreshing old articles, look for opportunities to link to the pages you\u2019ve published since.<\/p>\n<p>Start by leveraging your power pages\u2014the ones with the most external backlinks. Adding internal links from these high-authority pages to newer or underperforming content channels where you need the authority most.<\/p>\n<p>Ahrefs gives you a shortcut to this\u2014the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/academy\/how-to-use-ahrefs\/site-audit\/link-opportunities\">Internal link opportunities tool in Site Audit<\/a>. It shows which pages to link together based on the top 10 keywords (by traffic) for each crawled page.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195904\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image4-13.png\" alt=\"Link opportunities in Ahrefs Site Audit \" width=\"1999\" height=\"757\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image4-13.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image4-13-680x258.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image4-13-768x291.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image4-13-1536x582.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your power pages will be the ones with the highest PR numbers.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195905\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image6-15.png\" alt=\"How to find more authoritative pages with Internal link opportunities report \" width=\"1206\" height=\"868\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image6-15.png 1206w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image6-15-590x425.png 590w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image6-15-768x553.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1206px) 100vw, 1206px\">And if you\u2019ve written extensively about a topic without organizing it, consider building clusters retroactively\u2014create a pillar page and update all related posts to link to it and to each&nbsp;other.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what we did with the Beginner\u2019s Guide to SEO pillar page.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195906\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-15-2.jpg\" alt=\"Example of a pillar page \" width=\"1999\" height=\"1635\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-15-2.jpg 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-15-2-520x425.jpg 520w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-15-2-768x628.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image2-15-2-1536x1256.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">That page alone brings an estimated 2.9K organic visits each month and earned backlinks from 649 unique domains (and some AI citations, too).<\/p>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195907\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-14.png\" alt=\"Pillar page SEO data via Ahrefs \" width=\"1999\" height=\"624\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-14.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-14-680x212.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-14-768x240.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image3-14-1536x479.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">9. Get pagination right<\/h3>\n<p>For sites with large archives, product catalogs, or category pages, pagination is a form of internal linking that\u2019s easy to get&nbsp;wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Use real HTML links. Pagination controls should be actual &lt;a href&gt; elements, not JavaScript buttons or onclick events. Crawlers can struggle to execute JavaScript, which may leave paginated content undiscovered.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195908\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14.png\" alt=\"Pagination example with underlying HTML code\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14-680x342.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14-768x386.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14-1536x772.png 1536w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image5-14-400x200.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also, don\u2019t canonicalize paginated pages to page 1. Page 2 contains different content than page 1\u2014telling search engines they\u2019re duplicates can get content on deeper pages de-indexed. Each paginated page should be canonical to itself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/p><div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/rel-prev-next-pagination\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEOs Are Breaking Pagination After Google Changed Rel=Prev\/Next: Here\u2019s How to Get It&nbsp;Right<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3>10. Make sure crawlers can follow your&nbsp;links<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the internal linking work in the world won\u2019t help if search engines can\u2019t actually see or follow what you\u2019ve built.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unless you don\u2019t want a page to be available on search engines, keep internal links dofollow. Internal links should be dofollow by default so they can pass value between pages. Only use nofollow for pages that don\u2019t need to be indexed, like login pages, admin sections, or filter pages that create duplicate URLs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To find pages pointing to internal pages with nofollow links automatically, you can use Ahrefs\u2019 Site Audit. Simply go to the All issues report, and look for \u201cPage has nofollow outgoing internal links.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-195909\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-13.png\" alt=\"SEO issue in Ahrefs Site Audit \" width=\"1999\" height=\"574\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-13.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-13-680x195.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-13-768x221.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-13-1536x441.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"How to audit your site's internal links for issues\" data-section=\"how-to-audit-your-sites-internal-links-for-issues\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to audit your site\u2019s internal links for issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>To stay on top of your SEO game, you\u2019ll need to audit your internal links on a periodic basis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manually checking your internal links one by one is time consuming and, for bigger sites, almost impossible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best solution is to use a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>, which allows you to schedule the crawls of your website on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With this tool, you&nbsp;can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fix broken internal links to 4XX&nbsp;pages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify opportunities for new internal links.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fix orphan pages.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at how to do these things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Fix broken internal links to reclaim authority<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve run a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a> crawl, head over to the<strong> Internal pages <\/strong>report and click on \u201cIssues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1261\" class=\"wp-image-164823\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image18-3.png\" alt=\"4XX issues in Internal pages report, via Ahrefs' Site Audit\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image18-3.png 1999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image18-3-674x425.png 674w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image18-3-768x484.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image18-3-1536x969.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the above example, we can see there are some issues. Let\u2019s click on the \u201c4XX page\u201d to look at one issue in more detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"816\" height=\"370\" class=\"wp-image-164826\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image10-5.png\" alt=\"404 page example, via Ahrefs' Site Audit\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image10-5.png 816w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image10-5-680x308.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image10-5-768x348.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We can see this issue has been caused by a blog post that we took down but still has 37&nbsp;internal links pointing to&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the page was permanently removed, you\u2019d need to remove the internal links pointing to this 404&nbsp;page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">Tip<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>If the 404 page had important external links pointing to it, then you might want to consider 301 redirecting the page. To check this, you can use Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer\u2019s<\/a> <strong>Broken backlinks<\/strong> report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we plug in the exact URL and then head over to the <strong>Broken backlinks<\/strong> report, we can see this page actually has quite a few external links pointing to&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1122\" height=\"598\" class=\"wp-image-164828\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-6.png\" alt=\"Broken backlinks report, via Ahrefs' Site Explorer\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-6.png 1122w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-6-680x362.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image9-6-768x409.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1122px) 100vw, 1122px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result of this check, we might want to consider <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirecting<\/a> this page to a near equivalent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Fix orphan pages&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Orphan pages are pages with no internal links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have important pages on your site that are classified as orphan pages in your <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit <\/a>report, then you have an&nbsp;issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news is that it can be solved by simply adding a new internal link to the orphan page(s) in question.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you\u2019ve run your audit, you can see if you have any orphan pages&nbsp;by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clicking on the <strong>Links <\/strong>report.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Then selecting the \u201cIssues\u201d tab.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><code>Site Audit &gt; Links &gt; Issues tab &gt; Orphan page (has no incoming internal links)<\/code><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the example below, we can see this site has one orphan page.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1190\" height=\"1056\" class=\"wp-image-164829\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-5.png\" alt=\"Locating orphan pages that have no incoming internal links, via Ahrefs' Site Audit\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-5.png 1190w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-5-479x425.png 479w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image1-5-768x682.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1190px) 100vw, 1190px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>No important pages should be orphaned for two reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Google won\u2019t be able to find them (unless you <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-create-a-sitemap\/\">submit your sitemap<\/a> via Google Search Console or they have backlinks from crawled pages on other&nbsp;sites).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">PageRank<\/a> will be transferred via internal links\u2014as there are&nbsp;none.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Skim the list and make sure no important pages appear here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a lot of pages on your site, try sorting the list by organic traffic from high to&nbsp;low.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orphaned pages that still receive organic traffic would likely get even more traffic if internally linked to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Identify opportunities for new internal links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding new internal link opportunities is also another time-consuming process if it\u2019s done manually, but you can identify them in bulk using <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do this, click the <strong>Internal link opportunities<\/strong> report in Site&nbsp;Audit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1136\" height=\"1028\" class=\"wp-image-164830\" style=\"width: 568px; height: 514px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image14-3.png\" alt=\"Internal link opportunities, via Ahrefs' Site Audit\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image14-3.png 1136w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image14-3-470x425.png 470w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image14-3-768x695.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1136px) 100vw, 1136px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll see a bunch of suggestions on how to improve your internal linking using new&nbsp;links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best bit about this report, in my opinion, is that it suggests exactly where to place the internal link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1650\" height=\"534\" class=\"wp-image-164832\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image15-3.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs' Site Audit showing where to add internal link\n\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image15-3.png 1650w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image15-3-680x220.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image15-3-768x249.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image15-3-1536x497.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the example above, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit <\/a>is suggesting in this passage of text that we should add a link to our page on <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/faceted-navigation\/\">faceted navigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d advise reviewing the recommendations and adding links to the most important pages you want to highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal linking isn\u2019t technically difficult, but it takes time and patience to execute your plan. Also, making changes to your site can cause more issues\u2014which, if left undiagnosed, can impact your site\u2019s performance in search engines like Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my opinion, the only sustainable way to monitor your internal links is by using a tool like Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Site Audit.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got questions? Ping me <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chris_at_b449\">on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Internal links are one of the most underused SEO levers. In this guide, I\u2019ll show you how they work, how to structure them, and how to use them strategically to move rankings. Internal links are hyperlinks that take visitors from<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[],"coauthors":[437,412],"class_list":["post-164780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn what internal links are, how to set up an internal linking structure, and the way to audit them to spot and troubleshoot issues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Internal Links for SEO: An Actionable Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boost your pages&#039; 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