Internal linking for SEO

Last updated 13 October 2026 · By the XKey team

What is an internal link?

An internal link goes from one page on your site to another page on the same site: your menu, a "see our prices" button, or a link in a paragraph. Links from other websites to yours are backlinks, covered in how to get backlinks.

Why do internal links help rankings?

• Discovery. Google finds pages mainly by following links. A page nothing links to (an "orphan page") may be found late or not at all, even if it's in your sitemap.
• Importance. Pages with more links pointing to them, especially from your home page, look more important to Google.
• Meaning. The words you click on tell Google what the destination page is about.

What link text should I use?

Use words that describe the page you're linking to, the way a customer would say it. "Our local SEO checklist" beats "click here" or "read more" – for Google and for anyone using a screen reader, who often skips from link to link.

Vary the wording naturally. Linking to your boiler page as "boiler repair", "boiler servicing in Preston" and "our boiler engineers" reads normally; using the identical phrase forty times doesn't. The anchor text checker lists every link on a page with its wording.

What structure works for a small business site?

1. Home page links to every main service page.
2. Each service page links back up to the home page, across to closely related services, and to your contact or quote page.
3. Blog posts and guides link to the service they relate to. A post about "how often should a boiler be serviced" should link to your boiler servicing page.
4. Area pages, if you have them, link to the services you actually offer in that town.

Keep every important page within about three clicks of the home page. Breadcrumbs (Home › Services › Boiler repair) help both visitors and Google see where a page sits.

Group related pages into topics

A simple way to organise links is the "hub and spoke" model. A hub page covers a broad topic – say, boilers – and links to a spoke page for each part of it: boiler repair, boiler servicing, new boilers, boiler cover. Each spoke links back to the hub and to its closest neighbours. Guides on the same topic ("why is my boiler losing pressure?") link to the matching service page.

This tells Google you cover the topic thoroughly, and it gives visitors an obvious next step. XKey's own guides work this way: the guides hub links to every guide, and each guide links to the free tool that checks what it describes.

Internal linking for shops and blogs

• Shops: category pages are usually your strongest pages for searches like "oak dining tables", so link to them from the menu and from related products. Add "related products" and "customers also bought" links, and use breadcrumbs. See ecommerce SEO.
• Blogs: new posts get links automatically from the blog's front page, but they drop off as you publish more. Go back to older, popular posts and add links to newer ones on the same topic – it's one of the quickest SEO wins there is.

Common internal linking mistakes

• Links that aren't real links. Buttons that only work with JavaScript (no href) can't be followed by Google. Use normal <a href> links.
• Linking to old addresses that redirect. Each redirect slows visitors down; update the link to the final address. The redirect checker shows where a link really ends up.
• Important pages only in a drop-down menu. Menu links are fine, but a link in the text of a relevant page carries more context.
• Hundreds of links in a mega-menu or footer on every page, which makes it harder to tell what matters.
• Images as the only link, with no alt text – Google then has no words to go on.

How many internal links should a page have?

There's no magic number. Link where it genuinely helps the reader take the next step. As a rough guide, a normal page usually has at least a handful of links in its menu and text; a page with several hundred links dilutes them and is hard to use. The free SEO check counts them for you.

How do I find broken or missing internal links?

Run the broken link checker to find links that lead nowhere, then fix or redirect them – see broken links and redirects. To find orphan pages, compare your sitemap with the pages the website audit reached by following links; anything in the sitemap that wasn't reached needs a link from a related page.

Frequently asked questions

Do internal links pass ranking value?

Yes. Links between your own pages help Google judge which pages are most important, as well as helping it find them.

Should internal links open in a new tab?

No. Links to your own pages should open in the same tab; new tabs are best kept for links to other websites, if at all.

Should I use nofollow on internal links?

No. Nofollow on your own links just stops Google following them. Use noindex or robots.txt for pages you really want kept out of search.

Can I use the same link text for different pages?

Try not to. If 'find out more' points to ten different pages, neither visitors nor Google can tell them apart. Describe each destination.

Do footer links count?

Yes, but Google understands they're repeated on every page. Links in the main content of a related page carry more weight and context.