Internal links help visitors find related information and show search engines how your pages connect. Google discovers many pages by following links, which is why the Google SEO starter guide recommends making your site easy to navigate with sensible link text.

Link where it helps the reader

Add links to related services, guides and case studies from passages where the reader would naturally want more. A link should offer something they would genuinely want next, not simply push a page you want to rank. A guide on pricing, for instance, can point to the relevant service page at the moment the reader is thinking about hiring. Two or three well-placed links usually beat a dozen scattered ones.

Use descriptive anchor text

Write link text that explains the destination. "Our guide to on-page SEO for service pages" tells both a person and a search engine what to expect. Avoid vague phrases like "click here" or "read more", which also cause problems for screen reader users who navigate by a list of links. Vary your wording naturally, rather than repeating an identical phrase everywhere.

Build clear topic clusters

Choose a main page for each topic, usually a service page, and link supporting articles to it and to each other. Your keyword research guides this, and each page should have one clear job, as we discuss in keyword cannibalisation. When two pages overlap, links make it clear which one is the main page.

Check for orphan pages

Pages with no internal links are hard to find for people and crawlers alike. Make sure important pages are reachable from navigation or related content. A crawling tool, or the page reports in Google Search Console, can help you spot pages that are indexed but poorly connected. A good sitemap helps discovery, but it is no substitute for links.

Keep navigation simple

Your menu is the most powerful set of internal links on the site. Keep it focused on the pages that matter most, and avoid burying services three clicks deep. We cover this in more detail in our guide to website navigation best practices.

Where to add internal links

• From articles to the service pages they relate to

• Between related guides that answer the next question

• From case studies to the services they demonstrate

• From service pages to supporting articles and frequently asked questions

• In the footer for key pages such as contact and core services

Maintain links as the site grows

Each time you publish a new page, add links to it from at least two relevant existing pages, and link out from it to related content. When you retire or merge a page, update the links pointing to it and redirect the old address. Broken links frustrate visitors and waste the authority those pages had built.