Internal linking strategy - simple but underestimated
Internal linking is unglamorous. It is also one of the highest-ROI activities in SEO because it is entirely within your control and costs nothing except time. Here is how to do it properly.
An internal link is a link from one page on your website to another page on the same website. Every internal link passes authority from one page to another and tells search engines something about the relationship between your pages. Done well, internal linking improves rankings for your most important pages, helps Google discover all your content, and keeps users on your site longer.
Why internal linking matters more than most people think
External backlinks get most of the attention in SEO discussions. But internal links are fully within your control and can be implemented immediately. If you have pages on your site that rank well - your homepage, popular blog posts, established service pages - those pages can pass authority to pages that need a boost. A single well-placed internal link from a high-authority page to a target page can move rankings meaningfully.
How to audit your current internal linking
Use Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) to crawl your site and look at the internal links report. Which pages have very few internal links pointing to them? Those are your orphaned or under-linked pages. If important service pages or product pages only have one or two internal links, they are not getting the authority distribution they deserve. The homepage typically has the most links pointing to it - make sure authority flows from the homepage toward your most valuable conversion pages.
Anchor text - be specific
Anchor text is the clickable text of your link. "Click here" and "read more" are wasted anchor text. Use descriptive anchor text that tells Google what the linked page is about - "Google Ads account structure guide" or "conversion rate optimisation tips". Descriptive anchor text reinforces the relevance of the linked page for those terms. Do not keyword-stuff your anchor text - be natural but specific.
Where to add links
Every blog post or article you publish should link to at least two or three relevant pages elsewhere on your site. Your most important service or product pages should have multiple internal links from supporting content. If you have a pillar page or cornerstone content, all related blog posts should link back to it. Build a hub-and-spoke structure where your main service pages sit at the centre and supporting content links toward them.
The practical process
Start with your top-converting pages - the ones that generate the most leads or revenue. Find 5 to 10 other pages on your site that are topically related. Add natural internal links from those pages to your target page with descriptive anchor text. Track your rankings for the target page over the next 60 days. This is a simple, free, and consistently effective optimisation that most businesses skip.
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