How to build an internal linking strategy
Internal links are the links that connect the pages of your own website to each other, and they matter more than most people think. They pass authority from one page to another, tell Google which pages on your site are important, and help visitors find the content you want them to see. You can build a simple internal linking strategy in an afternoon, and it is one of the fastest, cheapest improvements you can make to your rankings.
How internal links pass authority
When Google crawls your site, it follows links from page to page. Every link you place from a page you already rank for passes some of that authority to the page it points at. That is why the pages you most want to rank should be linked from your strongest, most visited pages, not buried in a footer.
The pattern we use with clients is simple: link from your popular content to your money pages. Money pages are the ones that bring enquiries and sales, such as your service pages. Every guide and blog post you write should point at one or two of them, with a link that reads naturally in the sentence.
Use descriptive anchor text
The clickable text of a link is its anchor text, and it tells Google what the destination is about. "Click here" says nothing. "Our guide to 301 redirects" says everything. Use a short, descriptive phrase for each link, and vary it across your site. A wall of identical anchors looks unnatural, and Google notices. Our article on what counts as a backlink anchor text explains the difference in more detail. Read it at https://victory.digital/help-advice/what-is-a-backlink-anchor-text/.
Which pages should you link from?
Start with your best content. Pages that already attract visitors and rank well carry the most authority to share. Link from those to the pages you want to grow, and from every new piece of content to one or two related pages. If you have a strong guide about backlinks, it should point at your link building service page. If you explain website architecture, point it at your technical SEO page.
Check how your pages are linked today
Open Google Search Console and look at the pages report for your key pages. You want to see several internal links pointing at each one from different places on the site. A page with one internal link, or none, is almost invisible to Google, however well it is written. A page with no internal links pointing at it is a common reason it does not rank, and fixing the links is usually the cheapest win on the list. Our article on website architecture explains how the structure of a site affects the way Google crawls it. See it at https://victory.digital/help-advice/what-is-website-architecture/.
Keep it natural
Internal linking works best when it reads naturally. Link where a reader would genuinely want more information, not at every possible opportunity. One or two relevant links per section is plenty. The goal is a site where a visitor can move from your homepage to your most important pages in a few clicks, and where Google can see the same structure.
Make it part of your workflow
The easiest way to keep links healthy is to add them as you publish, not in a yearly tidy-up. Each new article should link to two or three existing pages, and should be linked to from at least one page you already rank for. If you keep that habit for six months, the structure of your site improves without any extra effort.
We build internal linking into every SEO campaign we run, and it is part of how clients like Home Instead grew organic traffic by 251 per cent. If you would like a plan that covers this alongside your broader visibility, our SEO packages start at GBP 980 per month for 15 hours of expert work. See the options at https://victory.digital/seo-packages, or start with a free SEO report at https://victory.digital/run-a-seo-report.
You can browse the full help centre for more guides at https://victory.digital/help-advice.
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