A visitor lands on an article, finds an answer and then does what? Internal links can help them discover a relevant service, a more detailed explanation or your contact page. For a business website or company blog, they are a practical part of basic SEO: they clarify relationships between pages without guaranteeing Google rankings.
You do not need a link in every paragraph. You need sensible routes between the information you publish and the questions your audience is trying to answer.
1. Choose links around the visitor’s next question
An internal link points to another page on the same website. It might appear in a menu, a footer or the main content. Navigation menus provide a general overview, while links within articles and service pages can explain more precisely why a particular page is worth visiting next.
Before adding a link, consider what information someone would naturally want next. If a page describes the signs of a problem, a troubleshooting guide might be useful. If it explains a solution, the relevant service page could be a sensible destination.
- Article to article: when a related topic needs a separate explanation.
- Article to service: when the service directly addresses the need being discussed.
- Service to article: when detailed guidance helps visitors assess whether the service suits them.
- Service to contact: when the next step involves discussing project requirements.
Prioritise pages that matter both to your customers and to your business. Do not connect two pages simply because they contain the same word. The relationship should make sense to a reader, not just look relevant in a list of keywords.
2. Write anchor text that describes the destination
Anchor text is the clickable wording of a link. It should give readers an accurate idea of the destination page. Phrases such as click here or read more offer little information when read separately from the surrounding paragraph.
In an article about preparing a new business website, choosing hosting for your business website is more descriptive than see our offer. However, the wording must reflect what the destination actually contains. Do not suggest that a link opens a tutorial when it leads to a commercial service page.
- Use clear phrases that are short enough to scan comfortably.
- Place the link in a sentence that reads naturally.
- Avoid inserting strings of keywords into otherwise straightforward text.
- Describe each destination consistently without mechanically repeating the same wording.
You do not need to rewrite every anchor just to create variety. If contact page accurately describes the destination, it is suitable wherever that reference is useful. Clarity matters more than forced variation.
3. Build routes between services, articles and contact
From an informative article to a service
Suppose you publish an article about launching a business website. In the paragraph explaining technical requirements, you could link to the web hosting page. The link answers a question the reader is already considering, rather than introducing an unrelated sales message.
If the article specifically covers running a WordPress website, a link to WordPress hosting may be more appropriate. Choose the destination to match the context instead of automatically mentioning both services in every article.
From a service to guidance and contact
On a home improvement company’s website, a renovation service page could link to an article about preparing a property before work begins. That article could link back to the service when discussing situations where professional help is useful. These links serve different purposes, so each should be justified independently.
After explaining the process and the information needed for an initial discussion, the service page can direct readers to contact the business. Wording such as describe your project and ask about the next steps explains the action more clearly than a vague invitation.
The same principle applies to an online services provider. Once you have read the relevant information, you can use the contact page to ask about your project requirements. This invitation does not belong in every paragraph; place it where a conversation becomes a logical next step.
4. Find orphan pages and pages that are hard to reach
Orphan pages have no accessible internal links pointing to them from other pages on the website. A page linked from the main menu is not an orphan, even if no articles link to it. It may still benefit from contextual links that help readers discover it at the right moment.
A page can appear in an XML sitemap or receive visitors from external sources while still having no internal links. A sitemap helps signal which URLs exist, but it does not replace useful website navigation.
- Collect known URLs. Use the list of published pages in your website platform and the XML sitemap, if available.
- Check existing links. A website crawling tool can follow links from the homepage and report the internal links it discovers.
- Compare the lists. Look for published pages that do not appear in the crawl or have no incoming internal links.
- Confirm the findings manually. Some tools cannot interpret every dynamically generated element or access every area.
- Choose a suitable action. Link to a relevant page, update outdated content or review whether the page still serves a purpose.
Not every URL belongs in public navigation. A confirmation page shown after a form submission, for example, has a different role from a service page and may not need ordinary editorial links.
5. Add links and check the browsing experience
Start with important pages that have few relevant incoming links. Find existing articles that already discuss their subject and edit the appropriate passages. Avoid adding an artificial paragraph simply to create another link.
- Check that the destination opens and matches the anchor text.
- Link to the final page address rather than relying on unnecessary redirects.
- Review links on mobile, within the full paragraph.
- Avoid clusters of links that make the text difficult to read.
- Update internal references when a page address changes.
There is no universal number of internal links that suits every page. Content length, subject complexity and reader needs are more useful guides than a fixed quota. When reviewing a page, ask whether each link offers a worthwhile continuation.
6. Conclusion: start with one useful journey
Choose an important service page and an article that answers a question about that service. Decide whether links between them would help, write descriptive anchor text and provide a clear route to contact when visitors need clarification.
Then look for orphan pages and repeat the checks whenever you publish, reorganise or remove content. Well-chosen internal links support clearer navigation and help search engines discover relationships between pages. They are a basic SEO practice, not a promise of higher rankings.
