Mastering Internal Linking for SEO and Better Website Navigation

Even if your website has high-quality content, a well-designed layout, and a fast page loading speed, it may still struggle to attract the organic traffic you expect. In many cases, the problem isn’t your content or technical setup, but your internal linking. When a website lacks a proper internal linking structure, search engines have a harder time crawling and indexing pages. For users, poor navigation makes finding the right content frustrating. As a result, your rankings drop, conversions decrease, and your business loses valuable leads.

A proper internal linking structure solves these issues. It helps Google discover and index new pages faster, passes authority to key sections, and builds logical content clusters.

In this article, we will provide an internal link-building guide, cover main types of internal links, and offer guidance on how to do internal linking correctly. You will also learn which internal linking schemes work best for different kinds of websites and which tools to use for internal links audit and optimization.

What Are Internal Links and Why Are They Important for SEO?

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect pages within the same website. Think of them as a “road network” that both users and search engine crawlers use to navigate your website. For Google, internal links are the key to understanding your website structure. For users, they make it easier to find the information they need.

Typically, internal links are divided into three main types: navigational links (found in headers, sidebars, or footers), contextual links (placed inside articles, product descriptions, or blog posts), and structural links (“breadcrumbs” or category blocks within your website hierarchy). Among these, contextual links are the most valuable for internal linking. They allow you to pass link equity between thematically related pages and signal to Google which pages are connected by topic.

Unlike external links, which build your website’s authority and trust through mentions from other domains, internal SEO linking leverages the existing “core” of your website. It allows you to manage the flow of link equity and direct it toward key commercial or informational pages that need additional support. This is why internal links are such a critical part of on-page SEO.

When it comes to website internal linking strategy, it’s worth mentioning the main types of internal links based on how they are created:

• Automatic internal links are generated by your CMS without manual effort, such as “Related products,” “Recently viewed,” or “Other articles you may like.”
• Sitewide internal links are recurring hyperlinks that appear on every page of your website, such as those in the sidebar, footer, or header.
• Manual internal links are placed directly by an SEO specialist or editor inside your content, giving you maximum control over which page gets additional link equity and how many.

The proper internal linking structure combines all three: automatic links provide scale, sitewide links bring consistency, and manual links deliver precise reinforcement for priority sections. This means better distribution of traffic and higher conversions for your business.

Role of Internal Links in Website Visibility for Search Engines

Internal links directly affect how search engines “see” your website. For Google, they act like symbolic road signs. Internal linking helps the crawler understand which pages are more important (whether core or supporting), how they are connected, which ones should be indexed first, where content clusters are located, and how users will navigate the website. If a page has no internal entries from other URLs, it risks being left out of the index altogether or getting minimal visibility as an “orphan page”.

One of the main effects of internal link optimization is distributing link equity, also known as “link juice.” Your most authoritative pages, like the homepage, major product categories, or high-traffic blog posts, can pass some of their authority to less-visited ones. As a result, even new or secondary pages gain a chance to rank for low-volume or niche queries.

This is especially critical for SaaS or IT websites. The homepage and core product pages can funnel their authority into narrower sections, such as integration pages or niche product solutions. This way, little-known or newly created pages quickly gain positions for relevant long-tail keywords.

A strong internal linking structure also sets a clear on-page SEO framework. For example, imagine a SaaS company website with a blog. Analytical posts like “What to Do If Your DevOps Processes Don’t Scale” should link to the corresponding commercial product pages. Google then recognizes the logic — informational content generates demand, while commercial content fulfills it. The result? Higher visibility in SERPs and more conversions from your traffic.

Another huge advantage is that a smart website’s internal linking strategy helps you build topic clusters. Take a blog, for example: When multiple articles are interlinked and all point to a single target page, Google views that group as an “expert hub” on the subject. This is a powerful way to prove your relevance and outperform competitors in niche markets.

Basic Principles of Proper Internal Linking

Wondering how internal linking works? There are clear rules if you want it to be effective. The first step is choosing the right anchors. The anchor text should be relevant to the target page and include keywords for which the page is actually intended to rank. Avoid generic phrases like “read more” or “click here,” since they send no meaningful signals to search engines about the page’s content.

Another critical factor is the number of internal links on a page. Too many, and their value gets diluted. Too few, and the page becomes isolated from the rest of the website. The best practice is to include a few contextual links to relevant pages within your content, while keeping the overall navigation structure intuitive for both users and crawlers.

A vital element of an internal linking structure is connecting blog posts with product or commercial pages. When blog posts are tied together by theme and linked to one another, they form what’s often called an “expert cluster.” For SaaS businesses, this might include content about DevOps or cybersecurity, which all reinforce product pages for related solutions. For ecommerce, reviews and guides can direct authority and traffic toward product or category pages.

You will also notice that many online stores use SEO-focused linking blocks like “related products” or “frequently bought together.” In SaaS, similar functionality comes from integration pages or case studies where users see related use cases. Meanwhile, search engines recognize a clear logic between those resources and your business solutions.

Ultimately, internal linking best practices depend on understanding how link equity flows through your website. Below are some of the most common internal linking schemes that illustrate this distribution.

Ring internal linking

Ring internal linking creates a closed loop where each page links to the next, and the last page links back to the first. At the same time, there’s a central page that receives all the internal links from the supporting materials. Such an internal linking strategy works well for a series of related articles or guides that all connect to a shared product page.

• SaaS/IT example: A series of posts like “CI/CD automation,” “Server monitoring,” “Data security,” where each supports the others and collectively strengthens the visibility of a core solution page.
• Ecommerce example: A content series on choosing laptops for different needs, where all pages interlink, boosting the visibility of the central “Laptops” product category page.

Star internal linking

Star internal linking connects every page equally — each one links to all the others, forming a web with no single center. This ensures a balanced flow of link equity and minimizes the chance of having orphan pages.

• SaaS example: Navigation-based internal linking across such pages as “Products” → “Solutions” → “Case studies” → “Pricing” → “Blog.” Each page links to the others, so users can move freely between them. Google, in turn, sees all of these pages as equally important elements of the same system.
• Ecommerce example: In the “Smartphones” category, each subcategory (“Android,” “iOS,” “Budget models,” “Flagships”) links to the others. Users can seamlessly switch between options, while search engines index all product groups evenly.

Hierarchical internal linking

Hierarchical internal linking follows a tree-like structure — at the top sits a parent page, below it are category-level subpages, and further down are child pages. The flow of link equity moves primarily from top to bottom, with limited upward or sideways linking. In other words, child pages can link back to their parent, but rarely to each other, so the overall internal linking structure remains clear and organized.

• SaaS example: The “Solutions” section breaks down into “Ecommerce,” “Startups,” and “Marketplaces,” each containing child pages with case studies, blog posts, or local services. This hierarchy helps Google recognize precise parent–child relationships.
• Ecommerce example: A main catalog page links to the “Shoes” category, which then branches into “For men,” “For women,” and “For kids,” each containing filtered variations. This internal linking strategy makes crawling easier for Google and helps pages rank for both long-tail and short-tail queries.

Most websites don’t stick to a single method. A SaaS blog, for example, might use a ring structure for topic clusters, a star structure for product-related pages, and a hierarchical structure for the overall navigation.

How to Run an Internal Links Audit

Auditing internal links is essential to see how your structure actually works in practice. Even if you already have linking in place, without a proper check, you risk having pages that don’t receive link equity or contain duplicate links and irrelevant anchors.

The first step is building a sitemap. Specialized tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, or Netpeak Spider simulate how Googlebot crawls your website and reveal all the internal connections between pages. At this stage, you will already see which URLs get the most links and which are almost isolated.

One of the most critical issues in any internal links audit is identifying orphan pages. These are URLs that have no internal page interlinking SEO connections at all. In many cases, orphan pages don’t even make it into Google’s index, especially on large websites with thousands of subpages. With Screaming Frog, you can detect them by comparing two data sources: the uploaded XML sitemap and the crawl results. If a page exists in the sitemap but isn’t linked internally, it falls outside your internal linking structure and weakens your overall website internal linking strategy.

Another essential factor is crawl depth from the homepage. If a key page requires more than three clicks, Google may treat it as less important. In SaaS, this often happens with documentation pages. In ecommerce, it’s common for product cards to end up buried at the fourth or fifth level of navigation.

Ahrefs Site Audit is particularly useful for measuring the number of internal links and their distribution. This makes it easier to see which URLs are over-linked and which lack support. Ahrefs also lets you review the anchor text profile, checking whether anchors are too repetitive or irrelevant to the target page, which is one of the internal linking mistakes.

Screaming Frog, on the other hand, provides inlinks and outlinks metrics, showing the incoming and outgoing internal links for every page. This helps you quickly evaluate the balance of link equity and spot URLs with too few or disproportionately many internal links.

The goal of a thorough internal links audit is to get a clear picture: which pages receive too many links and which remain unsupported, where anchors are duplicated, and where relevance is missing. At this point, it’s smart to combine analytics tools with Google Search Console. That way, you can check whether the pages receiving the most internal links also attract relevant traffic.

Practical Optimization Techniques and Common Mistakes

Internal linking is not just a technical audit but a systematic content strategy. The right methods help strengthen target pages, shorten the user journey to conversion, and prevent drops in search visibility.

A silo structure is one of the most effective approaches. It involves creating thematic “clusters” with a central page (for example, a SaaS product or an ecommerce category) supported by related content. For SaaS, this could be a set of blog posts and guides that point to a specific solution page. For an online store, it might be a series of subcategories that funnel authority toward the main category. We have previously discussed how to build a clear website architecture by balancing semantics with silo structures.

FAQ blocks and evergreen blog posts are also highly valuable. They naturally create additional touchpoints for internal link optimization. For example, an FAQ page with instructions like “How to set up CRM integration” can link to the product page, while an evergreen article on “Cloud data protection methods” can point to the SaaS platform’s cybersecurity section.

Semantics also play a key role in a successful internal linking strategy. Before adding links, you should define which pages are the priority and which ones can support them. You can do this by clustering keywords and analyzing data in Google Search Console or Ahrefs. This way, you can identify traffic-generating pages that aren’t yet getting enough internal link equity. Balancing informational and commercial queries allows you to direct the right linking authority where it yields the best results.

However, even the best strategy can lose effectiveness due to common internal linking mistakes or so-called “over-optimizations.” The most widespread issue is anchor text stuffing when the same keyword is repeated dozens of times in your internal anchor list. Google interprets this as manipulation. Another problem is using irrelevant phrases like “read more” or “click here,” which don’t give search engines a strong signal about the page’s content.

Equally critical is the lack of a structured internal linking framework. When links are added randomly, without considering semantics or topical clusters, it dilutes authority and creates confusion for both users and search bots. In large SaaS projects, users may need 4–5 clicks to reach the desired page, which search engines interpret as a signal that the page has a low ranking priority.

Another common issue is keyword cannibalization caused by poor internal linking. This happens when multiple pages receive links with the same anchor text, leaving search engines unsure which one is most relevant for the target query. As a result, both pages lose rankings, and traffic gets distributed between them. This problem often occurs in blogs and large content sections. To avoid it, you need to carefully distribute target keywords across pages and ensure that your internal linking structure supports this distribution. We have covered in detail how to properly structure content and prevent SEO keyword cannibalization in a separate blog post.

Therefore, only a holistic approach will allow you to build a reliable internal linking system that works for both users and search engines.

Livepage Case Study: How Proper Internal Linking Improved Website Visibility

A travel services company once contacted Livepage with a fairly large website containing hundreds of pages with information about services, travel destinations, and blog posts. Despite the impressive amount of content, many pages generated little to no targeted traffic, while only a few destination pages ranked well in search results.

That’s why our task was to develop a logical internal website linking strategy, ensuring that all key pages received balanced link equity and none were left as “orphan pages.”

What we did in Livepage:

1. Conducted a full internal links audit of the website structure and identified pages that weren’t receiving any internal links.
2. Built thematic clusters: For each travel destination, we created a dedicated content hub (articles, guides, tips) that were interlinked and directed users toward commercial booking pages.
3. Used a hybrid approach: Some pages were grouped in a ring (a series of “country travel guides”), while others followed a hierarchical structure (parent page “Travel in Europe” → “Country” → “Specific route”).
4. Optimized anchors to avoid duplication and prevent mistakes like keyword cannibalization.

What results we achieved:

• The number of pages driving organic traffic grew by 2.3x.
• Average crawl depth improved from 5 clicks to 3.
• Destination booking pages gained up to +40% organic traffic within the first 4 months.

This case study proves that even a website with hundreds of pages can reach a new level of performance with the right internal link optimization. A systematic approach to establishing a proper internal linking structure ensured steady growth in both visibility and conversions within the first few months of cooperation.

Key Takeaways

Internal linking for SEO is the foundation of an effective overall strategy. A strong internal linking structure allows search engines to index your pages fast, creates logical content clusters, and ensures smooth navigation for users. As a result, your business achieves higher rankings for target queries, a steady flow of organic traffic, and ultimately more qualified leads.

However, this can only be achieved through a comprehensive internal linking strategy, which includes regular internal link audits, ongoing internal link optimization, anchor text refinement, and monitoring of common internal linking mistakes. That’s why internal linking should be viewed as an integral part of your overall SEO strategy, not just an optional add-on. To establish a reliable internal link-building strategy for your business, consider contacting the Livepage team.

We will help you perform a deep SEO audit, set up on-page SEO, and develop a strategy that supports the sustainable growth of your website in a competitive niche. With years of experience, Livepage offers comprehensive SEO solutions tailored to your goals. We understand the importance of top rankings to your business, and every step we take is dedicated to delivering tangible results.