Internal Link

SEO

Also: Internal Linking · Site Link · Cross-Link

What it isLink from one page on your site to another

SEO benefitPasses authority and signals page importance

UX benefitGuides visitors to relevant content and conversion

Quick definition

A hyperlink from one page on your website to another page on the same website, used to guide visitors through content and distribute SEO authority across the site.

Where it shows up in the data

PageRank flow

Internal links pass SEO authority (historically called PageRank) between pages. When your homepage links to a service page, it passes some of its authority to that page. Pages with more internal links receive more authority and tend to rank higher.

Anchor text

The clickable text of an internal link (e.g. 'learn more about conversion rate optimisation'). Descriptive anchor text using relevant keywords helps Google understand the context of the linked page. Avoid generic anchor text like 'click here'.

Orphan pages

Pages with no internal links pointing to them. Googlebot may not find them through crawling, meaning they may not be indexed. Every important page needs at least one internal link from a relevant page.

Link depth

How many clicks from the homepage a page is. Pages deeper than 3-4 clicks are harder for search engines to find and receive less link equity. Important pages should be accessible within 2-3 clicks of the homepage.

What it actually means

Internal links are connections between pages on your own website. They serve two purposes: helping visitors navigate to relevant content (UX), and helping search engines understand your site's structure and which pages are most important (SEO). When you link from a high-authority page to a lower-authority page, you pass some of that authority along. Building a deliberate internal linking strategy — ensuring important pages receive links from multiple other pages with relevant anchor text — is one of the highest-ROI technical SEO activities, requiring no external outreach.

Every unlinked page on your site is fighting Google with one hand tied behind its back.

How it shows up

In Google Search Console, the Links report shows which pages have the most internal links pointing to them. In your site crawl tool (Screaming Frog, Ahrefs), you can see pages with no internal links (orphans) and pages that are too deep in the site hierarchy.

The Australian context

Australian informational and local service sites often have location-specific pages (e.g. /plumber-melbourne, /plumber-brisbane) that are completely orphaned. Connecting them through a locations hub page and interlinking between related cities/services can dramatically improve their indexing and ranking.

Where people get this wrong

Using generic anchor text like 'click here' or 'read more'Anchor text is a relevance signal. 'Learn more about tax deductions for small business' is a stronger signal to Google than 'click here'. Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text for SEO benefit.

Only linking from the homepage and main navA silo structure where only the homepage links to category pages limits how much authority flows to deeper pages. Link contextually from blog posts, service pages and other relevant content throughout the site.

Creating internal links but never auditing for broken linksOver time, pages get deleted or URLs change without redirects. Internal links to deleted pages send visitors and bots to 404 errors, wasting crawl budget and creating poor user experience. Audit for broken internal links quarterly.

Common questions

How many internal links should a page have?

There is no strict limit but quality matters more than quantity. Important pages should receive links from 5-20 other pages contextually. Avoid creating dozens of internal links on a single page just to pass authority — link where it serves the user.

Does internal linking help with SEO?

Yes, significantly. Internal links help Google discover and index pages, understand site structure and determine which pages are most important. They also pass authority from high-equity pages to lower-authority pages.

What is an orphan page and why does it matter?

An orphan page has no internal links pointing to it. Google cannot find it through crawling your site, meaning it may not be indexed. Even if it is indexed directly, it receives no authority from the rest of your site, limiting its ranking potential.

Keep exploring

About New Rebellion

New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.

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