Internal links: the free ranking fix most sites ignore

An internal link is just a link from one page of your site to another. They do two jobs: they help visitors find the next thing they need, and they show search engines which pages are important and what each one is about. Unlike links from other websites, they're entirely in your control.

Why they matter

Google discovers pages by following links. A page with no links pointing to it, sometimes called an orphan page, may never be found or may be treated as unimportant. A page that many of your other pages link to, using words that describe it, sends a clear signal: this is a key page, and this is its topic.

The three rules

1. Every page should be reachable in a few clicks from the homepage. Your main services belong in the menu or on the homepage. Articles should be reachable from a blog page and from related articles.

2. Use descriptive link text. A link that reads "our emergency plumbing service" tells Google and the reader what's on the other side. "Click here" and "read more" tell them nothing.

3. Link where it helps the reader. If a post about damp mentions that the fix is often a new gutter, link to your gutter repair page right there. Relevant, in-context links are worth more than a block of links in the footer.

A simple routine

Each time you publish a new article:

1. Link from it to the one service page it relates to most.
2. Find two or three older posts on related topics and add a link from each to the new one.
3. Check you haven't linked to anything that redirects or no longer exists.

That's it. Ten minutes per article, and over a year it builds a site where every page supports the others.

What to avoid

• Dozens of links stuffed into one paragraph
• The exact same keyword-heavy link text everywhere; vary it naturally
• Linking to pages you've set to noindex, or that redirect

If a page isn't ranking at all, internal links are only one of the suspects. Run through the five checks in order first.