Study first
Review the ideas behind the questions
These notes show how internal links help people move through a site and help crawlers understand important pages.
Make links useful and crawlable
Important pages should be reachable through normal links that users can understand. Helpful anchor text and logical navigation make discovery easier.
- Use descriptive anchor text instead of vague labels.
- Link to important pages from relevant pages.
- Avoid hiding important discovery paths behind fragile interactions.
- Make category and hub pages useful for users, not just crawlers.
Keep site signals consistent
Internal links work best when they agree with the preferred URL for a page. Mixed signals can make canonical choices less clear.
- Link internally to the canonical version of a URL.
- Keep sitemaps focused on pages you want indexed.
- Use breadcrumbs when they help users understand page hierarchy.
- Do not rely on a sitemap to replace useful navigation.
Build paths for people first
Internal linking should help visitors continue their task. Strong site structure usually reflects clear topic groups and useful next steps.
- Use links that naturally answer what a user might need next.
- Avoid stuffing pages with repetitive links.
- Keep navigation labels plain and specific.
- Review old pages for broken or outdated internal links.