Internal links are links from one page of your site to another. They help Google find and understand your pages and help visitors move toward the page you want them on. List your key pages, link to them from pages that already get visits, use descriptive anchor text, and make sure no page is left without a link.
An internal link is a link from one page on your website to another page on the same website. They matter because Google follows them to find your pages, and visitors use them to reach the page they need. To do it properly, work out your key pages, link to them from pages that already get visits, and use wording that describes the destination.
Many small business sites have a menu and little else. That is a missed opportunity, and a cheap one to fix.
1. List your most important pages
Write down the five to ten pages that bring in work. For most Christchurch businesses that means the main service pages, a few location pages if you have them, and your contact page. These are the pages you want people and Google to reach most easily. Everything else is support.
2. Find the pages that already get visits
A link only helps if someone sees it. Open Search Console or your analytics and note which pages already attract visitors. Often it is an old blog post, not your service page. That post is where a link will do the most good. If you have not set up Search Console yet, a technical SEO checklist covers the basics worth getting right first.
3. Link from those pages to the important ones
Open each busy page and look for sentences where a service page is a natural next step. Add the link inside the sentence. For example, a post on "how to prepare for a bathroom renovation" can link to your bathroom renovation page where it mentions getting a quote. Aim for relevance, not volume, and don't stack several links in one paragraph.
Navigation links and contextual links
Navigation links are the menu and footer. They appear on every page and show Google your main structure. Contextual links sit inside the body text and carry more meaning, because they are surrounded by relevant words. Both are useful, but contextual links are the ones most sites lack.
4. Use descriptive anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable wording. "Click here" tells a reader and Google nothing. "Our deck building service" does. Keep it natural. Do not use the same exact phrase every time, because that looks forced, and do not turn every link into a keyword. Think of how you would describe the page to a friend.
5. Add a related-links block
At the end of useful pages, add a short list of two to four closely related pages under a heading like "Related reading" or "See also". It gives readers a next step and gives your older pages a way in. If you are tidying older posts anyway, refreshing old content is a natural time to add these.
A worked example for a Halswell builder
Say a Halswell builder has a renovations page as the main hub, with separate pages for kitchens, bathrooms and decks. This hub-and-spoke shape works well. The renovations page links down to each of the three. Each of the three links back up to the renovations page and across to one related page, such as the kitchen page mentioning the bathroom page for people doing both.
The builder also has a blog post about consents that gets steady visits. It mentions decks and kitchens in passing, so the builder adds two links there. Now visitors and Google can reach all four service pages from several places, and the structure shows which page is the main one.
6. Fix orphan pages and check your work
An orphan page has no links pointing to it. Find them by running a free crawler such as Screaming Frog's free version, which can crawl a limited number of pages, and comparing its list to your sitemap. A simpler check is to search Google for site:yourdomain.co.nz to see what is indexed, then confirm your key pages appear and link to each other.
For each orphan, either link to it from a relevant page or, if it no longer serves a purpose, remove it or redirect it. If a page is brand new, give it at least one link from an existing, well-visited page on the day it goes live.
Common mistakes
- Linking everything to everything. Too many links dilute the useful ones.
- Identical anchor text on every link.
- Linking only from the menu and never inside content.
- Broken links after a page moves.
- Burying the contact page.
Good internal linking also supports writing content that ranks, because the best content gets lost if nothing points to it. Titles help too, as covered in writing title tags that get clicked.
What this will not do
Internal linking will not rescue weak pages, and it will not replace good content or links from other sites. Google gives no guarantees about how much weight any link carries. It is housekeeping that makes your site easier to use and understand, and the effect is usually gradual.
If you would like someone to map your site and fix the gaps, our content SEO service includes internal linking, and a free SEO audit will show how your key pages are currently connected.
