Your Next SEO Win Could Be an Internal Link

Someone arrives on your website.

They read an explanation. Recognize their problem. Begin to trust your expertise.

Then they reach the end.

You have a service that could help them. A guide that answers their next question. A case study that addresses their hesitation.

But you never connected the pages.

So they leave.

This is why I think internal linking deserves more attention. You control the connections on your website. Each one is an opportunity to make the next step clearer.

The Opportunity Between Your Pages

An internal link connects one page on your website to another.

Simple enough. Yet deciding where that link belongs requires understanding what someone needs at that moment.

In his explanation of internal linking and topical authority, Edward Sturm describes finding existing pages that discuss a target topic and linking relevant text to an appropriate destination.

Borja’s internal linking article on X takes a broader view: connect related articles, topic guides, and commercial pages so visitors can move between learning and taking action.

Borja (@borjafat) on internal linking: connecting articles, topic guides and commercial pages.

View the post on X

Their ideas meet at a practical opportunity: identify useful relationships between your pages and make those relationships navigable.

My view is that every internal link should answer a question:

Why would someone reading this sentence want to visit that page?

If the answer is clear, you have a reason to link.

Start With the Destination

Before adding links, decide where you want them to lead.

For a business website, that might be a service page, product page, comparison, or booking page. Choose a destination that fits the topic and gives visitors a useful next step.

Suppose a plumbing company wants more emergency repair inquiries.

Its emergency plumbing page should explain the service area, availability, and how to request help. Articles about burst pipes, sudden leaks, and overflowing fixtures may provide natural places to link to it.

Those connections make sense because the reader’s problem and the service belong together.

Sending every article to the homepage is less precise. It asks the visitor to start looking again.

Link to the page that fulfills the expectation you create.

Find Relevant Linking Opportunities on Your Own Site

Sturm’s method starts with searching for pages you already have. I would make that search specific to your domain using Google’s site: operator:

site:yourdomain.com "emergency plumbing"

Try related phrases as well:

site:yourdomain.com "burst pipe"
site:yourdomain.com "water leak"

Open the results and read the surrounding paragraphs. Look for places where your destination would genuinely help.

This is a discovery shortcut. Google explains that site searches are not exhaustive, so a missing result does not prove a page is absent from its index. Supplement the search with your website’s content inventory or a crawl when you need fuller coverage.

Also, do not automatically choose the first result as your destination. Review what the page offers and whether it matches the visitor’s need.

Put the Link Where the Need Appears

Placement gives a link its purpose.

Imagine an article explaining what to do when a pipe bursts. Immediately after explaining how to shut off the water, it introduces professional assistance.

That is a useful place to link to emergency plumbing services.

The visitor can see why the link matters without searching through a footer or a collection of unrelated recommendations.

Here are a few examples:

These are illustrative connections. The destination must actually deliver what the linked words promise.

Write Anchor Text That Sets an Honest Expectation

Anchor text is the clickable wording of a link.

“Click here” tells a reader very little. “Explore our electrical panel inspection service” tells them what comes next.

Google’s link guidance recommends descriptive, concise wording that is relevant to both the source page and destination. The surrounding sentence matters too.

Use the wording that fits naturally.

Sometimes that will be the exact phrase you want the destination to rank for. Sometimes a different description will be clearer.

There is no reason to force awkward variations or repeat a keyword in every link. Read the full sentence aloud. Then ask whether the destination delivers on it.

An internal link makes a small promise. Keep it.

Build Connections in More Than One Direction

Borja’s framework connects broad guides, detailed articles, and pages where visitors can buy or inquire. It also encourages linking related supporting articles when one answers the reader’s next question.

That creates several useful possibilities.

A broad guide can point to a detailed explanation. A detailed explanation can offer broader context. A service page can link to a relevant case study when a prospect needs evidence.

Each direction needs its own reason.

A link from an article to a service does not automatically mean the service page needs a link back. Consider what someone is trying to accomplish on each page.

This is especially important near a conversion. A relevant case study may help someone decide. An unrelated article may distract them.

I would judge the link by whether it helps the visitor make progress.

Prioritize Pages That Already Have an Opportunity

You do not need to update every page at once.

Borja suggests reviewing pages with relevant queries averaging around positions 11–20 in Search Console, then finding related pages that could link to them. That is a useful way to prioritize an investigation, rather than a guarantee of improvement.

My starting point would be a page that meets three conditions:

• It supports a meaningful business goal.

• It already receives relevant search impressions.

• Other pages discuss the same need but do not link to it.

Inspect the individual queries and keep your country and device settings consistent. An average position summarizes multiple appearances; it does not describe one fixed ranking.

Then make a small, deliberate set of changes you can track.

Use AI to Find Candidates, Then Review the Connections

For a larger website, AI can help review page inventories and propose links.

Give it actual page text, URLs, and existing links. Ask for recommendations that include the source paragraph, destination, proposed anchor text, and reason for the connection.

For example:

Review these pages for useful internal linking opportunities to our priority service pages. Recommend a link only when the destination helps answer a question raised in the source paragraph. Use only the supplied URLs. Show the complete proposed sentence, explain the reader benefit, and flag links that already exist.

Review the suggestions before publishing.

Matching two pages because they share a keyword is easy. Establishing that the connection helps a reader requires more judgment.

Measure What the Links Help People Do

Record the pages changed, links added, and implementation date.

Then review search performance alongside visitor behavior. Where tracking is available, look at whether people click through to the destination and whether those visits contribute to inquiries or purchases.

Keep the claims proportionate. A ranking increase after an edit does not establish that internal linking caused it.

Google confirms that links help it discover pages and assess relevance. That supports taking internal linking seriously. It does not justify promising that a certain number of links, or clicks on them, will produce a particular ranking.

Make the Next Step Easier

Start with one important destination.

Find the pages where someone would naturally need it. Add clear links in useful places. Check that they work and that the destination fulfills the promise.

Then repeat.

Internal linking is a practical part of how a website serves its visitors. It connects the question someone arrived with to the help you can offer.

If the next step matters, make it easy to find.