Internal linking is the complete set of links that lead from one page of a website to another page on the same website. It shows search engines which pages belong together and which are important, and guides visitors to the next relevant content. The clickable text of a link, the anchor text, tells Google what the target page is about.
What internal linking means
An internal link leads from one page of your website to another page of your website. External links lead outwards, backlinks come from outside. Internal linking is the part you have fully under your own control.
It serves three purposes. First, Google finds new pages through links; a page with no incoming link is discovered late or not at all. Second, it distributes weight: a page that many other pages point to is seen as more important than one that only appears in the footer. Third, the anchor text, the clickable text of the link, explains what the target page is about. Google states in its starter guide that descriptive anchor text helps the system classify the linked page.
These three purposes lead to practical rules: every important page should get links from the body text of other pages, the anchor text should name the topic, and posts on a subject area should refer to one another. The post Internal linking shows how to build this systematically.
An example from everyday SME life
A landscaping business in Münchwilen has a services page called "Garden design" and, alongside it, a blog with posts such as "Laying a new lawn: process and costs" or "Which hedge suits the property boundary?". The posts are read, the services page barely at all, and neither knows about the other.
The business adds connections. The lawn post now reads: "If you want to redesign the whole garden, see Garden design to find out how we work." The services page, in turn, links to the three most-read posts. Readers move from the guide to the offer, Google recognises the services page as the hub of the topic, and it moves up in searches for "garden design Thurgau".
Why this matters for your business
Many SME websites are made up of islands: services pages here, a blog there, connected only through the menu. Each island fights alone. Internal links turn islands into a network, where each page lends weight to the others. It costs nothing except a bit of attention while writing.
This works especially well with topic clusters: a main page on a topic, many posts on related sub-questions, all linked to one another. Google understands how they belong together, and readers find the next step without having to search.
Common misconceptions
"Click here" is a link like any other. Maybe for visitors. For Google, it gives away the chance to show what the target page is about.
The more links, the better. A hundred links on one page dilute each individual one. A few links in the right place have more impact than a wall of links at the bottom of the page.
Frequently asked questions
How many internal links should a page have?
Google doesn't give a number. A sensible approach is to use as many as there are genuinely relevant targets, often three to eight for a blog post. More important than the number is that every important page is reachable from several others, and no page is left without an incoming link.
What makes good anchor text?
Anchor text describes what's on the target page: "Cost of a facade renovation" rather than "click here" or "find out more". Google states that anchor text helps it understand the topic of the linked page. It should read naturally within the sentence and shouldn't be identical on every page.
Do links in navigation and footers count too?
Yes, but they carry less weight than links in body text, since they're the same on every page. A link within a paragraph that's relevant to the target is more meaningful, both for Google and for readers. Navigation and footers ensure all main pages are reachable, while body text distributes the weighting.