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Internal linking

internal links · site graph

Definition

Internal linking is the graph of hrefs inside a site you control. It tells crawlers which pages matter and helps people move from a definition to a method to a case. Digital PR cannot fix a newsroom that never links to the methods page it is pitching.

Orphan pages (no internal links in) get crawled late or not at all, which also keeps them out of AI Overviews that require indexation.

How it works

From each study, link the methods, the related glossary terms, and the product only if the product is truly in the story. Use human anchors. Keep the newsroom in the global nav.

Worked example

A COBRA guide links to 4 sibling guides and the newsroom study that updated the numbers. After those links, the four sibling queries move together. The study URL was previously an orphan PDF.

How it differs

Backlinks come from other hosts. Internal links are yours. Schema is not a substitute for an href a human can click.

Common errors

Sidebar dumps of 80 keyword links. Linking every mention of the brand to the homepage. No path from the homepage to the newsroom.

Sources