Internal links connect one page on your website to another page on the same website. Adding relevant links to related blog posts helps readers discover useful information, strengthens your site structure, and makes important content easier to find.
What internal links are and why they matter
An internal link is a clickable link that points from one page on your domain to another page on that same domain. For example, a post about choosing blog topics might link to a related article about keyword research.
Internal links are useful because they:
- Help readers move naturally from one topic to the next.
- Give older blog posts a better chance of receiving visits.
- Explain how your articles relate to one another.
- Help search engines discover and understand pages on your site.
- Direct attention to important guides, service pages, or cornerstone content.
- Keep visitors from having to search for the next useful resource.
Internal links are not a substitute for useful content or a guarantee of higher rankings. Their value comes from relevance and usability. A link should make sense in the sentence and help the reader take a logical next step.
Plan your related-post structure first
Before adding links, make a simple list of your main subjects and the articles that support them. This prevents random linking and helps you identify pages that should be connected.
A basic structure might look like this:
- Main topic: Blogging
- How to Choose Blog Topics
- How to Write a Blog Outline
- How to Add Internal Links
- How to Update an Old Blog Post
- Supporting topic: SEO
- What Is Search Intent?
- How to Write SEO Titles
- How to Find Long-Tail Keywords
The main topic page can link to supporting articles, while supporting articles can link back to the main guide and to each other where appropriate. This creates a useful content path rather than a collection of isolated posts.
You can organize your planning in a spreadsheet with columns for the post title, URL, main topic, related topics, target page, and links already added. You do not need a complicated SEO tool for a small site. A site search and a spreadsheet are often enough to begin.
Find opportunities in existing blog posts
There are several practical ways to find pages that should be linked together.
Search your own website
Use your website’s search box to search for a topic, phrase, or related article title. Open the most relevant results and look for sentences where a link would provide additional context.
You can also use a search engine query such as:
site:example.com internal linking
Replace the domain and phrase with your own website and topic. Review the results for older posts that mention the subject but do not link to your newest or most useful article.
Start with important pages
Identify pages that matter most to your goals. These might include:
- A comprehensive guide.
- A page that explains a core service.
- A product category page.
- A post that consistently attracts search traffic.
- An article that supports a newsletter or conversion goal.
Add links to these pages from genuinely relevant articles. Do not add the same destination to every post simply because it is important. Excessive repetition can make the content feel mechanical and can reduce the usefulness of the links.
Look for unlinked mentions
Read through your posts and search for words or phrases related to other articles. If a post says “learn more about keyword research” but does not link to your keyword-research guide, that is a natural opportunity.
The surrounding sentence should explain why the reader might want the additional article. A bare link added after an unrelated paragraph is less helpful than a link integrated into a clear explanation.
Choose useful anchor text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable wording of a link. Good anchor text tells readers what they will find after clicking.
For example, these are generally clearer:
- “learn how to create a blog outline”
- “our guide to email newsletter ideas”
- “steps for updating an old article”
These are less informative when used alone:
- “click here”
- “read more”
- “this post”
- “learn more”
Generic wording is not always wrong, especially in a button or a short call to action, but descriptive wording is usually better within an article. Keep the text natural and avoid forcing an exact keyword into every link.
| Situation | Useful anchor-text approach | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A definition or explanation | Name the topic | “what search intent means” |
| A step-by-step guide | Describe the task | “how to create a content brief” |
| A related resource | Use the article’s natural subject | “blog post promotion ideas” |
| A comparison | Mention both subjects | “SEO plugins compared” |
Avoid using the same anchor text repeatedly for every link to a page. Vary the wording naturally while keeping the destination clear.
Add an internal link in the editor
The exact buttons differ between platforms, but the process is similar.
- Open the blog post you want to edit.
- Find a sentence that discusses a related topic.
- Highlight the words you want to make clickable.
- Select the link button in the editor toolbar. It may look like a chain icon.
- Paste the full URL of the related post, or search for the post title if your editor supports internal search.
- Confirm or apply the link.
- Save, update, or publish the article.
- Open the public page and test the link.
Use the published URL rather than a temporary preview URL. If your platform offers a search field after clicking the link tool, confirm that the selected result is the correct page and not a tag archive, attachment page, or similarly named article.
WordPress
In the WordPress block editor, select the text, choose the link icon, and paste a URL or type a search term. WordPress can display matching pages and posts as you type. Review the selected destination before pressing Enter.
If you use the classic editor, highlight the text and select the Insert/edit link button. Paste the URL, optionally select whether it should open in a new tab, and insert it. For ordinary links between your own articles, opening a new tab is usually unnecessary. Let readers decide how they want to navigate unless there is a specific usability reason to do otherwise.
Shopify
In Shopify’s blog-post editor, highlight the anchor text, select the link option, and enter the destination URL. If the editor does not offer a reliable internal search, open the target article in another browser tab and copy its canonical public URL.
Check that the link uses the correct store domain and the intended blog path. Shopify stores may have URLs containing /blogs/ and a blog handle, so copying the address from the live page helps avoid mistakes.
Other content-management systems
Most editors use the same pattern: select text, click the chain icon, enter a URL, and save. If your editor uses HTML mode, the basic format is:
<a href="https://example.com/related-post/">descriptive anchor text</a>
Only edit HTML if you are comfortable working with markup. A missing quotation mark or an incorrectly placed tag can affect the formatting of the paragraph.
Add links in both directions when appropriate
If two articles genuinely support each other, link from the older post to the newer post and from the newer post back to the older post. This creates a clearer relationship for readers.
For example, an article about planning content could link to a detailed keyword-research guide. The keyword-research guide might link back to the planning article when explaining how research fits into a larger workflow.
Bidirectional linking should still be selective. Do not create a link simply to force symmetry. If one article is a detailed explanation and the other only mentions the subject briefly, a one-way link may be more natural.
Use related-post sections carefully
A “Related articles” section near the end of a post can help readers continue browsing. It works best when the recommendations are genuinely connected to the article’s subject.
You can create this section manually with three to five links, or use a related-post plugin or theme feature. Manual recommendations often provide better editorial relevance, while automated systems are faster for large websites.
When using an automated related-post feature:
- Check whether it selects posts by categories, tags, keywords, or publication date.
- Review the output on mobile devices.
- Remove irrelevant recommendations.
- Make sure the links point to live, useful pages.
- Avoid displaying a long list that overwhelms the reader.
A related-post widget should supplement contextual links inside the article. It should not be the only way readers can discover connected content.
Audit and improve your internal links
After adding links, review the page as a reader would. Ask whether each link appears at the moment a reader might need more information.
Use this quick audit:
- Does the destination directly relate to the sentence?
- Is the anchor text understandable without surrounding context?
- Does the target page load successfully?
- Is the link visible on mobile?
- Does the destination use the preferred URL version?
- Are there too many links in one paragraph?
- Does the article link to at least one relevant older or foundational post?
- Are important pages receiving links from appropriate content?
Periodically check for broken links. A destination may later be deleted, renamed, or moved. If a URL changes, update the link to the new address or remove it if no suitable replacement exists.
You can find broken internal links with a website crawler, a search-console-style reporting tool, or a plugin that checks links. For a small site, manually reviewing the links in your most visited posts may be sufficient.
Common problems and fixes
The link points to the wrong page
This often happens when several posts have similar titles. Open the destination in a new tab and confirm its heading, URL, and content before saving the edit.
The link works in the editor but not publicly
Preview and editor links can behave differently from live links. Test the published page while logged out or in a private browser window. Also check whether caching is showing an older version of the page.
The URL returns a 404 error
Search your site for the article’s current title. If the post was moved, replace the old URL with the new one. If no replacement exists, remove the link or connect readers to a closely related live page.
Links look unnatural
Too many links, repetitive anchor text, or links inserted into unrelated sentences can make an article difficult to read. Remove links that do not add clear value, and prioritize the reader’s next question.
The related-post widget shows poor matches
Adjust the widget’s category, tag, or relevance settings, or replace it with manually selected recommendations. Automated tools do not understand context perfectly, especially when a site uses broad or inconsistent tags.
Links are hard to notice
Check your theme’s link color, underline, contrast, and hover behavior. Links should be visually distinguishable without relying only on color, and the styling should remain clear on small screens.
A simple maintenance routine
When publishing a new blog post, add two or three links to older relevant posts. Then revisit one or two existing articles and add links pointing to the new post where the context fits.
Once a month, review your most important articles. Look for outdated destinations, orphaned posts with few internal links, and articles that deserve a stronger connection to a main topic page. Keep the process editorial and deliberate: a small number of highly relevant links is more useful than filling every paragraph with links.