Internal Linking
Links between pages on your site. Helps SEO (passing 'authority'), navigation, and guiding visitors from content to product pages. One of the highest-ROI SEO tactics.
In practice
Internal linking is your 'road map.' An article on 'how to choose running shoes' links to the 'running shoes' category, which links to a specific shoe. The visitor moves from content to consideration to purchase. Google also follows these links to understand your site's structure.
Common misconception
'All links are equal.' Anchor text matters. 'Click here' as a link to a running-shoes page is weak. 'Running shoes for women' as the anchor text for the same page is strong. Google reads the link text to understand the linked page's topic.
How to fix it
Internal links not lowering bounce rate? (1) Check relevance — are the links topically connected? (2) check placement — links within the body text outperform footer links, (3) check anchor text — descriptive text containing keywords, (4) add 'related products' and 'related articles' to every page.
Example
A bookstore had 80 blog posts with no internal links to product pages. Adding 2-4 relevant product links to each post raised pages-per-session from 1.4 to 2.8. Organic-to-product-page traffic rose 67%.
Priority
Run an internal-link audit: check every product page — how many internal links point to it? Top-seller pages with fewer than 5 internal links need immediate attention. Tool: Screaming Frog → Internal Links Report.
Related terms
Keep learning. Metrics that touch the same area:
- Content MarketingSEOCreating valuable content (blog posts, guides, videos, podcasts) that attracts potential customers organically. Goal: build authority, brand awareness, and long-term SEO.
- Bounce RateAnalyticsThe percentage of visitors who left after viewing only one page. In GA4, replaced by engagement rate — the percentage of visits with 10+ seconds, a conversion, or 2+ pages.
- SEO – Search Engine OptimizationSEOThe process of optimizing for high rankings in organic search results. Includes: technical SEO (speed, structure), on-page (content, keywords), off-page (inbound links).
- Google Search Console (GSC)SEOA free Google tool: keywords, clicks, impressions, CTR, ranking, crawl errors, and indexing issues.
- Keyword ResearchSEOThe process of identifying what your target audience searches for: search volume, competition, and search intent (informational/transactional/navigational). The foundation of all SEO and paid advertising.
- On-Page SEOSEOImprovements made directly on a page: H1-H3 headings, meta descriptions, URLs, content, alt text, internal links, schema markup. Fully within your control.
Jimmy tracks your Internal Linking, automatically
WhatsApp alerts when something important changes. No dashboards, no hassle.