Internal links are links from one page on your site to another page on the same site. Google follows them to discover pages, uses the anchor text to understand what the linked page is about, and treats pages that get many relevant links as more important. A clear internal linking structure means new pages get found faster and your key pages, such as course or service pages, get the support they need to rank.
Why do internal links matter for SEO?
Internal links help Google discover pages, understand them and judge which ones matter most. A page with no links pointing to it may never be crawled, and a page buried deep in the site often ranks below pages that are linked from the home page and main menus.
Google explains this in its guide to making links crawlable. Links must be real <a href="..."> elements. Google does not reliably follow links that only work through JavaScript click handlers.
What is good anchor text?
Good anchor text is the clickable text of a link, written so it tells the reader and Google what the target page is about. "Data science course in Bengaluru" is useful; "click here" and "read more" are not.
- Describe the target page in a few natural words.
- Vary the wording across pages. Exact-match anchors on every link look forced.
- Keep anchors short. A whole sentence as a link is hard to scan.
- For image links, the image's alt text is the anchor. See image alt text.
What are orphan pages?
An orphan page is a page that no other page on your site links to. Google may still find it through a sitemap or an outside link, but it gets little internal support and visitors cannot reach it by browsing.
Orphan pages are common after site redesigns, on old landing pages built for ads, and on blog posts that drop off the archive. To find them, compare the URLs in your XML sitemap or Search Console with the URLs a crawler reaches by following links. Any URL in the first list but not the second is likely orphaned. Then either link to it from a relevant page, merge it into a stronger page, or remove it.
What is a hub page?
A hub page is a central page on a topic that links out to all the detailed pages on that topic, and each of those pages links back to it. This groups related content so both users and Google can see how it fits together.
For a coaching institute, a hub might look like this:
| Page | Links to |
|---|---|
| NEET coaching (hub) | Each NEET batch page, NEET syllabus guide, results page, fee page |
| NEET weekend batch, Delhi | Hub, fee page, demo class booking |
| NEET syllabus guide | Hub, relevant batch pages |
How deep should important pages be?
Keep your most important pages within about three clicks of the home page. There is no official number, but pages reached in fewer clicks are usually crawled more often and are easier for visitors to find. Use menus, category pages, breadcrumbs and links in body content to bring key pages closer to the top.
Should internal links be nofollow?
No. Adding rel="nofollow" to links between your own pages does not help Google focus on other pages, and it can stop pages from being discovered. Google treats nofollow as a hint. If you do not want a page in search, use a noindex tag instead. Login, cart and similar links can simply stay as normal links.
How many links per page is too many?
There is no fixed limit, but a page with hundreds of links dilutes the attention each one gets, both from readers and from Google. Mega menus and footers that repeat every URL on the site are the usual cause. Link to what is genuinely useful from each page.
Common mistakes
- Generic anchors such as "click here" on most links.
- Key pages reachable only through site search or a filter.
- Links that rely on JavaScript
onclickwith nohref. - Internal links pointing to redirected or broken URLs.
- Nofollow on internal links.
- Footers and menus with hundreds of links.
How do you check internal links with Spider?
Run a site crawl to see each page's click depth, find weakly linked pages, list orphan pages that are in your sitemap but not linked from any crawled page, and spot broken internal links. A page audit flags generic anchor text, nofollow internal links and pages with an unusually high number of links. Fix the pages you most want to rank first.
Check this on your own site
Spider's free check tests this and about 100 other things on any page, and links each problem to a guide like this one.
