You’ve built a website.
You’ve created individual pages for your services.
You may even be regularly publishing useful blog content.
But there’s one simple SEO question many businesses forget to ask:
How are all those pages connected?
If one of your most important service pages has very few relevant links pointing to it from elsewhere on your own website, you could be making that page harder for visitors and search engines to discover and understand.
This is where internal linking comes in.
And the good news?
It's one of the SEO improvements you can start checking yourself.
🔗 What Is an Internal Link?
An internal link is simply a link from one page of your website to another page on the same website.
For example, imagine Page Crowd publishes a blog explaining how businesses can improve their websites.
Within that article, we might naturally mention professional website design and link those words to our website design service page.
That's an internal link.
They're different from backlinks, which are links coming to your website from other websites.
Both can play a role in SEO, but today we're focusing on the links you can control directly.
🔍 Why Do Internal Links Matter for SEO?
Internal links can help in several ways.
1. They help search engines discover pages
Search engines use links as one way of finding and navigating content.
If you create a new service page but barely connect it to the rest of your website, you're missing opportunities to make that page easy to discover.
That doesn't mean adding one internal link guarantees Google will index or rank the page.
SEO isn't that simple.
But a logical internal linking structure can make your website easier for search engines to crawl and understand.
2. They help explain relationships between pages
Imagine your website has content about:
Google Ads
Meta Ads
Social Media Management
Website Design
SEO
Your articles about Google advertising could naturally link to your main Google Ads service page.
Your website tips could link to your Website Design page.
Your SEO articles could link to relevant SEO service or resource pages.
Those connections help create a clearer website structure.
3. They help real people
SEO isn't only about search engines.
Internal links can also help visitors find useful information.
Someone reading:
“5 Things to Check Before Running Google Ads”
might naturally want to know more about your Google Ads service.
A relevant link saves them from having to navigate back through menus and search for the information themselves.
That's better usability as well as sensible website structure.
🚨 The Problem With Orphan Pages
A page with no internal links pointing to it is often described as an orphan page.
Imagine building a fantastic new service page and then effectively leaving it on an island.
It's technically part of your website, but there are few or no normal pathways leading visitors to it.
That's something worth investigating.
Not every page needs dozens of links pointing towards it, and there can be legitimate reasons for certain pages to sit outside your normal navigation.
But if it's an important page that you want customers and search engines to discover, ask:
Why aren't other relevant pages pointing to it?
🧪 Try This Simple SEO Test
Choose one of your most important service pages.
For example:
/website-design/
Now look through your website.
Does your homepage link to it?
Does your main services page link to it?
Do relevant blog posts link to it?
Do related FAQs link to it where appropriate?
Can someone logically reach it while reading about that subject?
If the answer is hardly anywhere, you've found something worth reviewing.
📝 Your Old Blog Posts Could Help
This is where businesses can find quick opportunities.
You may already have dozens of blog posts sitting on your website.
Go through older articles and look for places where you've naturally discussed a service or subject that now has a dedicated page.
For example, an old article might say:
“A slow or confusing website can make it harder for potential customers to find the information they need.”
If you have a relevant guide about improving website performance or a website design service page, that could be an appropriate place for an internal link.
You don't necessarily need to publish another 50 articles.
Sometimes improving the connections between the useful content you already have is worthwhile.
❌ Don't Add Internal Links Everywhere
Once businesses learn about internal linking, it's easy to go too far.
Suddenly every paragraph contains three links.
That's not the objective.
Links should have a useful reason to exist.
Ask:
Would somebody reading this reasonably benefit from visiting the page I'm linking to?
If yes, the link probably makes sense.
If you're adding it purely because somebody told you that every page needs a certain number of internal links, reconsider it.
There's no universal magic number that every page must contain.
🎯 Use Descriptive Anchor Text
The clickable words within a link are known as anchor text.
Instead of repeatedly writing:
CLICK HERE
you can often make the link itself more descriptive.
For example:
“Take a look at our website design services.”
The words “website design services” give the visitor a clearer idea of where the link will take them.
Keep anchor text natural and useful.
Don't force the exact same keyword-rich phrase into every internal link simply because you're trying to influence Google.
Write for clarity first.
🏗️ Think About Your Website Like a Structure
Imagine your website as a building.
Your homepage is the reception.
Your main service categories are corridors.
Your individual pages are rooms.
Internal links are the doors connecting everything.
Now imagine building an important room but forgetting to install any doors.
That's essentially what you're trying to avoid.
Your important content should sit within a logical structure that both customers and search engines can navigate.
⭐ Your Most Important Pages Deserve Attention
Not every page on your website has equal commercial importance.
For many businesses, the pages that matter most might include:
- Main service pages
- Product or category pages
- Important location pages
- Key guides
- Contact or enquiry pages
Look at the pages that matter to your business and consider whether your site's internal linking reflects their importance.
If an insignificant old article has links pointing to it from everywhere while your primary service page is barely connected, your structure may need some attention.
⚠️ Internal Linking Isn't a Magic SEO Trick
This part is important.
Adding internal links does not mean:
“Add five links and you'll rank number one.”
SEO involves many factors.
The usefulness and quality of the page matter.
Search intent matters.
Competition matters.
Technical accessibility matters.
Website quality matters.
External signals can matter.
Internal linking is one part of a much larger picture.
Think of it as good website organisation rather than a secret Google hack.
🔎 Use Google Search Console Too
If you're working on your own SEO, Google Search Console can help you understand how Google is interacting with your website.
You can use it to investigate pages, search queries, indexing information and other search performance data.
Don't rely on simply Googling yourself and assuming that tells you everything about your SEO.
Use actual data where possible.
📋 A Quick Internal Linking Checklist
Take ten minutes and check your website:
1. Pick your five most important pages.
2. Check whether other relevant pages naturally link to them.
3. Review older blog posts for useful linking opportunities.
4. Use descriptive anchor text instead of vague links where appropriate.
5. Check for important pages that appear isolated.
6. Don't add links purely for the sake of adding links.
7. Make sure links genuinely help visitors move through your website.
That alone can give you a much clearer picture of how well connected your website really is.
🚀 Need Help With Your Website and SEO?
At Page Crowd, we help UK businesses strengthen their online presence through website design, SEO, social media management, Google Ads and Meta advertising.
SEO doesn't always mean creating another page or chasing another keyword.
Sometimes the opportunity is already sitting on your website.
Your useful content exists.
Your service pages exist.
You just haven't connected them properly.
So choose one of your most important pages today and ask:
How many other relevant pages on my website actually lead people here?
Because when it comes to SEO:
