Internal Linking: The Most Underused SEO Lever

Why internal links matter so much

Internal links pass authority between your own pages. They tell Google which pages are most important and how topics relate. They also keep visitors on your site longer.

A page with five strong internal links pointing to it almost always outranks the same page with zero.

The hub-and-spoke pattern

For every topic cluster, designate one 'hub' page (broad, comprehensive) and link to it from every related 'spoke' page (narrow, specific).

The hub also links back to every spoke. This creates a tight semantic graph Google can crawl and rank.

Anchor text discipline

Use descriptive anchor text, not 'click here' or 'this article'. The anchor text is a ranking signal for the destination page.

Vary the anchor text so it doesn't look automated. Two or three natural variants per destination is plenty.