Backlinks get all the attention because they’re hard to earn. Internal links get ignored because they’re easy. That’s a mistake: they’re one of the few ranking signals you control completely, and most small sites use them badly.

What internal links actually do

An internal link does three jobs at once. It helps Google discover the page, it passes some of the linking page’s authority along, and its anchor text tells Google what the target page is about. For visitors, it answers “where do I go next?”

A page with no internal links pointing to it is called an orphan. Google may still find it through your sitemap, but it has no signal that the page matters. Orphans are common on WordPress sites: old posts drop off the homepage and category pages as newer ones push them down.

Where to add links

The best place for a link is a sentence that already talks about the other page’s topic. If your bakery’s page about wedding cakes mentions “tasting appointments”, and you have a page about tasting appointments, that phrase should be a link.

  • From strong pages to pages you want to rank. Your homepage and your most-linked posts have the most authority to share.
  • Between pages on the same topic. A guide and its related service page should point at each other.
  • To orphans first. Any page worth keeping deserves at least one link from another page.

Anchor text that helps

Use the words a reader would expect to click: “sourdough classes”, not “click here” and not the full title of the post. Keep it to two to five words that describe the target page.

Avoid using the same exact anchor everywhere. Natural variation reads better and looks less engineered.

How many internal links per page?

There’s no magic number. Google can follow a lot of links on a page, so the limit that matters is the reader’s: every link should be one they might genuinely want to click.

A sensible rule of thumb for articles is a few contextual links per thousand words, placed where the text already mentions the other page’s topic. Short service pages may only need two or three. What matters more than the count:

  • Every important page gets links from related pages, not just from the menu.
  • Each link describes where it goes, so the reader and Google know what’s behind it.
  • Your strongest pages link to the pages you want to rank, passing some of their authority along.

If you find yourself adding links to reach a number, stop. If a reader would be helped by a link and it isn’t there, add it.

Things to avoid

  • Links in headings. They’re awkward to read and rarely clicked.
  • Linking every mention. One good link per target per page is plenty.
  • Sitewide footer links stuffed with keywords. They add clutter, not context.
  • Links to pages that redirect. Point at the final URL.

How OnPage Agent does it

The agent maps every link on your site and scores pages with a PageRank-style model, so it knows which pages have authority to share and which are starved. It then looks for sentences where one page already mentions another page’s topic, and suggests a link on those exact words. It skips headings and text that is already linked.

You can approve suggestions one by one, or let low-risk links go live automatically in Autopilot. Each link is a logged change that can be removed with one click.