--- title: "Add internal links to every article so your best pages gain authority" description: "Choose anchors, place links where readers see them, link new articles from old ones, and run an eight-step link check before you publish." canonical: "https://scalewithsearch.com/articles/internal-linking-content-writers" date: "2026-03-20" modified: "2026-09-25" --- ## Site navigation - [Scale With Search](https://scalewithsearch.com/) - Real estate - Real estate - [Real estate](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/real-estate) - Work - Start here - [Send your brief](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#send-your-brief) - [Prepare your six-question brief](https://scalewithsearch.com/work#prepare-your-six-question-brief) - Build - [Site build, content library with SEO, signal desk](https://scalewithsearch.com/work) - For your business - Trades and home services - [Auto body and collision shops](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/auto-body-and-collision-shops) - [Foundation and home repair contractors](https://scalewithsearch.com/for/foundation-and-home-repair) - 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A writer finishes a 2,500-word guide, adds two links in the last paragraph, and publishes. No older article links to the new guide. A month later it has no impressions, while a thinner competitor page with 30 internal links ranks on page 1. Internal links are one of the few ranking inputs a writer controls completely. They show search engines how your site is organized. They move authority between pages. They also lead readers toward the pages that matter to the business. This article gives writers the patterns to use on every article. The patterns cover the hub-and-spoke model, anchor choice, placement, links from older articles, and a checklist to run before you publish. ## Know the three jobs of an internal link Internal links do three jobs. First, they move PageRank, Google's link-based measure of importance, from page to page. A page that ranks has collected authority from external backlinks and from internal links. Second, they show which pages relate to each other and which pages are central to your expertise. Third, they create crawl paths. Googlebot follows links to find new pages. A writer who uses these three jobs well gets more value from each article without writing more words. A well-linked page can outrank a competitor with more backlinks. ## Use the hub-and-spoke model Organize links around hub pages. A hub, or pillar, is a thorough guide on a core topic. Each related article, or spoke, links to its hub. The hub links out to each spoke. Suppose you publish a pillar guide called "SEO for product managers." Every article about a product-specific SEO task links to that hub. The hub links to articles such as "roadmap prioritization for SEO," "sprint planning with SEO tasks," and "product launch SEO checklists." This pattern tells search engines that the hub is your main resource on the topic. It also sends link value from many spokes into one page, which improves its chance to rank for competitive head terms. Spokes can link to other spokes when the connection helps the reader, but the hub stays the center. The [topical authority guide](/articles/topical-authority-content-strategy) shows how to plan the hubs. A hub page links to every spoke, often in a section such as "Related articles" or "Explore this topic." Consider a cluster about "technical SEO for marketing managers." The pillar gives an overview. Spokes cover crawl budget, hreflang, and XML sitemaps. Each spoke links to the pillar, and the pillar links to all spokes. ## Choose anchor text that names the target Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells search engines what the target page is about. "Click here" and "learn more" waste that signal. "Technical SEO audit process" and "JavaScript rendering for SEO" carry it. Follow four rules: 1. Match the anchor to the target page's main keyword or title. If the target covers "keyword clustering tools," use that phrase or a close variant such as "keyword clustering methods." 2. Vary the anchors across the site. The exact keyword on every link looks manipulative. For a page about log file analysis, rotate "log file analysis guide," "server log analysis," and "our log file tutorial." 3. Fit the anchor into the sentence. "JavaScript SEO frameworks help developers avoid rendering problems" reads better than "Learn about JavaScript SEO frameworks here." 4. Keep anchors to about two to six words. A long anchor blurs what the target page is about. ## Place links where readers see them Readers see links in the opening and in the section that discusses the topic. Most readers never reach the last paragraph. Put the most important link in the first 200 words. If you write about mobile-first design, link to your main mobile SEO guide in the opening section. Crawlers meet it early, and readers see it before they leave. Put each link at the phrase it explains. If a sentence mentions "international SEO strategy," link that phrase to your international SEO guide. A forced line such as "For more on international SEO, see this guide" reads as an interruption. Spread the links through the article. For a 2,500-word article, place five to seven links across the introduction, the body sections, and the conclusion. Do not group them in one section. Use button-style links only for pages that drive business outcomes: products, case studies, and contact forms. Use in-text links for editorial references. ## Reduce link depth for new articles Link depth is the number of clicks from the homepage to a page. Pages four or five clicks deep get crawled less often and collect less authority than pages one or two clicks away. Writers can reduce depth with links. Suppose you publish an article about Looker Studio SEO dashboards. Do not rely on the blog index alone. Link to the new article from your SEO reporting hub and your analytics resources page. Also link to it from older articles that mention dashboards or reports. More paths to a page mean faster discovery. Googlebot follows internal links to find new content, so a well-linked page is often indexed in hours instead of days. ## Link new articles from old ones When you publish, add links in two directions. The new article links out to its hub and related articles. Then open 5 to 10 older articles and add a contextual link to the new one. Suppose you publish "Lazy loading SEO implementation." Search your site for older articles about page speed, Core Web Vitals, and image optimization. Add a link from each one to the new guide where the text discusses lazy loading. The [lazy loading implementation guide](/articles/lazy-loading-seo-implementation) is the kind of page that benefits from this step. The updated older articles get recrawled. The new article receives links from established pages on its first day. Use your CMS search to find the older articles. ## Use category and tag pages as small hubs Category pages and tag archives collect related articles, so they already work as small hubs. Most sites leave them as bare lists. Add a 200- to 400-word introduction to each important category page. Summarize the topic and link to the best articles in it. A "Local SEO" category intro links to your strongest local SEO guides and checklists. A "JavaScript SEO" tag page links to your rendering guide, framework articles, and troubleshooting pages. ## Avoid five common mistakes Orphan pages rarely rank. An orphan has no internal links pointing to it. Before you publish, make sure that at least three to five older articles link to the new one. Broken internal links hurt users and waste crawl requests. Run a crawl each quarter with Screaming Frog or Sitebulb, and fix every broken link. Closed loops limit discovery. A link from page A to page B and back is fine. Ten pages that link only to each other, and never to the hub or beyond, form a closed group. Connect every group to its hub. Links to weak pages waste value. Do not link to thin, duplicate, or outdated pages. Redirect or delete those pages, then point the links at better pages. Too many links bury the useful ones. About three to seven internal links per 1,000 words is a sound range. More than about 20 editorial links on one page splits the value of each link and overwhelms readers. ## Match the links to the content type Blog posts follow the hub-and-spoke model. They link to pillar pages, related posts, and relevant landing pages. Product pages link to content that explains the product's value. A software product page can link to comparison guides, implementation tutorials, and case studies. Landing pages for conversion need few internal links. Each link is an exit that can lower the conversion rate. Resource pages exist to collect and distribute links. Give them many well-organized internal links. ## Know the supporting structures Some links come from templates, not from your text. Ask your developers to confirm four of them. Breadcrumbs should appear on every page. They add links to parent pages and make the structure clear to search engines. A related-articles module at the end of each post can fill itself from shared tags or categories. Curate it by hand for your most important articles. Sidebar links to your main guides appear on every page, so they spread authority widely. Keep the list short. Footer links belong to critical pages, such as services, products, and contact. Do not stuff the footer with dozens of editorial links. Older guides tell you to add `rel="prev"` and `rel="next"` to paginated archives. In 2019, Google said it no longer used them for indexing. Normal links between the pages matter more. The [internal link architecture guide for developers](/articles/internal-linking-architecture-developers) covers pagination and other template-level choices. Keep editorial internal links followed. Do not add `nofollow` to links to your own privacy policy or login page; it gains nothing. Use `nofollow` only on links you do not vouch for, such as links inside user comments. External links also help readers. Link to other sites, including competitors, when their page is the best resource for the point you make. Balance them with strong internal links, so readers can continue on your site. ## Measure the effect Track four signals after you change internal links: - Time to index. New pages that get indexed faster point to healthy linking. - Internal link distribution. Ahrefs and Screaming Frog show which pages collect the most internal links. Your priority pages should lead. - Rankings for the target page. After you add several links to a page, watch its main keywords. Movement often shows within two to four weeks. - Engagement on linked articles. Check whether readers click through to the linked pages in Google Analytics 4. ## Run this checklist before you publish 1. Name the hub page this article supports. 2. Add one or two links to the hub with descriptive anchors. 3. Add links to two or three related spoke articles. 4. Search the site for 5 to 10 older articles that should link to this one. 5. Add a contextual link from each of those articles to the new one. 6. Confirm that every anchor is descriptive and reads naturally. 7. Confirm that links appear through the article, not only at the end. 8. Confirm that the article appears on the right category and tag pages. Repeat the older-article step each time you publish, and run a full link audit each quarter. The [SEO writing checklist for writers](/articles/seo-writing-checklist-writers) covers the other checks to run on the same draft. ---- ```text .|########||. .|########||. .|########||. |##||. .||##|. |##||. .||##|. |##||. .||##|. |#|. .|#|. |#|. .|#|. |#|. .|#|. |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#. .#| .#. .#| .#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| .# ||#########| #| .# ||#########| #| .# ||#########| #| .#. |######||######|. .#. .#. |######||######|. .#. .#. |######||######|. .#. #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# #. .##|###|##|#|######| .# || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || || |##|#||||||||||||#||#| || # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. # |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # # .#||||||||||||||||||||||||#| # || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || || ....|||#||||||##|#|||#|#||##||||....|. || #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# #. . ....|# ....#||| ||| .#||| ....#. .# # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. # . ||||#| .#####|| . .#| .#||| ||||# #. .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || .| ||||| #. |#|||||. || #. |#||. .||||| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || || |.... #. ....|#. |. ...|. ....|| || #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# #. .||||||##||||||##||####|||||||#||||||#| .# # .||####|###########################|. # # .||####|###########################|. # # .||####|###########################|. # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#||||||.#.|| # |. ..# #| #|||||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||||| .. |# ## |#| ...#|#|||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#|||#|# .# .#| #| ##|.#..#|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # .#||||||############|######|||||#| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # # |...||#||||||#||||#|#||||||#|||||#||| |.| # #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# #. .. ||||# .|||##|. |#| .|| || .|||#. #| # .# || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || | ...|| ...##| | #| .|. |. ##### .. .| || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || || ||||| || ||||#| . |. |. |#. ||||| |#| || || .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. .# |.....#|....|#.||||.|||##.|#|....||.#||.#. #. #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# #.|||||||#############################| ||| .# || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || || ##||#||#||||||#||#||#||#||##. || # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # # .#|||||||||#||#|||||||||||#| # || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||||||#| || .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. .# |#||||||||||||||||||||#| #. || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || || |#||||||||||||||||||#| || #. .######|#|#########| .# #. .######|#|#########| .# #. .######|#|#########| .# .#. |#####||||#####| .#. .#. |#####||||#####| .#. .#. |#####||||#####| .#. |# ||########|| #. |# ||########|| #. |# ||########|| #. |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |# ...... #| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#. |#. .#. |#. .#. .#| |#. .#| |#. .#| |#. |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| |#| .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. .|#|. |##||. .||##| |##||. .||##| |##||. .||##| .||########||. .||########||. .||########||. 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