How many internal links per page for SEO? A practical guide

The question of how many internal links to put on a page is one of those SEO debates that just never seems to die. A lot of the advice you'll find online is pretty dated, to be honest.

Here's the thing: while there isn't a single "correct" number, your internal linking strategy is one of the most powerful parts of on-page SEO that you can actually control. When you get it right, you can effectively guide both search engines and users to your most important content. If you get it wrong, you might as well be hiding your best pages away.

This guide is here to help you cut through the noise. We'll bust some old myths with up-to-date info directly from Google and give you some practical ways to build a site structure that helps your rankings and keeps visitors happy. Of course, building out a solid linking structure across hundreds of posts can take time. That's where tools like the eesel AI blog writer can help, automating the process by generating SEO-friendly content with smart internal links already included.

What are internal links and how do they pass value?

Alright, let's start with the basics. An internal link is simply a link that connects one page on your website to another page on the same website. An external link, on the other hand, points to a page on a totally different domain. Simple enough, right?

But this is where it gets interesting. These links do more than just help people get around your site. They pass what's called link equity, sometimes called "link juice." You can think of it as a vote of confidence that flows from one page to another. Link equity is a confirmed ranking factor, which means it's a direct signal to Google about how important a page is.

To really get it, it helps to know the main types of internal links you'll be working with:

• Navigational Links: These are the links you see across your whole site, like in the header, footer, and main menu. They create the main skeleton of your site, pointing users to major areas like your blog, pricing page, or contact info.
• Contextual Links: These are the real power players for SEO. They are the links you put inside your content, like in a blog post, that point to other relevant pages. They're so effective because they pass both link equity and topical relevance, telling Google not just that a page is important, but also what it's about.

Why a smart internal linking strategy is crucial for SEO

Beyond just helping people click around, a good internal linking strategy does three key things that can really affect your SEO performance.

They establish site hierarchy and distribute link equity

Think of links as "votes" for how important a page is. When you link from a page with high authority, like your homepage, to a new blog post, you're passing some of that authority over. It’s like giving your new page a little push, helping it get seen and rank more quickly.

This process helps search engines figure out your site's structure and identify your most important cornerstone content. A logical structure, where your most important pages get the most internal links, sends a clear signal to Google about what matters most on your site.

A popular way to picture this is the hub-and-spoke or "topic cluster" model. You have a central, detailed "pillar" page on a broad topic (the hub), which links out to more specific articles (the spokes). These spoke pages then link back to the pillar page, creating a tight-knit cluster that builds authority and shows search engines you're an expert on that topic.

They help Google discover, crawl, and index your content

Google's crawlers, often called "Googlebot," follow links to find new pages on the web. If a page has zero internal links pointing to it, it's known as an "orphan page." It's basically invisible to search engines because they have no path to find it.

Every website has a "crawl budget," which is the amount of time and resources Google will spend crawling your site. An efficient internal linking structure helps Googlebot find all your important content without any trouble, making sure your crawl budget isn't wasted on low-value pages. A site that's well-linked is easy to crawl, which means your content gets indexed faster.

They improve user experience and engagement metrics

This one is just common sense. When you provide relevant internal links, you're helping your visitors find other useful content on your site. This keeps them engaged and on your website for longer, which is a big plus.

More time on site, lower bounce rates, and more pages viewed per session are all good signs of user engagement. While Google is a bit secretive about how much these directly influence rankings, it's generally agreed that a site users enjoy is a site search engines will favor. Good user experience is good SEO.

Debunking old myths about internal links per page

Okay, let's get to the main question. For years, you might have heard about a "100-link limit" per page. This idea came from a time when Google only indexed the first 100kb of a page's code, so keeping the link count down was a technical workaround.

But that guideline is ancient history. In a 2011 video, Google's Matt Cutts confirmed that this rule is outdated. Today, the official advice is to use a "reasonable number," which could even mean a "few thousand" if the page is a massive resource hub.

The golden rule: Prioritize relevance over quantity

So, if there's no magic number, what's the plan? The most important question to ask yourself for every single link is: "Does this link actually help the reader?"

If a link adds useful context, points to a related resource, or helps a user learn more about a topic, it's a good link. If you're just jamming links in to hit some arbitrary number, you're doing it wrong. This is called "link stuffing," and it can actually hurt you. According to Google's John Mueller, adding too many internal links can dilute their value, making each individual link a little less powerful. It’s all about quality over quantity.

There is no magic number. Don't think too much, If there is a relevent page, just link it.

Reddit

Practical guidelines based on content length

While there's no strict rule, it helps to have some benchmarks to start with. The right number will always depend on your content's length and purpose, but these general ideas can give you a solid baseline.

Key factors that should guide your decision

Instead of chasing a number, think about these factors when deciding how many links to add:

• Content Length: This one is a big deal. Longer, more detailed content can naturally have more internal links without feeling forced. It's not a shock that the average word count for a first-page Google result is 1,447 words. Deeper content just gives you more chances to link to related resources.
• Page Purpose: A resource hub or a "topic cluster" pillar page is meant to link out to lots of other articles. On the other hand, a focused landing page should have very few links because you don't want to distract the user from the main call-to-action (like signing up or buying something).
• Link Location: Not all links are created equal. According to Moz, links placed within the body of your content carry more SEO weight than links you stuff in the footer or sidebar. Contextual links are where the real power is.

Internal linking best practices and what to avoid

Now that we've sorted out the "how many" part, let's talk about the "how to." Here are some actionable tips for building an internal linking strategy that actually works.

Actionable tips for powerful internal linking

• Use descriptive anchor text: The anchor text is the clickable part of a link. Instead of using generic stuff like "click here" or "read more," use descriptive text that tells both users and search engines what the page you're linking to is about. For example, "our complete guide to on-page SEO" is way better than "click here." Using different but relevant anchor text also looks more natural.
• Link deep into your site: Don't just link to your homepage or contact page all the time. Make it a priority to link to specific, relevant blog posts, product pages, or other sub-pages. This helps distribute link equity throughout your whole site, not just at the top.
• Update old posts with new links: Your internal linking shouldn't be a one-and-done task. Whenever you publish a new piece of content, go back to your relevant older articles and add links pointing to the new page. This is a great way to pass authority to your new content and help it get indexed faster.
• Power up important pages: Use a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush to find which of your pages have the most authority (usually the ones with lots of good backlinks). Then, you can strategically add internal links from these powerhouse pages to other pages you want to give a boost in the search results.

Common mistakes that dilute link equity

• Creating orphan pages: This happens when you publish a new page but forget to link to it from anywhere else on your site. It's just left floating out there, making it almost impossible for search engines and users to find.
• Linking to redirects or broken pages: Broken internal links (404 errors) are a bad user experience and a dead end for search engine crawlers, which wastes your crawl budget. Similarly, long redirect chains dilute link equity with each jump, so it's always better to link directly to the final page.
• Using nofollow on internal links: The rel="nofollow" attribute tells Google not to pass link equity through a link. While a 2019 update changed this to a "hint" instead of a strict rule, you should almost never use it on your internal links. You want that authority to flow freely around your own site.

For a visual breakdown of these concepts and to hear an expert opinion on striking the right balance, check out the video below. It dives into the nuances of link value and when you might be doing more harm than good.

A video from SEO expert SirLinksalot discussing the optimal number of internal links per page and the risks of over-linking for SEO performance.

How to automate your internal linking with the eesel AI blog writer

Manually applying these best practices across numerous blog posts can be time-consuming and challenging to scale. It's also easy to miss opportunities or make mistakes as your site grows.

This is where the eesel AI blog writer steps in. It's built to handle your internal linking automatically, right from the moment you create your content.

Here’s how it helps:

• Automatic Contextual Linking: When you generate a blog post from a single keyword, eesel AI automatically looks through your existing site content. It then intelligently adds relevant internal links with natural, descriptive anchor text, connecting your new post to the rest of your site without you having to lift a finger.
• Balanced Link Profile: It doesn't just do internal links. The tool also cites credible external sources, creating a well-rounded and authoritative link profile that search engines like to see.
• Proven Results: This automated method is a key part of the strategy we used at eesel AI to grow our daily impressions from 700 to over 750,000 in just three months by publishing over 1,000 optimized posts.

Stop counting, start connecting

Long story short, the whole debate over how many internal links per page for SEO is asking the wrong question. Instead of getting hung up on a specific number, you should focus on creating a valuable, connected web of content that helps your users and makes your site structure clear to search engines.

A strong internal linking strategy is one of the best signals you can send to both users and Google about what your most important content is and how it all relates.

Ready to build a powerful internal link structure without all the manual effort? Generate your first blog post for free with the eesel AI blog writer and see for yourself how it automatically creates perfectly optimized and interlinked content in minutes.