How to add internal links: A guide to boosting your SEO

Internal linking. It sounds a bit technical, doesn't it? But it’s one of the most important, yet easily forgotten, parts of a good SEO strategy. Think of internal links as the threads connecting one page on your website to another. They guide your visitors and search engines through your content, showing them what’s important and how it all fits together.

The problem is, as your site gets bigger, adding these links by hand becomes a massive chore. Trying to recall every post you've ever written to find the perfect link is tedious and simply doesn't scale. While you can use tools to go back and add links to old content, platforms like the eesel AI blog writer tackle this issue right from the start. It generates whole articles with smart internal and external links already woven in, making sure every new post is perfectly connected from the get-go.

Understanding the basics of internal linking

Let's break it down. At its heart, an internal link is a roadmap for your website. It helps people find more of your great content and helps search engines like Google figure out what your site is all about. It’s like a book's table of contents; if a reader wants to jump to a specific chapter, the table of contents shows them the way. Internal links do the same thing for your visitors.

Key differences: Internal vs. external links

It’s really important to know the difference between internal and external links. A healthy site needs a good mix of both. Here's a visual breakdown of the key distinctions.

The different types of internal links

Not all internal links are the same. You’ll usually find a few different kinds on any website:

• Navigational links: These are the main ones. They’re in your menu, header, or footer and help people get to the most important parts of your site, like your blog, pricing page, or contact form.
• Contextual links: These are the real heavy-hitters for SEO. They are the links you place right inside your content, like in a blog post. Since you add them editorially, they send strong signals to search engines about the topic of the linked page.
• Sidebar/Footer links: You often see these in sections like "Related Posts" or "Popular Articles." They’re also used for pages like your "Privacy Policy" or "Terms of Service."

  

The core benefits of internal linking

When you nail your internal linking strategy, the benefits really start to add up, giving you a lift in both user experience and search rankings.

Improves website navigation and user engagement

Good internal linking helps visitors easily find more relevant content, which keeps them on your site longer. This is a huge win because it lowers your bounce rate and increases the average time people spend browsing. Search engines see this as a sign that your site is valuable.

Distributes authority (link equity) across your site

You’ll hear the term "link equity" (or "link juice") a lot in SEO. Your homepage is typically your most powerful page because it gets the most links from other websites. When you link from your homepage to other pages on your site, you pass some of that power along, helping those other pages rank higher. It's like sharing the wealth.

Helps search engines understand your website's structure

A logical linking structure acts like a map for search engine crawlers. It helps them see how your pages are connected and what topics you’re an expert in. When you have a group of articles on a specific subject all linking to each other and to a central "pillar" page, you're telling Google that you have deep knowledge on that topic. This is a big deal for being seen as an expert source.

Accelerates the indexing of new content

How do search engines find your latest blog post? They follow links from pages they already know. By linking to new content from an older, popular post that gets crawled often, you give Google a direct path to discover and index it faster. This stops your new content from becoming "orphan content" that no one can find.

Creating a powerful internal linking strategy

Alright, we’ve covered the "what" and the "why." Now for the "how," with some practical steps you can start using today.

Start with pillar pages

This is one of the most effective content strategies out there. A pillar page is a comprehensive guide on a broad topic (like "Customer Service AI"). Topic clusters are more specific articles that explore related subtopics (like "AI for ticket triage" or "best AI chatbots").

The model is straightforward: all your cluster pages should link up to the main pillar page, and the pillar page should link out to all its clusters. This creates a tightly connected web of content that shows search engines you've covered a topic thoroughly.

Use descriptive anchor text

The anchor text is the clickable part of a link. It gives both users and search engines a big hint about what’s on the other side. Instead of using generic phrases like "click here," use descriptive, keyword-rich text. For instance, if you're linking to a post about keyword research, an anchor text like "our complete guide to keyword research" is much better.

Find and fix orphan pages

Orphan pages are pages on your site with zero internal links pointing to them, making them nearly invisible to users and search engines. As one source notes, they are pages that crawlers can't find through normal means, effectively leaving them stranded.

You can start looking for them in Google Search Console's "Links" report, but it's not always perfect, especially for bigger sites. For a more thorough audit, a tool like Screaming Frog can connect to your Google Analytics and Search Console data to provide a full list of unlinked pages.

A comparison of internal linking methods

Now for the hands-on part. How do you actually get these links into your content? Let's look at the different ways.

The manual approach: Simple but not scalable

The most basic way to add a link is to just do it yourself. In WordPress or any other editor, you highlight the text, hit "Ctrl + K" (or "Cmd + K"), and paste in the URL. It’s easy enough for a link or two.

However, this method can become challenging to maintain as your site grows. It’s impossible to remember every piece of content you could link to. It's time-consuming, and you're bound to miss good opportunities.

Use AI to create content with built-in internal links

An alternative is to handle internal linking during the content creation process. The eesel AI blog writer is built on this principle. You give it a keyword and your website URL. It then scans your existing content to see what you've already covered and generates a complete, publish-ready article with smart, contextual internal links already included.

It handles the internal linking problem at the source, so every new article is perfectly connected from day one. It also adds external citations, images, and infographics automatically, so you get a complete article with various assets.

Using plugins to get internal linking suggestions

Plugins offer a middle ground. They won't write the content for you, but they can help you find linking opportunities in your existing articles. You still have to review and place the links yourself.

Link Whisper

• How it works: Link Whisper is a popular WordPress and Shopify plugin that uses AI to suggest relevant internal links right inside your editor. It also has some handy features, like a dashboard for finding orphan pages and an "Auto-Linking" tool that can add links based on specific keywords.
• Limitations: The AI isn't flawless.
  

  I'm not sure how people are using link whisperer and how on earth it's getting so much praise but I found it to not give good suggestions. Like one out of 10, maybe two out of 10 suggestions are decent. I don't feel like it's using any type of Al that works. It's always suggesting wrong things.

  Reddit
• Pricing: Starts at $97/year per site.

Yoast SEO Premium

• How it works: If you're already using Yoast SEO, the premium version has a simple internal linking tool. It suggests five related articles from your site in the editor sidebar, which you can then copy or drag into your post.
• Limitations: The functionality is straightforward. The tool suggests which articles to link to, but it doesn't recommend specific anchor text or where to place it, so that part is still up to you. The suggestions are based on keyword matching, which can sometimes miss more subtle connections between articles.
• Pricing: Included with a Yoast SEO Premium subscription, which is $118.80/year.

For those who prefer a visual walkthrough, here’s a helpful video that demonstrates how to add internal links directly within the WordPress editor, covering the basic steps in a clear and concise way.

This video shows how to add internal links in WordPress to better connect your content.

Final thoughts on internal linking

Internal linking isn't just another task on your SEO checklist; it's a fundamental practice that affects user experience, site structure, and, ultimately, your search rankings.

While adding links by hand is feasible, it may not be a sustainable strategy for teams looking to scale their content production. Automation is the best way to build and maintain a strong internal link structure without it taking up all your time.

Different workflows are available: manually searching for link opportunities, using plugins for suggestions, or adopting a process that builds links during content creation.

For an automated approach, the eesel AI blog writer creates articles with internal links already included, based on a single keyword. Start generating content that works for you by trying it for free today.