Internal linking infographic: a site tree from home to categories to pages with an orphan page marked, six internal linking rules from Google, a quote that most new pages are found through links, and three steps.

Oct 5, 2026

Internal Linking Infographic: 6 Rules From Google

Internal linking best practices from Google: link every important page, use descriptive anchors, real links, a clear site structure and breadcrumbs.

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<a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/internal-linking"><img src="https://searchinsider.io/research/internal-linking/internal-linking-infographic.png" alt="Internal linking infographic: a site tree from home to categories to pages with an orphan page marked, six internal linking rules from Google, a quote that most new pages are found through links, and three steps." style="max-width:680px;width:100%;height:auto;" /></a><p>Source: <a href="https://searchinsider.io/infographics/internal-linking">Internal linking best practices infographic</a> by Search Insider.</p>

How should you link pages within your own site?

The short answer: Internal links are how Google finds your pages and judges which ones matter most. Link every important page from at least one other, use descriptive anchor text, and build a clear path from menus down to every page.

Based on Google Search Central.

What it shows

Every page you care about needs a link from at least one other page.
More internal links signal a page is more important.
Descriptive anchor text helps people and Google.
Google can only crawl <a> elements with an href.
Link from menus to categories to every page.
Breadcrumbs show a page's place in the site.

What to do

Audit: Link orphan pages from related pages.
Publishing: Link new pages from 2 or 3 older related pages.

The walkthrough

Why do internal links matter for SEO?

Google uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl ^[1]. It says the vast majority of new pages it finds every day are found through links ^[2].

How many internal links does a page need?

Every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site ^[1]. On ecommerce sites, Google notes that the more internal links a page has, the higher its relative importance ^[3].

What anchor text should internal links use?

Anchor text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to ^[2], and paying attention to internal anchor text helps both understand your site ^[1]. Use descriptive words instead of 'click here'.

Can Google follow JavaScript links?

Google can only crawl a link if it's an element with an href attribute, including links that JavaScript inserts using that markup [1].

How should you structure internal links?

Google suggests linking from menus to category pages, from categories to subcategories, and from subcategories to all product pages ^[3]. If you can't link every page, use a sitemap or Merchant Center feed ^[3].

Do breadcrumbs help SEO?

A breadcrumb trail shows a page's position in the site hierarchy and helps users explore ^[4]. Google uses breadcrumb markup to categorize page information in results, and recommends breadcrumbs that follow a typical user path rather than the URL structure ^[4].

Sources

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