internal linking basics for small sites

internal linking basics for small sites

When a small site fails to rank as expected, internal links are often an overlooked cause of the problem. This troubleshooting guide focuses on practical checks and fixes that a small site owner or operator can carry out without heavy technical resources. The aim is to identify common symptoms of poor internal linking, run quick diagnostics, and apply straightforward remedies that improve crawlability and distribute page authority more effectively.

Start by recognising the symptoms that point to internal linking issues. These include important pages not appearing in search results, traffic concentrated on a few pages while others receive almost none, and pages that vanish after structural changes. A simple crawl with a free spider or even a manual site walk-through will reveal orphan pages and long click-depth problems. Note down the pages that are underperforming so you can prioritise which links to add or adjust.

Perform a rapid audit with this short checklist to isolate the problem areas. Use the checks in the order listed to avoid wasted effort and to isolate root causes before fixing symptoms.

• Find orphan pages that have no internal links pointing to them.
• Identify pages buried more than three clicks from the homepage or main navigation.
• Spot broken internal links and redirect chains that waste link equity.
• Check for overuse of generic anchor text that gives no context to crawlers.
• Look for noindex tags, disallowed pages in robots.txt, and sitemap omissions.

Once you know where the weaknesses are, apply targeted fixes rather than a scattergun approach. Add internal links from relevant, higher-authority pages to orphan or low-traffic pages, using descriptive anchor text that tells users and search engines what the destination contains. Prioritise links from category pages, cornerstone articles, and any pages that already attract organic traffic to help pass authority where it is needed. Where possible, create contextual links inside body content rather than relying solely on navigation or footer links, because in-body links carry clearer semantic relevance.

Address technical problems that undermine linking efforts by checking robots.txt and the XML sitemap for mistakes, repairing redirect chains that lead to 301 loops, and ensuring canonical tags point to the correct version of each page. Use tools to find broken internal links and update them to point to live pages. If you recently redesigned the site, confirm that the new structure preserved key links and that no important pages were accidentally set to noindex. For more background material and related tutorials on growth tactics for small sites, see the Build & Automate SEO & Growth label page at our SEO & Growth label.

Finally, test and measure the impact of your changes to confirm they worked and to avoid regressions. Re-crawl the site after fixes, monitor organic visits to previously underperforming pages, and watch for improvements in index coverage and internal click paths in your analytics platform. Keep a simple log of the changes made and the dates, so you can correlate site updates with traffic changes and identify which linking strategies deliver the best returns for a small site with limited resources. For more builds and experiments, visit my main RC projects page.