internal linking basics for small sites

internal linking basics for small sites

Internal linking is one of the simplest but most effective SEO tasks a small site can manage, and this checklist guide exists to make that work repeatable and measurable. On small sites you do not have the luxury of scale, so every link that points between pages should be purposeful and support a clear content hierarchy. This article sets out practical checks you can apply in minutes or a few hours, rather than vague theory, and it assumes you have basic access to your content management system and a way to view site analytics and crawl reports.

Start with the fundamentals: make links useful for humans and understandable for search engines. Use descriptive anchor text that explains what a click will deliver, avoid generic phrasing unless the context justifies it, and prioritise contextual links embedded in paragraphs over lists of links where possible. Keep the site architecture shallow so important pages are within a few clicks of the homepage, and maintain a small number of high-quality internal links rather than many low-value links on every page. These principles help both indexing and user experience.

Use this practical checklist while auditing and improving your site links:

• Inventory existing pages and identify orphan pages that receive no internal links.
• Map priority pages that should receive internal link authority, such as service pages or cornerstone articles.
• Replace vague anchors with short, descriptive phrases that match the user intent of the target page.
• Link from established, well-trafficked pages to new or underperforming pages to transfer authority.
• Limit link depth so key pages are reachable in two to three clicks from a landing page.
• Regularly check for and fix broken links as part of a monthly maintenance routine.

When implementing the checklist, work in small, manageable batches to avoid accidental over-optimisation. Choose a group of pages to update each week, add contextual links where they naturally fit, and avoid inserting links solely for SEO reasons without supporting content justification. If you have tag or category pages, be cautious about creating dozens of thin index pages that dilute link equity. For blog posts, linking to a small set of relevant cornerstone pages is usually more effective than linking to every related post.

Measure the impact of internal linking changes using simple metrics: organic landing page sessions, click-through rate from internal banners or menus, and crawl metrics such as crawl frequency and index coverage in search console tools. For small sites, improvements can be visible in organic behaviour within a few weeks if the links are on pages with existing traffic. Keep a short log of changes so you can correlate specific link edits with changes in performance during analysis and avoid attributing unrelated fluctuations to internal linking work.

Common pitfalls to avoid include overloading navigation with every possible link, using the same anchor text excessively across many pages, and creating deep chains where a page links to another that links to a third with no direct path from a key landing page. Also avoid linking to pages that provide little value or duplicate content, as this can waste crawl budget on very small sites. Regular housekeeping, such as pruning low-value pages and consolidating similar content, will make your internal linking more efficient and easier to manage.

Finally, treat internal linking as an ongoing maintenance activity rather than a one-off task, and review the checklist at regular intervals as your site grows or changes. If you would like a quick way to see other short guides and examples in the same vein, visit the SEO & Growth label on Build & Automate for related posts and checklists that complement this approach. For more builds and experiments, visit my main RC projects page.