Internal linking for a small site: which pages link to which

Links pass context and importance. You control both inside your site. When you link to a page, you tell crawlers what it is about and how much to care.

If six strong pages link to /pricing with anchors about “pricing” and “cost”, /pricing is more likely to rank for pricing searches than a page with one weak link.

On a small site, you win by focus. Choose a few pages that match real searches. Point other relevant pages at them with clear anchors. Remove competing signals that spread strength thinly.

Pick hubs. A hub is a page that should rank for a head term. Spokes are supporting pages that answer subtopics and link back to the hub.

• Hub: /guides/invoice-automation, target query: “invoice automation”
• Spokes: /guides/invoice-automation/setup, /guides/invoice-automation/security, /blog/invoice-automation-examples

Each spoke links to the hub with an anchor that says the subject, not “click here”. The hub links out to the spokes in a short list. This creates a clean cluster.

Do the same for product pages. If /features/recurring-billing should rank, write two or three short support pages. Link them up as above. Keep clusters tight. Do not cross link spokes from different hubs unless the topic truly overlaps.

Anchors tell crawlers the topic of the target page. Write anchors that fit the query you want. Keep them natural. Use the words a searcher uses.

Vary anchors without changing the topic. “pricing”, “product pricing”, and “pricing plans” are fine. Avoid vague text like “read more”. Avoid keyword stuffing that reads oddly. You write for users first. Clear anchors help both.

Get every ranking target two links from pages that already get traffic or external links. These are your strong pages. They carry most weight and crawl activity.

1. 1

   Find strong pages

   Open Search Console. In Performance, filter by Page. Sort by clicks. Note the top ten pages. If you track backlinks, include any page with good links.

2. 2

   Link out from them

   Add one in-text link from each strong page to a relevant hub. Use a clear anchor. Place it near the first mention of the topic.

3. 3

   Bridge with one hop if needed

   If a strong page cannot link to the hub without breaking flow, link it to a spoke that links to the hub. Keep the path two hops max.

4. 4

   Check crawl depth

   Run a crawl. Confirm every target page is no more than two clicks from at least two strong pages.

Example. /blog/how-to-invoice and /blog/invoice-template are strong. You want /guides/invoice-automation to rank. Add one link from each blog post to the guide with “invoice automation guide”. If it feels abrupt, link to /blog/invoice-automation-examples which links to the guide at the top.

An orphan page has no internal links to it. Crawlers may never find it, or treat it as low priority. Fixing orphans is quick upside on small sites.

1. 1

   List all URLs you want indexed

   Export from your CMS, your sitemap.xml, and any docs nav. Remove admin and noindex pages.

2. 2

   Crawl the site

   Use a crawler. Export the internal links report. Note URLs with zero inlinks.

3. 3

   Decide keep or kill

   If a page has no search intent, consider merging it or unlisting it. If it matters, keep it and link to it.

4. 4

   Add links from relevant pages

   Place two in-text links from strong or related pages. Use anchors that describe the page topic.

5. 5

   Re-crawl and request indexing

   Re-run the crawl to confirm inlinks. In Search Console, request indexing for the fixed pages.

A fixed page looks like /docs/api/auth now linked from /docs/api and from /guides/api-authentication, both with “API authentication”. It moves from zero inlinks to two solid ones.

Navigation links spread authority. They help discovery and set the site’s shape. Use them for hubs, core features, and key commercial pages.

• Header: Product, Pricing, Docs, Blog
• Hub dropdowns: Guides, Use cases
• Footer: legal, company, contact

In-text links add topical relevance. They tell crawlers and users the exact subject of the target. Use them to point to hubs from spokes and from strong posts. Place them where the topic appears in copy.

You need a current map. Crawl the site. Compare it with the URLs that should exist. Then fix gaps and misdirected effort.

1. 1

   Seed the crawl well

   Start from the homepage and sitemap.xml. Add any hub URLs that are not linked in nav.

2. 2

   Export key reports

   Get a list of inlinks by URL, crawl depth, and orphan candidates. Save anchor text per link if available.

3. 3

   Spot weak hubs

   Filter hubs with fewer than five inlinks, or with no in-text links. Plan to add links from relevant pages.

4. 4

   Find cannibal links

   List anchors pointing to the wrong page for a query, for example “pricing” to /blog/pricing-update. Plan anchor fixes or retarget the link to /pricing.

5. 5

   Fix depth and paths

   Ensure each target is within two clicks of two strong pages. Add direct links or bridge spokes.

6. 6

   Repair broken and redirected links

   Replace links that 404 or 301 with direct links to the current URL. Do not chain redirects internally.

Repeat this after you publish a hub, a batch of spokes, or a redesign. Save the crawl so you can compare link counts over time. A tidy link graph makes new pages faster to rank and index, as of 2026.

Here is where to add links on pages you likely have. Use simple copy edits. Keep anchors clear and short.

Example edit. On /blog/how-we-price, add: “For details, see our pricing.” Link “pricing” to /pricing in the first third of the post. Add a second link to /guides/billing-metrics with the anchor “billing metrics guide”. This pushes the right pages without forcing the copy.

Write a small anchor map. For each hub, list two to four preferred anchors. Keep this in your content guidelines. Editors will use consistent phrasing by default.

• /pricing: pricing, pricing plans, product pricing
• /guides/invoice-automation: invoice automation guide, invoice automation
• /features/recurring-billing: recurring billing, recurring billing feature

Review anchors quarterly. If a page starts to rank for a different variant, adjust new anchors to match the winning phrasing. Do not rewrite every old link. Future links will steer the signal without churn.

Track the basics. For each hub, note inlinks, crawl depth, and the number of linking strong pages. In Search Console, track impressions, clicks, and average position for the target query.

• Too many links on a page: long footers with hundreds of links dilute focus. Keep nav lean.
• Wrong-page anchors: “pricing” pointing to a blog post confuses signals. Fix the target.
• JavaScript-only links: crawlers may miss them. Use normal a href links.
• Redirect hops: link directly to the canonical URL. Update old internal links.
• Nofollow on internal links: avoid. Internal links should be followed unless the page is noindex or sensitive.

A fixed hub looks like this in your crawl: 12 inlinks, 6 from strong pages, depth 1 or 2, anchors that match the query. In Search Console, you see rising impressions first, then clicks when titles and snippets do their job.