How do internal links work?

An internal link connects one page of your website to another. Readers and Google can follow it to find that page. It also passes existing authority from the linking page to the linked page.

Adding more internal links divides the authority you already have among more pages. Backlinks from other websites bring authority into the site.

Start with a page earning organic clicks

In Search Console’s Performance report, select a page and open the Queries tab. Look for organic clicks from queries related to the page you want to help rank, especially repeated top-three or top-five positions. Also check the page’s backlinks and the pages it already links to.

Those positions help the linking page earn clicks and build click history. Merely publishing a related page and adding a link doesn’t give you the same starting authority.

A practical chain-repair guide can introduce a repair-booking page at the point where a reader needs professional help. That passage gives the link a real reason to exist. A repeated link in an unrelated paragraph supplies much less useful context.

Use words that describe the linked page, such as “book a bike repair.” Those clickable words are the anchor text. Link to the page’s main URL, called its canonical URL, rather than an old address that redirects there.

More outgoing links divide the authority passed on

The exercise gives one linking page 100 example units of authority to pass on. With two outgoing links, each linked page gets 50 units. With four, each gets 25. Adding a link divides the amount passed on; it doesn’t create more authority.

These are example numbers, not Google’s actual scores. Real links can carry different weights. The point is simple: a page with little authority cannot give strong support to every page on your site.

Adding an outgoing link doesn’t directly subtract that share from the linking page’s own PageRank. What changes is how much authority it passes to each linked page. Check rankings for all the affected pages before drawing conclusions.

Link directly to the related page

If a guide earns organic clicks from relevant queries, link directly from that guide to the page you want to help. Sending authority through several other pages adds more links where it can be divided.

Menus help people browse. Links within a paragraph can connect a specific explanation to another page. Add those links where the related page would help the reader.

Check the pages affected by the change

Save the linking page’s URL, the linked page’s URL, the anchor text and the date. In Search Console, compare impressions, clicks and average position for each page’s relevant queries before and after the edit. Use equal-length periods and the same country and device filters.

The links between lessons in this guide help you follow the reading order. To judge whether an internal link helps rankings, you need to check the linked page’s search results over time.