Internal linking for small sites

Internal links are navigation with consequences

An internal link helps a person move to a related page and helps a crawler discover how pages connect. On a small site, thoughtful links can make the difference between a clear structure and a collection of isolated pages. The goal is not to add the same keyword-rich link everywhere. It is to support important pages from places where the next step is genuinely useful.

Choose priority pages from the business Focus

Start with pages tied to confirmed offers, audiences, locations, objectives, or customer questions. Then check whether those pages are indexable, useful, and distinct. Linking heavily to a weak duplicate page simply spreads confusion.

A practical priority set might include:

• the main product or service pages;
• a strong comparison or explanation page;
• a useful article that answers a recurring customer question;
• contact, pricing, or conversion pages when they are the logical next step.

Find source pages that already have context

Use the crawl graph to find pages that do not currently link to the priority target. Prefer sources that discuss a related subject, receive internal links themselves, and give the reader a natural reason to continue. The recommendation should be exact: “link from this page to that page because …”.

Avoid sitewide footer links for every target, hidden links, or repetitive anchor text added only for search engines. A useful sentence link is normally clearer.

Check crawl coverage before trusting the graph

An internal-link analysis is incomplete when the crawler saw only a small portion of the site. SEO Dispatch requires at least three indexable pages, coverage of at least 80% of the known crawl queue, and a confirmed Focus match before it shows an Internal authority score. Otherwise it shows the missing baseline instead of inventing a number.

The score combines two bounded site-only signals: whether priority pages receive at least one internal link, and their relative strength in an iterative graph calculation. This is an internal prioritisation proxy. It is not Google PageRank and does not measure external reputation. See the full scoring methodology.

Add and verify one link at a time

For each change:

1. Open the proposed source and target pages.
2. Confirm both are still public, useful, and relevant.
3. Add a descriptive link where a reader would benefit.
4. Publish through the normal reviewed process.
5. Re-crawl and confirm the target is now connected.
6. Observe search and user behaviour over a sensible period without claiming causation from one edit.

External links are separate evidence

Links from other websites can support discovery and reputation, but raw referring-domain counts are not interchangeable across providers. SEO Dispatch allows an optional CSV record of external authority evidence while keeping it out of the score in this version. Quality, relevance, editorial context, and the target page all matter more than a made-up universal number.

Internal linking is valuable because it is specific and controllable. Use it to make the site easier to understand—not to manufacture activity.

Primary sources

• Google Search Central SEO Starter Guide
• Google link best practices