Internal Link Building: The Most Underrated SEO Strategy

Over my years as a technical SEO consultant, I've noticed something...

The same issues appear across most websites I worked with. These sites ignore valuable strategies that could double their results within weeks.

Today, let's talk about one of these overlooked strategies: internal link building.

It's relatively easy to implement. The costs are minimal. And the results? Often impressive.

Getting better positions in Google isn't normally easy or cheap.

But there's an exception.

When you create proper connections between pages on your website, everything changes.

Helping Visitors Find What They Need

The concept behind internal link building is simple.

You help visitors find detailed content related to what they're currently reading. It's about creating a natural journey through your website.

Let me give you an example.

Someone's reading your blog post about protein powder types. Within that post, you link directly to relevant products or categories in your online store. The reader gets exactly what they're looking for without having to search.

Here's another scenario.

You have a solution page on your SaaS website. Within each section, you link to specific product pages. These pages provide a detailed overview of the features. Again, you're guiding visitors to valuable content they might otherwise miss.

These same links help Google and other search engines discover your valuable pages. When you help visitors navigate your site more effectively, you’re also helping crawlers understand your site's structure more clearly.

The Science That Makes It Work

The mechanics behind internal link building are actually pretty simple.

You're telling crawlers which pages are most important.

In my experience, every time I've implemented proper connections between pages, the results have been considerable.

But let's set realistic expectations.

You won't rank highly for very competitive keywords overnight if you've just launched your website. That's not how it works.

But here's where internal linking truly shines.

Let's say you have a page ranking on Google's second page for a specific keyword. With strategic internal linking, you can often push that page into the top ten. Sometimes even the top three.

I've seen interesting results with this approach.

Proper internal link building has helped me rank pages in the top three positions for difficult keywords with difficulty scores over 80.

Of course, there's a caveat.

This level of success requires a domain with a strong backlink profile. Without that foundation, such results wouldn't be possible.

For most websites with average backlink profiles, you can realistically target medium difficulty keywords. And that's still incredibly valuable.

Implementing at Scale

Many companies start implementing connections between pages manually, one by one. While this approach works, it's painfully slow. It takes a long time to see results that justify your investment.

The ideal approach involves developing or using existing solutions for bulk implementation.

Remember, different platforms and website sizes need different approaches.

For most websites, I recommend this strategy:

Combine manual selection for your most important pages with automated semantic similarity for all other pages. You get the best of both worlds: precision where it matters and efficiency at scale.

Modern AI has completely transformed this process. What once required advanced programming skills or endless manual work is now accessible to everyone.

Making It Work for You

Browse the internet and you'll find dozens of internal link building strategies.

Some promise overnight success. Others require months of dedication.

The goal isn't to find the "best" strategy. It's to find the right one for your specific website.

Every website is unique in SEO. What produces amazing results for one site might fail for another. There's no universal solution.

That said, internal link building works for every website. The key difference? Choosing the correct approach for your specific situation.

Start small. Pick your most important pages. Find natural connection points. Build from there.

The websites that succeed aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who understand their content and create logical connections between related pages.

That understanding is your real differentiator.