6 Internal Linking Mistakes that Confuse Search Engines
Internal links are links on your web pages that direct visitors to other pages on your website. For example, when one of your blog posts links to a related blog post, service page, or product category.
Unlike backlinks, which are links to your site from others, internal links are fully within your control and they’re one method businesses can use to improve their SEO performance.
Unfortunately, internal linking is a technical strategy that can sometimes go wrong. This article explores those common mistakes to help you create the most effective internal linking strategy possible.
Let’s dive in.
How do internal links influence SEO?
Internal links help search engines understand how your website is structured. When Google crawls your website, it follows links to discover new pages and work out how different pieces of content relate to each other.
A clear internal linking structure acts like a map: it shows which pages are connected, which ones sit at the centre of a topic, and which pages support them.
Internal links also help search engines recognise which pages are most important. If lots of pages on your site link to one specific page, that’s a strong signal that the page is valuable and worth prioritising. This is especially useful for ranking key pages like service pages, product pages, or pillar content that you want people to find through search engine result pages (SERPs).
Another way internal links support SEO is that they “spread” SEO value or authority to different pages. For instance, a page that already ranks well, receives a lot of traffic, or has a lot of backlinks from other websites can “share” its SEO authority with other pages.
Let’s say a business sells a range of kitchen tools but its star product is a bread maker. The bread maker product page ranks well in Google and receives a great deal of traffic:
A good internal linking strategy would imbed internal links on the bread maker product page to other products to enhance their value and authority. By doing so, these links act as votes of confidence that search engine bots will respond to by crawling and indexing more reliably. These pages are treated as more important within the site’s overall structure.
Additionally, internal links also help your SEO in a less direct way. User experience is a ranking factor, signalling to search engines that your website is useful and easy to browse. Internal links promote user experience by encouraging visitors to explore related content, stay on your site longer, and find answers without having to go back to Google.
So, improving user journeys can support your SEO performance indirectly by tending to the experience of website visitors.
6 internal linking mistakes that confuse search engines
If you want to build a website that’s easy to crawl, easy to understand, and easy for users to browse, internal linking is an essential strategy. Getting it right will strengthen your site’s structure, reinforce your topical relevance, and help your most valuable pages get the visibility they deserve.
Unfortunately, as this strategy requires some technical knowledge, internal linking can sometimes go wrong and fail to reap the results you were hoping for. Here are six common internal linking mistakes and how to fix them:
1. Using the same anchor text for different pages
This is when the same anchor text is used for completely different links. For example, if you included, “learn more about bread makers” for two separate blog posts about how bread making machines work.
SEO best practice dictates that anchor text should 1) be similar to the URL and 2) include the keyword you want to rank for. When websites use the same anchor text for different pages, search engines can’t quickly understand which page is the best match for the keyword. As a result, the algorithm may rank the wrong page or rank both poorly.
How to fix it: Make your anchor text more specific so each link clearly matches the page it points to. If two pages cover similar topics, adjust the wording so there’s no confusion about which page is the main one. Furthermore, you should merge pages if their content is too similar to make a clear distinction.
2. Linking to irrelevant or low-value pages
As mentioned, internal linking helps search engine bots understand what content matters most on your website. This means you should prioritise links to category, product, and sign-up pages; in other words, the ones most ripe for conversions. Furthermore, you should add links to other site content that is undoubtedly relevant, which helps bots understand the relationships between pages.
When you add links to pages that don’t add much value or that don’t relate to the content, it sends mixed signals about what matters on your site. Search engine bots may struggle to understand your site structure and which pages are actually important.
How to fix it: You should only link to pages that genuinely support the topic or help the reader take the next step. If a page isn’t useful, consider improving it or just removing the link entirely.
3. Having orphan pages with no internal links
Orphan pages are pages on your website that don’t have any internal links pointing to them
In terms of links, there’s no clear route to reach orphan pages through your site’s navigation, blog posts, category pages, or other content. This means that it may be impossible for search engine bots to find them. Even if bots are able to find your orphan pages through a sitemap, their lack of linking support makes them seem unimportant.
How to fix it: A good rule of thumb is that every important page should be reachable within a few clicks from another related page. So, add internal links to the page from relevant blog posts, category pages, or navigation menus. If the page isn’t important or relevant anymore, consider removing it entirely or redirecting it to a more useful alternative.
4. Overloading pages with too many links
Internal linking can also become confusing for search engine bots if there are too many links on one page. When this happens, bots will struggle to determine which links matter most.
Plus, bots have a crawl budget, which limits the number of pages they’ll crawl in a certain time frame. This is only really a concern for larger websites, but too many links can prevent bots from crawling your whole site.
And finally, too many links can also be overwhelming and messy for site users, reducing engagement and indirectly signalling poor user experience to search engines.
How to fix it: Keep your internal links focused and purposeful. Take some time to remove unnecessary links, combine repeated links, and prioritise the most helpful ones so search engines and users can see what’s most important.
5. Inconsistent URL versions
Inconsistent URL versions happen when the same page uses multiple versions of the same URL. For example, with and without the trailing slash: breadmakers.com/about and breadmakers.com/about/ may be treated as separate pages by search engines.
Inconsistent URLs can cause split ranking signals and indexing confusion. Search engine bots may suspect duplicate content issues when the same or very similar content exists on multiple URLs. As a result, they won’t know which version to prioritise and may either index the wrong page or neither. Furthermore, if the same page exists under different URLs, links and authority can be spread across all versions instead of building strength in one clear main page, weakening rankings overall.
How to fix it: Choose one URL format and stick to it across your site. You may need to set up redirects to the preferred versions and ensure internal links always use the same structure.
6. Broken or outdated internal links
Another way internal linking can go wrong is if links are broken or outdated. Sometimes, links will lead to non-existent or inaccessible pages and this can harm SEO for a couple of reasons.
Not only are broken links frustrating for website visitors by disrupting their navigation, but they also hinder search engine bots in their pursuit of crawling and indexing your site. This is often caused by typos, URL changes, or deleting pages and not updating links accordingly.
How to fix it: Running regular link checks can help identify broken internal links; you could do this with a site crawler like Screaming Frog. Then, you must either update the links with correct pages or remove them entirely. Plus, you can set up redirects for pages that have been deleted.
How we can support your internal linking strategy
Since internal linking can become quite technical and time-consuming, many businesses prefer to outsource this project to an external team. At purpleplanet, we use our expertise in web development, e-commerce, and SEO to support businesses with their digital goals. We can plan, implement, and monitor your internal linking structure, as well as a host of SEO and website health support.
Learn more about internal linking best practices for your SEO or arrange a no-cost call to kickstart your journey with us.
