The most underused tool a small site has

What a link communicates

Three things at once. That the destination exists, that it relates to the subject you are writing about, and that you consider it worth a reader's time.

The wording tells an engine what the destination is about, which is why link text is a genuine signal and why click here wastes it.

And the number and prominence of links pointing at a page is one of the clearest indications of how important you consider it.

The wording is what tells an engine about the destination, which is why click here wastes the signal as well as the reader's time.

Where links belong

Inside the content, in the sentence where the subject comes up. Those are followed, they carry meaning, and they arrive at the moment the reader is curious.

A links block at the end of an article is useful and does less. A list in the footer repeated on every page does least of all, because it says nothing about any particular page.

If a page only receives footer links, you have told the engine nothing about what it covers or why it matters.

• Inside a sentence, where the subject comes up
• In a related block at the end of the content
• From a hub page to everything beneath it
• From a popular guide to the page that earns money
• In the breadcrumb, back up to the section
• Not only in the footer, which says nothing about any page

Link wording

Describe the destination. Read how location pages are done right, rather than click here or read more.

Vary it naturally across the site. Ten links to the same page using identical wording looks engineered, and the variety helps the destination match more of the ways people ask.

Never use wording that misdescribes the destination to win a click. It costs you the visitor and it teaches the engine the wrong thing.

Spreading importance

Pages that receive many internal links are treated as more important than pages that receive few. That is a lever you control completely.

So link deliberately to the pages that earn money, from the pages that get read. Your most popular guide should point at your service page, not only at other guides.

It also works in reverse. A page nothing links to is being described as unimportant by your own site, whatever you intended.

Link deliberately to the pages that earn money, from the pages that get read. A page nothing links to is being described as unimportant by your own site.

Depth and reach

Every page should be reachable within a few clicks of the homepage. Pages further out are crawled less and treated as less significant.

Hub pages are the usual solution. A section landing page that links to everything beneath it turns a deep pile into a shallow structure.

Check for pages nothing links to at all. On any site more than a year old there are always a few, usually the ones added in a hurry.

Hub pages are the usual fix, turning a deep pile into a shallow structure, which is covered in site structure and hub pages.

How many is too many

There is no meaningful limit for a normal page. A few links inside a thousand words is natural, and forty is a directory rather than an article.

The test is whether each link would help a reader who is actually reading. Links added to hit a number help nobody and dilute the ones that matter.

Do not link the same destination five times on one page. The first one carries the meaning.

The test is whether each link would help somebody actually reading. Links added to hit a number dilute the ones that matter.

How ours are built

Links between pages on a site built here come from the plan rather than being added afterwards, so every page sits in a section, links to its siblings, and is reachable from a hub.

Every page passes a check that runs before anything publishes, validated against Google Search Essentials and modern web standards, which includes confirming that no page is left with nothing pointing at it.

A page that cannot be reached is a page nobody asked for, and that is worth catching before publishing rather than in a report next year.