Internal linking is where you link from one page on your website, to another page on your website, such as linking to the homepage from a category page and vice versa. This is how Google crawls a website and finds all products and pages (apart from XML sitemap).
Changing how you manage internal links can be really useful for users and can contribute to an increase in conversion rate!
We’ve put together a list of some of the key ways you can leverage internal links across your eCommerce website to improve your SEO and user-friendliness.
What is Internal Linking?
In simple terms, an internal link is a hyperlink that points from one page to another page on the same website.
Types of Internal Links
There are four main types of internal links: navigational, footer, breadcrumbs, and contextual links.
Navigational Links
Navigational links are very important internal links as they all sit on every page in the main navigation of your website and should link to your most important pages.
This is what navigational links look like:

Footer Links
Footer links are a type of navigational link, but instead they sit on the bottom of the page. Common footer links include: to key pages, contact, about and FAQs.
This is what footer links look like:

Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are also similar to navigational links and they help search engines and users better understand the structure and hierarchy of your website. Breadcrumbs help establish a relationship between your webpages. Breadcrumbs usually sit at the top of the page, just below the navigation bar.
This is what breadcrumb internal links look like:

Contextual Internal Links
Contextual links, also referred to as in-links, are usually placed within the main body of the copy on a webpage. These types of internal links often link to similar types of content.
This is what contextual links look like:

Why are Internal Links Important?
Internal links have many SEO benefits. They:
- Help users navigate through a website and improve user-experience by taking them to related content, keeping visitors on-site for longer
- Help establish a hierarchy between pages. Search engines can follow internal link paths and establish a relationship between pages
- Ensure pages are found easily. Search engines crawl internal links to find other pages and this helps minimise the chances of orphan pages
- Help pass on authority and link equity to other pages of your website.
Optimising Internal Linking
1) Link to your most important category and product pages in the sitewide menu
Linking to key category pages from the navigation menu helps increase the internal authority of these pages. It also gives Google a clearer idea of the hierarchy and, if a page is linked to from the sitewide menu, it means that it is linked to from every page on the site, a clear signal to Google that this page is important. All key category or collection pages should be in the main nav.
2) Implement breadcrumbs onto your category and product pages
Breadcrumbs are the links at the top of a product or category page which map the user journey to a page (see example below).

Long breadcrumbs are not only useful for user navigation, but they give Google a clear indication of the relationship between a set of category, subcategory and product pages.
These links are a great quick win for eCommerce SEO and also very easy for Google to crawl quickly.
Breadcrumbs should ideally be in the following long format rather than Home > product page as they give Google more context:
- Home > Category > Product
- Home > Category > Subcategory > Product
To find out how these can be implemented easily across various e-commerce CMS platforms including Magento and Shopify, we’d recommend reading through the following blog posts:
Once breadcrumbs have been implemented, they can be marked up with breadcrumb schema which will appear on the search results. This will give Google further information on the site structure and hierarchy (see SERP example below).
Details on how to implement breadcrumb schema can be found here.
3) Add subcategory links to category pages
Subcategory links give Google more context on the contents of a page, whilst also allowing web crawlers and users to navigate through the site easily. Additionally, a recent study found that users who engage with category to sub-category links were 1.4x more likely to convert than those who don't.
These can be implemented as text links at the top of a category page, as shown on the below on Beavertown:

Or, as image links like the Heal’s example below:

4) Consider attribute links on product pages
Attribute linking is commonly referred to as ‘deep links’ and can work well alongside breadcrumbs if they already exist on the site. These links can be incorporated anywhere on a product page and reference any attribute a product may have.
One of the main differences between breadcrumbs and attribute links is that they do not need to follow a user journey, they can simply include a reference to any category page a product may belong to, e.g. size, colour, material.
For example:
Text link example:

In text link on a PDP to a brand collection on Selfridges
Table link example:

Button link examples:

Button links on Selfridges’ PDP
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5) Incorporate a ‘customers also bought/customers also liked’ section
You can easily boost the user experience with internal links like ‘you may also like’ and ‘customers also bought’ modules at the bottom of a product page. These are very popular on e-commerce sites - often powered from third-party tools like REBUY (see examples below).

6) Link from your blog posts to product pages and vice versa
If you have relevant guides or blog posts on the site, these are a great way to link to individual product pages and category pages.

An additional tactic is to see which of your blogs have lots of links to them and add links to pages you want to push. These internal links carry more authority because of the external links to the pages so can be a good tactic to boost deeper pages that otherwise wouldn't get the same level of authority.
7) Link from PLPs and PDPs to blog posts for inspiration and advice
Adding links from PLPs and PDPs to relevant blog posts can help customers who need inspiration or advice. Content could be how to guides, size guides, care guides, fit guides etc.
You can use blog posts to answer any questions visitors may have about a particular product or category. This can help customers convert by giving them all of the information they need to make a purchase.
This also helps improve E-E-A-T as it will establish a relationship between these pages around a particular topic, showing search engines you’re the expert.

8) Add FAQs to PLPs and PDPs
You can leverage FAQs for internal linking by answering the questions your customers have around a particular product or category and linking to a relevant blog post that answers their questions in more detail.

9) Add contextual links within content blocks on PLPs
Content blocks are a great, easy way to add internal links as they allow you to do so in a very natural way. Often when discussing a topic, you naturally mention related topics making for plenty of opportunities for internal linking. The key with contextual links to make them as natural within the copy below, rather than using phrases such as “click here”.

5 Internal Linking Top Tips
Make sure your internal links are crawlable
Make sure to check your internal links are crawlable. Ensure they are included as <a href> links rather than as JavaScript or AJAX, as this will make it easier for Google to crawl and follow them.
Have relevant anchor text
A quick tip for internal linking is to ensure anchor text is relevant. This will give Google more context about the linked-to pages. So instead of “view more” or “click here” generics, use proper anchor text like “shop accent chairs.”
Fix broken internal links
Linking to a 404 page is not best practice and creates a poor user-experience. Make sure you’re linking to 200 status code pages. If any of your internal links are pointing to a 404 page, update them to a new relevant page.
Don’t spam your pages with internal links
Whilst it’s important to have internal links, they need to be embedded naturally on your webpages and not stuffed in for the sake of it. Internal links should be strategically placed to help visitors along their journey.
Create and use content clusters to establish opportunities
Essentially, content clusters are the grouping of relevant content on a main topic.They are a great way to find relevant internal linking opportunities across your site and they also help to build E-E-A-T.
Internal Linking FAQs
What do I do if a product is out of stock?
This is a common debate in the SEO industry.
If a product will be returning back in stock, we think it’s best to keep the page live and insert a note to users when the product is expected to return. You can also use this as an opportunity to link to similar products and sign customers up to a waiting/mailing list in the meantime.
This keeps the SEO value of the page (internal and external links, etc.) whilst maintaining user experience and reducing bounce rate.
If a product is being discontinued and will not be back in stock, then it should be redirected to the closest related product. If there isn’t a similar product on the site, then redirecting to the closest relevant category page is also acceptable.
You can find out more on best practice for out of stock products here.
What do I do with sales and events pages like Black Friday?
A common mistake is to redirect these pages to a relevant live page on the site. We would not recommend doing this unless absolutely necessary! As the page would then lose all the value that it has gained throughout the sales/event period.
Instead, it’s best to leave the page as a 404 and remove any key internal links. This means the page can retain the majority of its page rank value and be linked to again when the season returns.
How can you audit internal links?
You can see the number of internal links a page has using crawlers like Screaming Frog. This can be identified through the InLinks column at the top of the screen or by clicking on a URL and clicking on the InLinks tab in the bottom window.
You can also use the crawl depth column (pictured above) to see how many clicks away from the homepage a page is. If it’s 1 then this means it’s linked to from either the homepage or the sitewide menu.
The link score refers to the ‘relative authority’ a page has from internal linking.
How can I see if any internal links are broken or not working?
Ahrefs broken backlinks has a feature where you can identify any external links your site has to a broken page on your website.
This can be found on the left-hand side of the toolbar under ‘Backlink profile.’