Internal links are the links on your own site that point from one page to another. They do two jobs at once: they help visitors find related information without hunting through menus, and they show search engines how your pages relate to each other. A site with thoughtful internal links feels easier to explore, because each page leads somewhere sensible next. A site with random or excessive links feels noisy, and visitors learn to ignore them. The difference is rarely about quantity. It is about whether each link answers a question the reader is likely to have at that moment.
Link from context, not from a list
The strongest internal links appear inside the text, at the point where a reader might want more detail. If a paragraph mentions a topic you have covered elsewhere, link the words that describe that topic, not a vague phrase such as click here. Descriptive link text helps everyone: visitors can predict where the link goes, and search engines gain context about the destination page. Keep the number of links modest. A short article usually needs only a few, placed where they genuinely help, rather than a link on every other sentence.
It also helps to think of your site as a small map. Important pages should be reachable from several related pages, not buried behind a single menu item. When you publish something new, look for two or three older pages where a link to it would feel natural, and add links from the new page back to the older ones it builds on. This habit keeps older work discoverable and gives new pages a sensible place in the structure. The same discipline sits behind on-page SEO basics every designer should know, where clear headings and descriptive links make a page easier to understand for readers and search engines alike.
Keep the structure honest and easy to maintain
Avoid linking to a page simply to push it up in search results. If the link does not help a reader, it weakens trust in the links that do. Check your links from time to time, especially after you rename, move, or remove pages, because a broken internal link frustrates visitors and wastes the work you put into the content. A short, regular check is enough for a small site: open your main pages, follow the links, and fix anything that no longer leads anywhere useful.
Finally, let your content plan guide your linking. When pages are grouped by topic, natural links appear on their own, because related ideas belong together. That is why content structure that helps search rankings matters so much: a clear structure makes linking obvious instead of forced. Start with the pages visitors use most, link them to the next logical step, and review the result as a reader would. Good internal linking is quiet work, but visitors notice it every time they find what they need without getting lost.