Internal linking for small sites: seven rules that compound
Internal linking is the only authority lever that does not depend on anyone else's decision. On a small site it is also the fastest one to pull, because you can fix the whole graph in an afternoon.
The seven rules
None of these need a plugin or a crawl budget. They need a list of your URLs and one careful pass.
- Every page must be reachable from the homepage in three clicks or fewer.
- Build one hub page per topic and link it to every page in that topic.
- Link back from each detail page to its hub — the cluster needs both directions.
- Use descriptive anchor text; 'click here' tells a crawler nothing.
- Hunt orphan pages: any URL with no internal links is invisible in practice.
- Do not link the same phrase to two different pages — pick one target.
- Fix broken internal links immediately; they waste crawl attention.
How a hub page should look
A hub is not a menu. It explains the topic in a few hundred words, then links out with a sentence of context per link, so both readers and crawlers understand why each page belongs.
ToolForge uses this pattern for its category pages and for the tool directory: description first, then contextual links to every tool in scope.
A 30-minute internal link audit
Export your URL list from your sitemap, list which pages link to each, and mark the ones with zero incoming links. Add one contextual link from the most relevant existing page to each orphan. Re-check next month.
Frequently asked questions
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