An SEO glossary of terms every marketer should know in 2026
A practical, current glossary covering the essential SEO terminology every marketer should be comfortable with, from foundational concepts to 2026-specific terms.
6 min read
Internal linking is one of the few SEO levers entirely within your own control — you decide which pages link to which, and in doing so, you decide where authority and crawl priority flow across your own site. Most sites link internally out of habit or pure navigation convenience, missing a genuine opportunity to deliberately support their most important pages.
Why internal linking matters this much
A page that receives many internal links, especially from other authoritative pages on your own site, signals importance to Google and receives more frequent crawling. A genuinely valuable page with almost no internal links pointing to it can underperform simply because nothing on the site tells Google, or a visitor, that it matters.
- Pages with more internal links tend to be crawled more frequently.
- Anchor text used in internal links helps clarify what the linked page is actually about.
- A page's position in the site's link graph is itself a signal of relative importance.
A deliberate framework, not random linking
Identify your genuinely highest-priority pages — the ones you most want to rank and convert — and deliberately audit and increase internal links to them from relevant, related content across the site, rather than linking purely based on where it happens to feel natural while writing.
Random, habitual internal linking spreads authority evenly by accident. Deliberate internal linking spreads it toward the pages you actually need to succeed.
Practical tactics
When publishing new content, always look for two or three genuine opportunities to link to existing priority pages, using descriptive, natural anchor text rather than generic phrases like 'click here'. Review your highest-traffic existing pages periodically and add links from them to newer, relevant content that could benefit from their authority.
- Link from new content to existing priority pages wherever genuinely relevant.
- Use descriptive, natural anchor text that clarifies the linked page's topic.
- Periodically review high-traffic pages for opportunities to link to newer, relevant content.
- Avoid excessive, unnatural link stuffing that reads as manipulative rather than helpful.
Hub-and-spoke and topic cluster models
A common, effective pattern links a comprehensive pillar page to and from several more specific, related subordinate pages, concentrating topical authority — covered in detail in our topic clusters and pillar pages guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an ideal number of internal links per page?
No fixed number — the standard is relevance and usefulness to the reader. A page with genuinely relevant links to twenty related pages is fine; a page with irrelevant links stuffed in purely for SEO value is not.
Does anchor text still matter for internal links?
Yes, descriptive anchor text helps both users understand what they will find and helps search engines understand the linked page's topic, though it should read naturally rather than being forced or repetitive.
Should navigation menus count as internal linking strategy?
They are part of it, but navigation alone is rarely enough — contextual links within actual content carry additional relevance signal that pure navigation menu links do not fully replicate.
If you want a full internal linking audit to identify where your priority pages are under-linked, talk to our team.
The takeaway
Identify your five highest-priority pages and audit exactly how many internal links each one currently receives — most sites are surprised by how few links their most important pages actually have.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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