How to Add An Internal Linking in WordPress

Imad Shariat contact : writerhere2017@gmail.com

9 min readDec 15, 2023

While thinking about internal linking’s importance, the very first thing that comes to mind is that it helps in ranking on Google or other search engines. But there are some more benefits that we often ignore. Internal linkings assist in establishing a hierarchy in your posts and pages while offering easy navigation and spreading link equity.

But how to add an internal linking in WordPress? To conduct an effective inter linking on your WP website, there are two ways. First, you can create two anchor texts on both posts and do interlinking. The second way is using a plug-in, which allows you to do it easily.

We know this short-form answer is not enough. Let’s dive deeper to explore every aspect of the interlinking context.

Planning Your Internal Linking Strategy

Linking one post to another in a random way never brings the outcome. It should be done strategically. In this section of the article, we discuss in detail the planning of the whole internal linking strategy.

Development of a Site Map

As a web developer, you must know how important a site map is for coming up with a nice and easy-to-navigate website. At this stage, we suggest you start to consider placing internal links. It is always better to use an Excel sheet to create a site map, which can provide you with a visual of the final outcome. In this site map development, you have to consider four essential elements: hierarchy, navigation, pillar or cornerstone posts, and categorized posts. Here, the developed hierarchy allows you to put the pillar posts on top of the Excel sheet. Considering this, the categorized posts go under each pillar post. In this way, you also facilitate the easy-to-navigate factor.

Basics of Cornerstone Post and Its Benefits

In the case of interlinking, identifying the pillar or cornerstone post is a crucial and critical task as well. The characteristics of a cornerstone post include relevancy to the sub-posts, authority, and traffic engagement. Additionally, it must consider the respective “keyword” as a crucial factor. In short, this post or page will be a comprehensive one which can relate to several categorized and subcategorized posts. Now, if you think from an upward direction, the subcategorized posts are linked with categorized posts and each categorized post is linked with the cornerstone posts.

As a result, on the Excel sheet or whatever you are using for developing a site map, you will get several V-shaped formations as you have multiple cornerstone posts. Internal links play a crucial role in enhancing cornerstone content by passing authority. These links not only boost SEO but also guide users to deeper and more relevant information. Finally, the viewers of your website stay on your site, which finally increases overall engagement. If you follow this discussion to develop your WP site, the Google Chatbot will easily discover any new posts or page additions, i.e., getting indexed will be very easy.

The Role of Internal Links in the Sales Funnel and User Journey

In the sales funnel and user journey, internal links play a crucial role by various means. First of all, the links make the visitor identify the cornerstone posts. It gives the reader a broader idea about what he or she is going to get from your website. Secondly, in web development terms, it is called the transitioning phase, in which a visitor tries to find the item. In this phase, the visitor uses the internal links to find any particular information or product that he or she is searching for. Finally, the visitor arrives at the conversation phase. In this phase, two possible things can happen. One, the visitor buys anything or gets the message that they need.

Second, the visitor leaves the site. Now, you can see how internal links guide a visitor from just a visitor to a potential customer. We must mention that this transition becomes only possible when you incorporate strategic link placement. Here, the relevant links on the navigation menu direct your website visitors to explore the pillar posts. The internal links in the piller or cornerpost direct the vision towards the conservation post. Finally, the visitor makes a purchase, goes to other pages to get more information or leaves the site. To be a winner in this scenario, you must conduct regular audits to make adjustments to internal links as more and more posts are getting added. Regular audits and necessary adjustments ensure the maintenance of relevancy and accuracy.

Practical Steps to Add Internal Links in WordPress

Gutenberg editor is a crucial tool for doing internal linking. Here, we discuss this while comparing it against the classic editor.

Using the Gutenberg Editor for Internal Linking

The following is a stepwise guide to doing internal linking using the Gutenberg editor.

Step 01: When creating a page or post using the Gutenberg editor, you have to choose a specific block to do the internal linking. So, select a block in which you are going to do internal linking.

Step 02: In the block, logically, there are many sentences consisting of various words. Use the cursor to highlight single or multiple texts in which you want to place the link.

Step 03: As soon as you have highlighted some text, the editor will come up with several options. Choose the “icon” that is designated for linking.

Step 04: Now, copy the URL of the post or page which you want to link with this post or page. Once you click on the interlinking icon, paste the URL and press the “enter” button. You are done with the interlinking task.

Advanced Internal Linking Techniques

Well, now we already know the basics and essential information regarding internal link building. We are also equipped with adequate knowledge of classic and Gutenberg editors. Now, it is the time to explore the advanced and updated techniques of establishing internal linking.

Creating Anchor Links for Easy Navigation

In the advanced internal linking technique, the very first thing is to create or place some anchor texts. These anchor texts have to be naturally integrated with the whole context of the line, block, and overall context of the post or page. Then, these anchor texts are converted into anchor links by selecting the link icon and pasting the respective URL of the post or page that you want to connect through these anchor texts.

Once done and the post or page is published, the visitor on this page will be able to navigate to the linked page where the product or respective data can be found. We must inform you that adding anchor links to your content brings multiple benefits.

These links make things better for users. It improves their experience, boosts engagement, and helps them quickly find the exact information they’re looking for on the page.

Optimizing Link Placement and Link Juice Distribution

The term “optimizing link placement” refers to the thoughtful placement of an internal link (previous content) in your current content. While inserting the link, the very first thing to consider is choosing the best anchor texts that reflect the linked content’s context and value. On the other hand, the term “link juice distribution” signifies how nicely you select the anchor texts, consider the relevance of the going-to link content, and have the capability to direct the reader to that page or post.

Link juice distribution also signifies that you go for a reasonable amount of link placement. We always suggest our readers not to make your page or post a Wikipedia page. It means do not overburden your current content with a huge number of internal links. Inappropriate link juice distribution is also harmful to the content and website.

Automating Internal Linking with WordPress Plug-ins

If you are overwhelmed with strategic link placement and link juice distribution on WordPress, there are solutions for you. You have the opportunity to use plug-ins to get assistance in effective interlinking. Let’s check out our top-picked two such plug-ins’ features and benefits.

Link Whisper

This AI-powered tool provides excellent service in terms of assisting you in finding the best anchor texts and adding links. It is also helpful for editing internal links. In consideration of competitive advantages, we must include that this plug-in saves you valuable time while suggesting the best possible internal links. However, in the case of reporting, we haven’t found any exclusive service. Most amazingly, it has a free version as well.

Internal Link Juicer

It also serves like Link Whisper. It facilitates automated link placement while offering you an enhanced grip on link placement and distribution. In this way, it offers a greater level of optimization in terms of link juice distribution. Its workability is highly integrated with the superb pre-post configuration. The considered plug-in, Internal Link Juicer, is more dedicated towards link juice distribution. We must say that its features are highly beneficial for your website’s overall SEO.

Techniques for Seamlessly Integrating Internal Links into Content

The following are the most crucial techniques for effortlessly integrating internal links into content.

Internal linking must be done by the use of natural and relevant keywords only.
In consideration of strategic link placement, create or select anchor texts that are naturally blended with the whole content. Do not go for forceful placement.
Try your best to direct the link towards the cornerstone post or pillar post.
Place the link in the form of a CTA or in-content recommendation.
Maintain a consistent and continuing style in the link placement.

Auditing Your Internal Links

To do an audit of your site’s internal links, follow the below process.

Use an Excel sheet to place all the keywords, topics, and URLs into the columns. Fill up the sheet accordingly. Also, do highlighting of the cornerstone posts and their URLs
Use Google Search Console and analytics to gather data on the existing internal links. You should check for the broken links, the relevancy of the links, etc. You should also re-think the used anchor texts.
Do a thorough evaluation of the internal linking style. In this stage, also evaluate the ratio of linking, no-follow links, do-follow links, etc. Finally, keep only those things that are serving the real purposes.
If needed, go for content updating in terms of restructuring the links along with redirecting.
Perform the audit after 14 days to evaluate the change in the performance of the website.

Tools for Analyzing Your WordPress Site’s Internal Link Structure

To analyze your WP site’s internal link structuring, we highly recommend you use Link Whisper. The most amazing thing about this plug-in is that it suggests internal links as per your site’s content and context. It is also highly effective to find out the most appropriate anchor texts in consideration of linking with the exact cornerstone post.

The associated AI understands which links will work best for you, and it extracts them in the form of a list. From this, you can make your decision about which one to keep, which one to edit, and which one to remove.

How to Find and Fix Broken Internal Links

Finding and fixing broken internal links is one of the hectic tasks for the website owners like you. Here, the plug-in Link Whisper can help you effectively. All you have to do is just run to get an error report.

It will come up with all types of link-related issues that need to be addressed. You just separate the broken links by using the filter and fix the broken links.

Strategies for Maintaining an Optimal Balance of Internal Links

For a well-optimized website, maintaining an optimal balance of internal links is essential. You must ensure two things in this case: even link distribution and do not over-optimize your content. In addition, you have conducted the below-listed tasks as well:

Regular audit
Update content and links
Optimizing your site for mobile users
Monitor the behavior of the site visitors

Enhancing User Experience With Strategic Internal Linking

To enhance user experience with strategic internal linking, you must consider performing the below-listed tasks.

Task 01: Internal Linking and Page Load Times

You can easily do it by choosing short and result-oriented anchor texts. In this case, you must minimize the redirections. To do so, you can use a plug-in. There are a wide variety of plug-ins available, like WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache, W3 Total Cache, etc.

Task 02: Mobile-first Internal Linking Considerations

In this case, the considerations are listed below.

Your WP site must incorporate responsive design.
Keep the interface design as simple as possible.
Test your links on mobile devices regularly to identify and address any issues.

Task 03: The Aesthetics of Internal Links

For this, below are actions you must take.

Use a simple theme that is clear and consistent.
Internal links should be visually balanced.
Use internal links as CTAs.
Do not go for an excessive amount of interlinking.

Final Words

We hope that our detailed guide on how to add an internal linking in WordPress will help you enormously. After reading the article, you must have known the manual process is time-consuming. It is better to use a third-party and reputed Plug-in like Link Whisper to build effective internal link building. We suggest you try this plug-in’s free version first. Upon getting a satisfactory result, go for the premium package.