Internal linking is about creating pathways that distribute authority and guide users through your site. The mechanics are simple: link from one page to another using anchor text that describes the destination page's topic. The strategy behind it is what separates functional sites from high-performing ones. Start by identifying your most important pages—typically service pages, product categories, or high-converting content. These should receive the most internal links from other pages. Your homepage and long-form blog posts naturally accumulate authority over time, so links from these pages carry more weight than links from low-traffic pages buried deep in your structure. Anchor text matters more than most people realize. Use descriptive phrases that match the target page's primary keyword or topic. "Learn more about SEO audits" beats "click here" every time. Vary your anchor text across different linking instances to the same page, but keep it relevant. Exact-match anchors are fine for internal links, unlike external link building where over-optimization risks penalties. Contextual links within body content outperform navigational links in sidebars or footers. Search engines weight in-content links more heavily because they signal editorial endorsement. Aim for 2-5 contextual internal links per 1000 words, linking to pages that genuinely add value for someone reading that specific section. Site architecture drives internal linking strategy. Keep your structure shallow—most pages should be accessible within 2-3 clicks from the homepage. This distributes PageRank efficiently and ensures crawlers find all your content. Orphan pages with zero internal links pointing to them are invisible to search engines regardless of content quality. At Ottawa SEO, we audit internal linking by running Screaming Frog to identify orphan pages, then create topic clusters where pillar pages link out to supporting articles, and those articles link back to the pillar and to each other where contextually appropriate. We also check for excessive footer links and consolidate them when clients have 50+ footer links diluting authority. Avoid linking to the same page multiple times from one article unless there's a compelling user experience reason.