How Many Internal Links Should a Page Have?
Aim for 5 to 10 contextual internal links per page, and make sure every page has at least one link pointing to it. Google discovers and ranks pages through internal links, so a page with no inbound internal links, called an orphan page, may never get crawled.
Why the range matters more than the number
There is no penalty for more links, but every link on a page shares that page's ranking power, so 80 links dilute each one. Five well chosen links in the body content, with descriptive anchor text, beat 40 footer links every time.
How to audit your internal linking free
Run your page through the free Internal Linking Checker to see your link count, anchor text spread and any orphan pages. Pair it with the On-Page SEO Checker to confirm your most important pages sit within three clicks of the homepage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you have too many internal links?
No penalty exists, but past roughly 100 links per page each link passes so little value that it stops being useful.
Do footer links count?
They count for crawling but carry little ranking weight. Put your important links in body content.
Related reading
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