Internal linking is one of the most underrated on-page factors. From real experience, here's what actually matters:
1. Link equity distribution — internal links pass PageRank between pages. Linking from your high-authority pages to newer or weaker pages helps them rank faster without any external backlinks.
2. Crawl efficiency — Google discovers pages through links. Orphan pages (no internal links pointing to them) rarely get crawled or indexed properly.
3. Topical authority — linking related content together signals to Google that your site covers a topic in depth. A cluster of interconnected pages on one subject outperforms isolated articles.
4. User behavior metrics — good internal linking keeps visitors on site longer, which improves dwell time and reduces bounce rate, both indirect ranking signals.
Practically: use descriptive anchor text, link from posts with traffic to posts you want to rank, and audit your internal links every 3 months.