Internal linking is very important for SEO

Google’s John Mueller answered a question about internal linking and confirmed that internal linking beyond a site’s breadcrumbs is one of the “most important things” publishers can tell Google about what content is.

Breadcrumbs

In a children’s story, the protagonist might venture into the forest and leave a trail of breadcrumbs they can follow to avoid getting lost.

Sites similarly provide “breadcrumb” paths in the form of breadcrumb site navigation so that site visitors can navigate back through the site’s site structure.

Typically, breadcrumbs start from the home page, then go to the category page, then to the article.

Home > Category > Article (You Are Here)

Breadcrumb structured data

Breadcrumb structured data is a reflection of breadcrumb navigation, it is called Internal navigation.

Internal navigation allows site visitors to easily navigate the site, switching back and forth between the site’s categories and subcategories to find interesting content.

Breadcrumb structured data Tell Google what the subject of the site category is.

This category is about x.
This category is about y.
This category is about z.

Breadcrumb site navigation is reflected in structured data, which is the context of what is being discussed.

Is Breadcrumb structured data enough for internal linking?

The person asking this question wants to know if setting up breadcrumb structured data navigation is enough for internal linking for SEO.

Here is the problem:

“If you have structured data for breadcrumbs, are internal links still important for SEO?”

Internal linking is important

Google’s John Mueller responded that internal links are an opportunity to communicate with Google, not something that internal navigation links can convey.

If internal linking matters, John Mueller answers:

“Yes, exactly.

This is where internal linking is crucial for SEO.

I think this is one of the most important things you can do on your website to direct Google and direct visitors to the pages you think are important.

And what you think is important is entirely up to you.

You can decide that the things that make you the most money are important, or you can decide that the things that make you your strongest competitor or your possibly weakest competitor matter.

With internal linking, you can really focus on those directions and those parts of the site.

This is not something you can replace with structured data.

So just because there is structured data on a page somewhere, I wouldn’t consider it a replacement for normal internal linking.

Even if you also provide URLs in structured data, we don’t use those URLs the same way we would use normal internal links on a page.

So it’s definitely not a case of hreflang comments replacing links between country versions or breadcrumb comments replacing links between different levels of a website.

You really should have normal HTML links between different parts of your site.

Ideally, instead of just having a basic set of links, you should look at it in a strategic way, thinking about what you care about most and how to highlight it with internal linking. “

Why Internal Linking Matters

John Mueller doesn’t say internal linking is a ranking factor. He just said it’s a great way to tell Google which pages in your site are important.

If we step back a bit and look at the structure of a website, in a traditional website, the website structure is similar to a pyramid.

At the top of the pyramid is a small dot that usually contains general information about the site’s content and offerings.

As you click through the layers of categories and subcategories through the site navigation, the topics go from very general (at the top) to increasingly specific, at the bottom of the pyramidal site structure.

The bigger the site, the more pages there are, and the more likely important pages will be overwhelmed and forgotten in the midst of a lot of content.

What John Mueller suggested is Strategic Internal Linking is a way to direct Google and website visitors to the hottest or most important topics.

Thoughtful use of internal linking can help Google and website visitors quickly access important content.

As Mueller suggested:

“…you should look at it in a strategic way, thinking about what you care about most and how you can highlight it through internal linking.”

The importance of internal linking is not to “trick” Google into thinking the page is relevant to XYZ.

It tells search engines which pages are the most important.

Internal linking is just a way to point to your important content and make sure search engines can find it and rank it.

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