Internal Links vs Backlinks: How Each Helps SEO
Internal links vs backlinks: what each one is, how Google uses them, and how to combine them so the value from outside links reaches your most important pages.
Internal links and backlinks are both just links, but they come from different places and do different jobs. Many site owners chase backlinks while ignoring internal links, the one type they fully control. The best results come from using both together.
The difference in one line each
- A backlink is a link from another website to yours.
- An internal link is a link from one page on your website to another page on the same website.
Your menu, breadcrumbs, footer, related posts and in-text links between articles are all internal links. A blog in Kochi linking to your homestay is a backlink.
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Backlinks | Internal links |
|---|---|---|
| Who controls them | Other site owners | You |
| Main SEO job | Bring signals of trust and relevance from outside | Help crawlers find pages and spread value within the site |
| Effort | Hard to earn | Quick to add |
| Anchor text | Chosen by the linking site | Chosen by you |
| Risk | Manipulative links break Google's spam policies | Very low, as long as links help users |
| Referral traffic | New visitors from other sites | Keeps existing visitors moving |
How backlinks help
Backlinks are one of the ways Google understands that other people find your content useful. A link from a relevant, respected website is a signal you cannot create on your own site. They also help discovery, because crawlers follow links from other sites to yours, and they send visitors who would never have found you otherwise. For the basics, read what is a backlink.
How internal links help
Google's documentation says it uses links to find new pages and to understand their relevance. Internal links do three things well:
- Discovery. Crawlers follow your internal links. A page with no internal links pointing to it, an orphan page, may be found only through your sitemap, if at all. Our free Link Checker lists every internal and external link on a page, and our guide to checking internal and external links shows what to fix.
- Context. The anchor text of internal links tells Google what each page is about. "Our guide to GST registration" is far more useful than "click here".
- Priority. Pages you link to often, especially from the homepage and main navigation, signal to Google and users that they are important.
How they work together
Backlinks usually point to your homepage or a few popular articles. Internal links are how that value travels onward to the pages that make you money: product pages, service pages and lead forms.
A simple example: a news site links to your free salary calculator. If the calculator page links to your payroll software page with clear anchor text, some of the value of that backlink flows on to the page you actually want to rank. If it links nowhere, the value stops there.
Internal linking best practices
- Link from your strongest pages. Find the pages with the most backlinks in the Google Search Console Links report, under Top linked pages, then add relevant links from them to important pages.
- Use descriptive anchor text. Describe the destination in a few words. See anchor text best practices.
- Keep important pages close to the homepage. A key page should be reachable in a few clicks.
- Fix orphan pages. Every page you want indexed should have at least one internal link pointing to it.
- Use crawlable links. Standard HTML links with an href work best. Links that only work through JavaScript click handlers may not be followed.
- Do not overdo it. Add links where they help readers. A paragraph with ten links helps nobody.
- Update old posts. When you publish something new, add links to it from older related articles.
Backlink best practices, briefly
- Earn links from relevant sites with real readers.
- Point outreach at pages that deserve links, such as guides, tools and data.
- Avoid buying links or swapping them at scale.
Our guide to what makes a high-quality backlink covers this in depth.
Which should you work on first?
For most sites, start with internal links. They are free, fast and fully in your control, and fixing them often helps pages get crawled and indexed sooner. Then build backlinks to the pages that most need outside support.
For a brand-new domain, a few discovery backlinks can also help crawlers find the site at all. Backlink Generator creates up to 100 discovery mentions in one free run with a free account. They are mostly nofollow and do not guarantee rankings, so pair them with solid internal linking and a sitemap.
FAQ
Are internal links as important as backlinks?
They do different jobs. Backlinks bring outside signals that internal links cannot replace, while internal links decide how well crawlers and visitors move through your site. A site needs both.
How many internal links should a page have?
There is no fixed number. Link wherever it genuinely helps a reader move to related content, and make sure every important page has internal links pointing to it.
Do links in the menu and footer count as internal links?
Yes. Navigation links help crawlers find your main sections. Contextual links inside your content add more descriptive anchor text and context, so use both.