Help buyers find the page they need next

A reader should not need the site search to find the explanation your article assumes they know. Internal links connect that missing context with the commercial pages and next decisions that follow. Count those routes before counting links per paragraph.

Make the next click useful

A link makes a small promise. The anchor tells the reader what problem the next page will help solve; the destination either keeps that promise or wastes the click. This is why a technically tidy link graph can still produce a frustrating website. Read the passage and open the destination. A few precise connections can repair the journey more effectively than a block of related links that has no relationship to the question the visitor is asking at that moment.

Begin with a real visitor path

Choose an important buyer question and enter the site where that visitor might arrive. Can they find the relevant service, implementation detail or comparison without guessing? What happens after the article ends?

This exercise reveals gaps that a link count misses. A page can have many links and still offer no sensible next step. Conversely, a few relevant links can make the journey easier to understand.

A topic-cluster plan helps define the destinations. The commercial content audit then helps distinguish pages that deserve stronger support from pages that merely attract lots of visits.

Map importance and incoming links

List the pages you consider strategically important. Check which relevant pages link to them and where those links appear. A core service supported only by the main navigation may need better contextual connections from problem guides and case studies.

Look for orphaned pages, broken links and article recommendations that are merely the newest posts. Recency is not the same as relevance. A six-month-old implementation guide may be the best next read.

Write anchors that make a promise

“Click here” makes the reader inspect the destination. “How to measure qualified demo cost” describes the next page. Use wording that accurately represents what they will find, without cramming every keyword variation into one link.

Google’s link guidance covers crawlable links and descriptive anchor text. The practical user benefit is just as important: the destination should be clear before someone chooses it.

A focused linking pass

Review the sentence around each link. If removing the link improves the paragraph because it was irrelevant, choose a better destination or leave it out.

Check the effect without overclaiming

After making changes, verify that links work and the intended page is reachable. Watch navigation behaviour and the downstream actions of relevant visitors where measurement allows. Search performance may change for many reasons; a new internal link does not establish why rankings moved.

On a large site, prioritise templates and high-value groups before editing every article manually. On a small consulting site, a careful contextual pass can often improve the journey quickly.

Give the next click a reason

Suppose a hypothetical guide about stock discrepancies receives relevant visitors but links only to the blog index. Its obvious next question is “How do I reconcile stock across locations?” Linking to a detailed reconciliation guide is more useful than adding five unrelated product links.

Add links at the point where the question arises, using wording that tells the reader what awaits. “Read more” wastes that opportunity. Ten repeated links to the same destination are not ten different reasons to visit it.

Export source URL, destination URL and anchor text from your crawl. Review broken destinations, obsolete redirects and important pages receiving little relevant support. Then manually read the highest-value source pages: a graph cannot tell you whether the link makes editorial sense.

Keep onward journeys useful. A reader diagnosing a problem may need another explanation before a commercial page.

Fix one route, then verify the destination

Choose a commercially relevant article and list the questions its reader is likely to ask next. Find the existing pages that answer them. Add a link only where that question arises in the text.

Open each destination and check whether its first screen honours the anchor’s promise. A link labelled “migration checklist” should not deliver a generic product pitch. Repair the mismatch or choose another destination.

After publication, check the actual link address, redirects and accessibility of the target. Keep a source-to-destination record for important links so a later URL change does not break the route silently. This produces a small, maintainable navigation improvement instead of an indiscriminate site-wide linking exercise.

Build a linking sheet the editorial team can use

Use one row per proposed link. Include the source page, destination, sentence context, anchor wording and reason the link belongs. This makes the pass reviewable and reduces the temptation to automate links based only on matching terms.

A link should survive the sentence test. Read the paragraph aloud. If the link feels like an interruption inserted for SEO, revise the context or remove it. The destination should make the explanation more useful.

Handle changes without creating a new set of broken paths

When an article moves, combines with another or changes its focus, review incoming links. A redirect may preserve access, but the sentence surrounding the link may no longer describe the destination. Update the editorial context as well as the technical path.

After the linking pass, test the relevant pages and run an appropriate link check. Inspect fragments where links jump to a specific section. A valid page address can still point to a section identifier that no longer exists. Those failures are easy to miss if the review checks only response status.

A route can work technically and fail editorially

A link to a product page may be relevant to the topic but premature for the reader. Someone learning why reconciliation fails may first need a process guide before evaluating software.

Read the source passage as a sequence of questions. Identify the next unanswered one and check whether the destination actually resolves it. If it does not, moving the link to a different paragraph may help more than changing its anchor.

Do not force every path to end at the enquiry form. A useful intermediary can prepare a better conversation. Equally, do not hide the commercial next step when the reader is ready to investigate it. The editorial decision is timing: the right answer at the point where it becomes useful.

Help a buying contact explain the decision internally

A B2B prospect may need to show the recommendation to a colleague. Link the commercial proposition to answers that make that discussion easier: scope, implementation, prerequisites, costs and appropriate evidence. The anchor should explain the destination in the language of the question. “See the CRM handoff checks” is more useful than “learn more” when the reader needs to understand whether the process will work with their team.

Do not link every paragraph to the contact page. A visitor who is still comparing operating choices may need the relevant guide before a sales conversation. Place the invitation where the information supports it, and describe what the discussion will help settle. An internal link is a promise about the next page. Review the destination as part of the edit, especially when the source page has been refreshed and the destination has not.

Review one journey with sales

Choose a question that appears in a real evaluation, such as how enquiries reach the correct salesperson. Start at the page a prospect is likely to find. Follow the available links without using the navigation search or insider knowledge. Can you reach the answer? Does that answer include the conditions, the work involved and a relevant next step? Record the route, the point where context disappears and the smallest useful change.

Ask sales to challenge the proposed destination. It may be detailed but still answer a different question from the one buyers ask. That is an editorial problem, not a reason to add more links. You might need a short explanation on the commercial page and a deeper guide for the implementation owner. Each should have a clear role.

After the change, confirm the links and fragments work, the page remains readable on a small screen and the anchor still makes sense in its sentence. Keep the route in a simple review log with the owner and date. If the destination is retired, use that record to update the linking pages rather than sending every old link to a generic hub. The resulting journey should help someone continue a decision without needing a salesperson to reconstruct the missing context.

Links that help the reader move forward

How many internal links should an article contain?

As many as genuinely help the reader, without turning the page into a directory. There is no useful universal target.

Should every page link to the contact form?

A contact path can be helpful, but some readers need another answer first. Match the link to their stage rather than forcing an enquiry too early.

Sources and further reading

Google Search Central: link best practices: Crawlable links and descriptive anchor text.

Google Search Central: canonical URLs: Signals for duplicate and similar URLs.

References checked 9 October 2026. Sources support the documented facts and tool behaviour; the recommendations and worked examples explain how I would apply them.