Internal links are important for SEO because they help Google identify which pages are most important on a site. Although a sitemap can convey this information, a well-organized internal linking structure makes it even clearer. However, is it possible that having too many internal links could be detrimental?
Can Too Many Internal Links Hurt SEO?
In a Google Search Central SEO hangout recorded on July 2, 2021, Google’s John Mueller explained that using too many internal links on a single page can create issues.
Firstly, an excessive number of internal links can confuse Google about the site’s structure. If every page links to every other page, the overall structure becomes unclear.
Here’s Jonh Muller’s respond:
“Yes and no. I think, in the sense that we do use the internal links to better understand the structure of a page, and you can imagine the situation where if we’re trying to understand the structure of a website, with the different pages that are out there, if all pages are linked to all other pages on the website, where you essentially have like a complete internal linking across every single page, then there’s no real structure there.
It’s like this one giant mass of pages for this website, and they’re all interlinked, we can’t figure out which one is the most important one. We can’t figure out which one of these are related to each other. And in a case like that, having all of those internal links, that’s not really doing your site that much.
So regardless of what PageRank, and authority, and passing things like that, you’re essentially not providing a clear structure of the website. And that makes it harder for search engines to understand the context of the individual pages within your website. So that’s the way that I would look at it there.”
Secondly, too many internal links can dilute your site’s structure. When the links become overwhelming, it becomes difficult for Google to understand which pages you consider most important.
Here’s another respond from John Muller:
“And similar to the second question you had there, with regards to internal links doing more harm than good — yes, if you do dilute the value of your site structure by having so many internal links that we don’t see a structure anymore, then that does make it harder for us to understand what you think is important on your website.
And I think providing that relative sense of importance is sometimes really valuable, because it gives you a little bit more opportunity to kind of fine tune how you’d like to be present in the search results.
If you tell search engines pretty clearly and directly, well this is my primary page, and from there you link to different categories and the categories link to different products, then it’s a lot easier for us to understand that if someone is looking for this category of product, this is that page that we should be showing in the search results.
Whereas if everything is cross-linked then it’s like, well any of these pages could be relevant. And then maybe we’ll send the user to some random product instead of to your category page when you’re actually looking for a category of products.”
Google’s Advice on Internal Linking
While internal links are important for SEO, having more links doesn’t necessarily mean better results. Focus on two key aspects when optimizing internal links: site structure and context.
Make sure that important pages such as revenue driving pages are easily accessible and have a low crawl depth with a clear and organized site structure. Crawl depth is a measure of how far a page is from the homepage.
For blog articles, add contextual links to related content on your site to improve relevance and user experience.
How Many Internal Links is Too Many?
Although Google doesn’t provide official guidelines on the number of internal links you should use, it’s important not to overwhelm users or search engines. Focus on creating links that are relevant and valuable, enhancing user experience and helping search engines understand your site’s structure, without making the page feel cluttered.
Summary
Too many internal links can negatively impact your SEO by confusing Google about your site’s structure and reducing the value of each link. While there is no strict limit, it’s important to use internal links thoughtfully, ensuring they are relevant and valuable to enhance user experience and improve site organization.