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TL;DR
Internal links connect pages on your own website. They help visitors find related information and help search engines discover and understand your pages. For a small service business, the useful question is whether a visitor can move from their current question to the service or evidence they need.
A link cannot rescue a service page that fails to explain the offer. Start by checking the destination, then connect it to relevant pages already on your site.
Choose a destination that deserves attention
Pick one service that matters commercially. Check that its page explains who the service suits, what is included, where you work and how someone can enquire. If those details are missing, improve the page before adding more links.
For example, a Yorkshire electrician might have separate pages for fault finding and planned rewiring. An article about repeated power cuts should guide readers towards fault finding. A guide to renovating a house might link to rewiring. Both are more useful than sending everyone to a general homepage.
The destination should reflect services your business actually provides. Use the service page content checklist to review the offer before connecting more articles to it.
Find pages with a genuine connection
Review relevant articles, case studies, FAQs and other service pages. Look for a sentence where the reader might need more detail. Add the link there, using wording that describes the destination.
“Read our commercial website maintenance options” tells a reader more than “click here”. The link should make sense in the sentence without repeated keywords or a long list of places you want to target.
Google's link guidance explains that descriptive link text provides context. There is no universal number of internal links every page must contain. A short contact page and a detailed technical guide have different needs.
If an image is the link, its alternative text should explain the destination in context. Do not leave an image-only link without an accessible name. A text link beside the image can often make the next step clearer.
Keep important pages reachable
Open your homepage and try to reach the service through the normal menu. Then follow a related article to see whether its next step is clear. A visitor should not need to search through dozens of posts to discover your main offer.
Check that links use the current destination. If a service has moved, update old links where practical. Remove links to withdrawn offers and repair broken destinations. A sitemap can help discovery, but it does not replace navigation that people can use. The crawling and indexing checklist covers discovery and access checks.
For custom websites, ask your developer to check that links are normal crawlable links. Buttons that only trigger code may need a closer review. An ordinary text link is usually the simplest way to connect two public pages.
Measure the journey you changed
Record the source page, destination and date of the change. Check that the link works on a phone and with a keyboard. Confirm that its wording is meaningful without relying on colour alone.
Then review the data available to your business. Did visitors use the link? Are enquiries reaching the intended service? Search Console can help you review the destination's search performance, but a ranking movement alone does not prove that one link caused it. Competitors, seasonality and other changes can affect the same period.
Avoid rebuilding your whole website into a complicated content hierarchy simply to add links. Start with one useful customer journey, make it work and repeat where another page has a clear reason to connect.
If your important services are hard to find or poorly connected, contact Phil Carr to discuss a focused website and SEO review. A bespoke SEO audit can be scoped around your actual pages and priorities, with a tailored quote.
