# Internal links

> Internal links point from one page to other pages of the same website. They help visitors and crawlers find content and spread authority across the site.

- **Check ID:** S12
- **Area:** [SEO](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo)
- **Tool:** [SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit)
- **Page:** https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/internal-links

## Why it matters

Internal links are the foundation of search engine crawling. Pages without internal links are 'orphaned' - search engines struggle to discover them and do not assign them sufficient authority.

## In practice

Wikipedia is a master of internal linking - every article contains dozens of links to related pages. Thanks to this, Google can efficiently crawl millions of pages. A blog without internal links can lose up to 40% of its potential ranking.

## How be1st checks it

Checks whether the page contains at least 3 internal links to other pages on the same website. Internal linking helps search engines discover content and distribute link equity across the site.

[SEO + Security + Performance](https://be1st.ai/tools/ssp-audit), SEO tab.

Every check ends as: Pass, Warning, Fail.

## Sources

- [SEO Starter Guide](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide) (Google Search Central)
- [Google Search Essentials](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials) (Google Search Central)

## Related terms

- [External links](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/external-links): External links point from your page to other websites. Links to trustworthy sources back up the claims in your text and let readers check them.
- [Anchor text quality](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/anchor-text-quality): Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Good anchor text says where the link leads, unlike generic phrases such as 'click here' or 'more'.
- [Clean URLs](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/clean-urls): A clean URL is a short, readable web address made of words, without long query strings, session IDs, encoded spaces or hashbangs.
- [HTML lang attribute](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/html-lang-attribute): The lang attribute on the `<html>` element declares the language of a page. Screen readers, translation tools and search engines rely on it.
- [Favicon](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/favicon): A favicon is the small icon of a website that browsers show in tabs and bookmarks and Google shows next to the site name in results.
- [Status code and broken links](https://be1st.ai/glossary/seo/status-code-and-broken-links): An HTTP status code is the server's three-digit answer to a request, such as 200 (OK) or 404 (not found). A broken link points to a page that answers with an error.