You’re reading an article on a website, and somewhere in the middle of a paragraph, you notice a few words that you can click to open another page.
Sometimes those words lead to another article that fits naturally with what you’re reading. Other times, the link takes you to a subject that seems a little out of place.
Imagine you’re following a recipe for homemade bread. At one point, the recipe explains that you need to knead the dough, and right there, you see a link to another page showing how to do it.
That link makes sense because it offers more information about the very step you’re reading.
Now imagine the same link appeared in a paragraph explaining how long to bake the bread. The page about kneading dough might still be useful somewhere in the recipe, but it has little to do with the baking instructions you’re reading at that moment.
Both pages are about making bread, yet the link fits naturally in one place and feels out of place in the other.
This is the idea behind internal link relevance. An internal link takes someone from one page to another page on the same website, and its relevance depends on whether the second page fits what is being discussed where the link appears.
Two pages can cover related subjects without needing a link between them. What matters is whether the connection helps the reader continue naturally from the information they were already reading.
Look at the Paragraph Where You Want to Add the Link
Let’s say you run the website with the bread recipe and have written another article showing beginners how to knead dough.
You already know that the two pages are related. But before adding a link, look at the sentence where you want it to appear.
If the recipe tells readers to knead the dough for several minutes, you could link the words “how to knead dough” to your beginner’s guide. Someone who has never made bread before can follow that link to see how the step is done.
The link belongs there because the explanation is directly connected to what the reader is doing.
But you would not need to add that same link every time the recipe mentions dough. A sentence about placing the dough in the oven does not suddenly need a link to kneading instructions.
This is why the paragraph matters. It tells you whether another page would be a useful addition at that particular point, rather than merely sharing the same general subject.
Make Sure the Other Page Gives Readers What They Expect
Now suppose you have added the link to the kneading guide.
A reader clicks because the words in your recipe suggest that the next page will explain how to knead dough. But instead, the link opens an article about different types of bread flour.
That article might be interesting, and it is certainly related to bread making. However, it does not explain the step the reader clicked to learn about.
The words someone clicks are called anchor text. They help people understand what they are likely to find on the next page.
Good anchor text should describe the destination accurately. It also needs to fit naturally into the sentence where the link appears.
For example, “how to knead dough” makes sense when the destination actually teaches that skill. If the destination explains how to choose flour, the link should appear where the recipe discusses flour instead.
You can use this same approach when adding links between articles about SEO or any other subject. The words around a link should prepare the reader for the information they will find after clicking.
When Is It Better Not to Add a Link?
Sometimes you will find two articles that are clearly related but have no good reason to link to each other in a particular paragraph.
Imagine your bread recipe also has an article about storing homemade bread after baking.
That second article could be helpful when the recipe discusses cooling or storing the finished loaf. But there is no reason to squeeze it into the instructions for mixing the ingredients just because both pages discuss homemade bread.
You can simply leave the link out of that paragraph.
The same applies when the page you want to link to repeats information the reader already has. If the current article explains something fully and the other page adds nothing useful to that explanation, a link may not improve the reading experience.
This does not mean every internal link must lead to a detailed tutorial. Sometimes a related page offers a useful example, answers a question, or lets someone explore a subject further. The important thing is that the destination has a clear purpose in the part of the article where you introduce it.
A Simple Way to Check an Internal Link
Before adding a link, read the sentence where it will appear and then look at the page you want to send readers to.
Ask yourself whether someone clicking those words would find the information the sentence seems to promise.
If you were linking from the bread recipe to the kneading guide, the answer would be straightforward. The recipe introduces a step, and the second page explains how to complete it.
If you were linking from the baking instructions to a page about choosing flour, the connection would be harder to explain. That is a good reason to look for a more suitable place or leave the link out.
You should also read the sentence without the link. It should still sound like something you would naturally write in the article, rather than a sentence added only to direct visitors somewhere else.
This gives you a practical way to decide when two pages should connect, without trying to add a link simply because the pages belong to the same subject or category.
