I was reviewing a client's WordPress site last week—decent content, solid traffic to a handful of posts. But when I looked closer, I found 23 blog posts with literally zero internal links pointing to them. This is one of the most common WordPress SEO mistakes site owners make.
They were orphans. Published, indexed, but completely disconnected from the rest of the site. Google had no idea how important they were (or weren't).
Internal linking is one of those SEO tactics that sounds boring but delivers fast results. And most WordPress sites are leaving massive gains on the table.
Why internal links actually matter
Think of internal links as votes. When you link from one page to another, you're telling Google "this page is related to that page, and it's worth checking out." For a comprehensive approach, check out our internal linking best practices guide.
More importantly, internal links spread authority around your site. If you have one post that gets a bunch of backlinks and ranks well, linking from that post to your other content helps those pages rank better too.
Plus, internal links keep visitors clicking around instead of bouncing after one page. More time on site = better engagement signals = better rankings.
Mistakes I see on almost every WordPress site
- Posts with zero internal links – These orphaned pages are hard for Google to understand and rank
- Only linking to the homepage – Your homepage doesn't need more links. Your product pages, service pages, and pillar content do
- Using "click here" as anchor text – Descriptive anchor text like "WordPress SEO guide" tells Google what the linked page is about
- Random links that don't make sense – Forcing irrelevant links just to link is worse than not linking at all
A simple linking strategy you can start today
Find your pillar pages
These are your most comprehensive guides or your key product/service pages. Every related blog post should link to at least one pillar page. This builds topical authority and tells Google what your site is really about.
Add 2-3 links when you publish
Before hitting publish on a new post, add 2-3 links to existing related content. Natural placement in the body text works better than a "related posts" widget at the bottom. This should be part of your on-page SEO checklist every time you publish.
Go back and update old posts
This is where most people drop the ball. When you publish something new, open 2-3 older relevant posts and add links to your new piece. This bidirectional linking is powerful.
Use anchor text that describes the destination
Instead of "learn more" or "this post," use specific phrases like "how to optimize WordPress images" or "content brief template." This context helps both users and search engines.
How Rankeli handles this automatically
Manually managing internal links across 50+ posts is tedious. You forget which posts link where, which pages need more links, and what anchor text you already used.
Rankeli solves this while you're writing:
- Suggests relevant posts to link to based on what you're writing about
- Shows you orphaned pages that need links (including from other posts)
- Recommends natural anchor text based on each page's main topic
- Tracks your linking structure so you can see coverage across your site
Start with what you published this month
Don't try to fix everything at once. Take the posts you published in the last 30 days. For each one, and include this in your content brief template for future posts:
- Add 2-3 internal links to older related content
- Find 2-3 older posts where you can link back to this new post
That's it. Do this consistently and within a few months you'll have a well-connected site that ranks better and keeps visitors engaged longer.
