Internal relinking is one of the most underrated ranking factors. It helps search engines understand the structure of the site, distribute link weight and prioritize pages. But if incorrectly configured, it does not just not help – it hurts. And this is confirmed by both Google representatives and studies of major SEO platforms.
One of the key mistakes is too many internal links. John Mueller (Google) pointed out that if there are too many links on a page, especially repetitive ones, their value decreases. In some cases, the bot may even ignore some of the links if they don’t look natural. This is especially true for pages with automatic link generation or endless navigation.
Another mistake is linking to low quality or technical pages. If most of the internal weight goes to pages like “Privacy Policy”, “Shipping” or outdated articles, important commercial and informational pages are left “hungry”. Internal PageRank is smeared, and as a consequence – key pages lose positions.
Lack of anchor strategy is also a common problem. According to Google’s guidelines, anchor text should be descriptive and relevant to the content of the landing page. Links like “here”, “read” or just an anchor without text do not convey context. This reduces the accuracy of search engine associations and can affect ranking for the right queries.
An unobvious but dangerous mistake is “deep buried” pages. If a page is on the fifth or sixth level of nesting, and there are almost no links to it, Google may consider it irrelevant or not even reach it. Screaming Frog and Sitebulb record that pages with more than 4 levels deep receive on average 70% less organic traffic.
It’s also important to avoid broken and redirected links. An Ahrefs study found that 17% of internal links on sites with more than 10,000 pages lead to 404 or redirects. This slows down traversal, confuses priorities and can lead to loss of position.
Proper relinking is not just “more links.” It’s about fine-tuning the architecture of a site, where every link works to achieve SEO goals. Mistakes in this system can be costly – especially if the site is growing and not regularly audited.