Google says, cautions against too many internal links

Google’s John Mueller is explaining that using too many internal links on the same page can dilute their value. On the other hand, it goes over what is actually to do. This topic came up in the discussion during the Google Search Central SEO hangout on 2nd July 2021. A site owner submits a question on if there are any kind of dangers with the use of an excessive number of internal links.

The internal links are very important for the SRO. It sends signals to Google about the pages which are most important for a particular website. They do not send the same ranking as the signals and as external links. But it still matters.

Google uses internal links to better understand the structure of a site. A sitemap is also useful for communicating information. But a logical structure of the links helps to make it clear. So is it bad with all the internal links in too many numbers? Mueller answers, using the links too liberally across a website can lead to various problems. Google will not understand the structure of the site in such cases.

The links are in use to make the site structures better understandable. However, using too many links will dilute their importance. One internal link can send a signal to Google that a page is very important for the website. But adding more links makes it less important. If there are 20 internal links on the page, then they will not be treated with the same importance.

According to Mueller, the site owners must aim to have a structure to the internal links, which resembles the one site structure. It looks like homepage > category page> services page> request a quote page.

If you are adding the links to the blog article; you can add contextual links related to the articles on the site. Some of the links are good, but more is not better. You can send stronger signals with even fewer links.