Internal linking strategy for e-shops

Internal links are the one SEO factor you control completely. Nobody else needs to approve them, they cost nothing, and yet in most e-shops they are left to whatever the theme does. The result: a homepage linking to eight "offers" that changed a year ago, important categories buried in a three-level dropdown, and best-selling products with barely a link pointing at them.

What internal links do

Three things, all of them important:

1. Discovery: Google finds pages by following links. A page with no internal links pointing to it (an "orphan") may never be crawled, or crawled rarely.
2. Prioritisation: pages with more, and stronger, internal links are treated as more important.
3. Context: the anchor text tells Google what to expect on the destination page.

And of course they help shoppers find what they are looking for, which is the real point.

The ideal structure: a shallow pyramid

Think of your shop as a pyramid:

• Top: the homepage.
• Level 2: main categories (5–10).
• Level 3: subcategories and key landing pages (e.g. brands).
• Base: products.

The goal: every important product reachable within three to four clicks of the homepage. If reaching a product means paging to page nine of a category, Google will treat that product as unimportant too.

Where links live in an e-shop

Main navigation

• Revenue-driving categories belong in the menu, as plain <a href> links.
• Do not cram 200 links into a mega menu. The more links, the less each one is worth, and the harder the menu is to use on a phone.
• Use names that match searches: "Women's shoes", not "SS Collection".

Breadcrumbs

On every product and subcategory: Home › Women › Shoes › Sneakers. Simple, helpful for shoppers, and it gives every category a link from each of its products. Add BreadcrumbList schema too.

Category pages

• Links to subcategories near the top (chips or cards), not only in a sidebar.
• "See also" links to sibling categories.
• Pagination with real links so Google reaches products on pages 2, 3 and beyond.

Product pages

• Related products: not random. Same category or a similar price point.
• Complementary products: "Goes well with" (a case for the phone, filters for the coffee maker).
• Brand link: "All Bosch products".
• Within the description: where natural, e.g. "See the size guide" or "Compatible with X filters".

Homepage

Your homepage is usually your strongest page. Use it:

• To feature the categories you want to rank.
• For popular or seasonal products that rotate often.
• Not for a six-banner slider nobody watches past the first slide.

Blog and guides

A post on "How to choose an office chair" should link to your office chairs category and to two or three specific products. The category can link back to the guide. That two-way relationship is one of the most effective ways to strengthen a category.

Footer

Good for service pages (shipping, returns, contact) and main categories. Not the place for 80 keyword links.

Anchor text: descriptive, not forced

• Good: "browse all [women's sneakers]", "[kids' shoe size guide]".
• Bad: "click [here]", "[more]".
• Also bad: the exact same keyword on every link to a page. Natural variety is fine.

Problems we find most often

• Orphan products: in the sitemap, but no page links to them (e.g. uncategorised products or products in a hidden category).
• Links to redirects: menus or descriptions pointing at old URLs that 301. It works, but wastes crawl and slows the shopper down.
• Links to 404s: left behind after product deletions or category changes.
• JavaScript-only links: buttons or cards that navigate via onclick instead of a real href. Google may not follow them.
• Nofollow on internal links: rarely needed. If you do not want something indexed, there are better tools.

A quick audit

1. Crawl the site with Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs) or a similar tool.
2. Check crawl depth: which products sit at depth 5 or more?
3. Check inlinks per page: do your highest-revenue categories also have the most internal links?
4. Compare the crawl with your sitemap to find orphan pages.
5. In Search Console → Links → Internal links, see which pages get the most links. Often it is the terms and cookie pages.

An exercise for this week

Pick the three categories you most want to rank. For each one:

1. Count how many internal links point to it (from your crawl or Search Console).
2. Add a link from the homepage if there is none.
3. Find three to five related products or articles and add a natural link with descriptive anchor text.
4. Make sure its subcategories appear near the top of the page, not only in the sidebar.

Check their positions again in a month or two. It is a small job that often produces a visible result.

Checklist

• [ ] Highest-revenue categories in the main menu
• [ ] Breadcrumbs on products and subcategories
• [ ] Every important product within 3–4 clicks of the homepage
• [ ] Related and complementary products that make sense
• [ ] Blog posts linking to categories and products
• [ ] Descriptive anchor text
• [ ] No orphan pages, broken links or links to redirects

Internal linking is never finished. Every new category, product and article is a chance to strengthen something else. For the foundations, see our guides to category pages and product pages. If you want a full review of your shop's structure, our e-commerce SEO work starts exactly here.