The playbook
Internal Linking: Worked Examples
The following internal linking examples illustrate how to move from an observed problem to a practical decision. They are hypothetical operating scenarios, not customer results or performance benchmarks. The central question is whether the work helps improve important orphan pages remaining without losing the context needed to judge it.
Put the task in context
An installation guide can link to a relevant maintenance guide when the reader reaches ongoing care. A service page can link to a project example beside its proof section. Keep the destination and anchor specific enough that the visitor can predict what will appear after clicking.
Example 1: establish a usable starting point
A team begins working on internal linking but cannot consistently describe source URL and target URL for the same item. The immediate task is find important pages with few contextual links. The team records the current state, identifies the source of each value, and resolves conflicting information before making a broader change.
The useful output is a page or query record that another person can interpret. This example does not require assuming an uplift. Success at this stage means the next decision can be made using a shared set of facts, with missing information explicitly identified.
Example 2: correct a specific failure
In a second situation, the team observes adding large unrelated link blocks to every article. It proposes the correction: place a small number of contextual links where they help a decision. Before applying that correction everywhere, the owner checks whether the same cause is present in other affected items. A common symptom alone does not prove that all items need the same repair.
| Decision | Illustrative reasoning |
|---|---|
| Observation | Adding large unrelated link blocks to every article |
| Likely correction | Place a small number of contextual links where they help a decision |
| Verification task | Choose relevant source pages with useful surrounding text |
| Result to inspect | Use descriptive anchors that explain the destination |
After the change, the owner repeats the relevant task and records what happened. If the condition remains, the team returns to the evidence rather than declaring the process complete. The example illustrates a repair cycle; it does not claim a particular commercial result.
Example 3: extend a process after it works
A third team already has reliable records for a small scope and wants to expand. It compares the next group with the first: are source URL, target URL, anchor defined in the same way, and does the intended outcome remain important orphan pages remaining? Differences are written down before the earlier process is reused.
Expansion is appropriate when the assumptions still hold and an owner can review exceptions. Where the new group has different needs, the team adapts the process and tests again. Reusing the structure is useful; reusing a conclusion without checking its conditions is much less reliable.
Apply the examples to your own work
- Write the current problem in observable terms using source URL.
- Choose which of the three examples matches the stage of the work.
- Complete this action first: find important pages with few contextual links.
- Keep the resulting evidence and review important orphan pages remaining on a consistent basis.
Use query and landing-page context when comparing results. A page serving a broad informational query has a different job from a page answering a purchase question. Review whether the next step remains useful to the person arriving.
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