Also known as: Internal Linking, On-Site Link
An internal link is a hyperlink that connects one page on a website to another page on the same website. On a Forex affiliate blog, that means linking a new post about risk management to an older cornerstone article reviewing the best brokers for beginners.
Internal links do two jobs at once. For readers, they act as signposts that guide someone from an educational article toward the pages where you actually earn, such as broker reviews and comparison tables. For search engines, they map how your pages relate, which URLs are most important, and how ranking authority should flow through the site.
That authority flow is often called link equity. When a strong page earns backlinks from other sites, internal links let you channel some of that earned authority to deeper pages that need a boost. Structuring links well can lift a buried comparison page onto page one without earning a single new external link, simply by pointing several relevant internal links at it with descriptive anchor text.
Unlike backlinks, internal links are entirely under your control, which makes them one of the highest-leverage on-page SEO levers an affiliate has. Good sites keep a healthy ratio, often three to five relevant internal links per 1,000 words, without stuffing.
Search engine crawlers discover and understand pages by following links. Internal links tell them which pages exist, how they connect, and, through anchor text, what each page is about. Pages that receive more internal links from relevant contexts are read as more important, so authority earned anywhere on the site can be routed toward the pages you most want to rank.
For users, the same links shape the journey. A reader who lands on a broad educational post can be guided, link by link, toward a comparison page and then a broker review, increasing time on site and the odds of a funded sign-up under your affiliate link. Structure and relevance matter more than raw quantity.
Identify the broker reviews and comparison pages where conversions happen; these are the destinations that most need internal-link authority.
Create a comprehensive hub guide on a core topic and have many smaller spoke articles link into it, and it back out to them.
Link on natural, relevant phrases like "MT4 brokers" rather than "click here", so search engines learn what the target page covers.
Find pages with no internal links pointing to them and add contextual links so crawlers and readers can reach them.
Periodically check for broken links, over-linked pages, and new posts that should link to existing money pages.
Why it matters for partnership: Internal linking spreads ranking authority across your site and steers readers from educational content down to the broker-review pages where commissions are earned. It is a free, fully controllable lever that lifts rankings and conversions at once.
In an article on automated trading, an IB adds an internal link on the anchor text "MT4 brokers" pointing to their optimised MetaTrader broker-comparison page. Alongside links from four other relevant posts, that comparison page rises from position 12 to position 5 over two months, roughly doubling its organic clicks and the sign-ups earned under the IB's affiliate link, without a single new external backlink.
| Aspect | Internal link | External backlink |
|---|---|---|
| Connects | Two pages on the same site | Another site to yours |
| Control | Fully yours | Depends on other webmasters |
| Main role | Structure and authority flow | Earning new authority |
| Effort | Low, on-page editing | High, outreach and earning |
| Risk | Low if relevant | Manual action if spammy |
Adopt a hub-and-spoke model: build one comprehensive hub guide on a core topic and ensure dozens of smaller spoke articles link back to it with descriptive anchors.
Leaving orphan pages with no internal links pointing to them, which makes those pages nearly invisible to search-engine crawlers and starves them of ranking authority.
There is no strict limit, but roughly three to five highly relevant internal links per 1,000 words balances user experience and SEO. Relevance matters more than the count.
Anchor text is the clickable phrase a link sits on. Descriptive, relevant anchors help search engines understand the destination page, so avoid generic "click here" wording.
A page with no internal links pointing to it. Crawlers struggle to find and rank it, so it typically underperforms until you add contextual links from related content.
They redistribute authority already on your site rather than adding new authority. That lets you channel equity from strong pages toward deeper pages you want to rank.
Yes, standard internal navigation and contextual links should be DoFollow so authority flows freely. There is rarely a reason to nofollow your own internal links.
Excessive or irrelevant links dilute value and worsen the reading experience. Keep them contextual and useful rather than stuffing every paragraph.