TL;DR: Internal links connect pages on your own site and help visitors and search engines move around it. External links take a reader from your site to someone else’s, usually to back up a point or credit a source. Backlinks are the same kind of link seen from the other end: another website linking to yours, which helps Google find your pages and work out which might be most helpful.
The main difference is where the link points. Internal links stay within your website, external links point to another website, and backlinks come from another website to yours. Here’s how each supports your SEO and when to use them.
At a Glance: How the Three Compare
| Link Type | Points | Why It Matters | Example |
| Internal link | One page to another page on the same site | Helps visitors navigate, and search engines discover and understand your pages | A blog post linking to a relevant service page |
| External link | Your site to a different website | Gives readers useful supporting information and credits sources | Linking to Google’s own documentation |
| Backlink | Another website to a page on your site | Can support discovery and rankings, and bring referral traffic | An industry blog linking to a client’s research |
The Three Link Types in One Example
Imagine a kitchen supplier publishes a guide to choosing worktops.
- It links to its own quartz worktops product page. That’s an internal link.
- It links to an independent source explaining material durability. That’s an external link.
- An interiors magazine links to the supplier’s guide. That’s a backlink for the supplier and an external link for the magazine.
The magazine’s link can bring readers to the guide, while the internal link helps those readers explore the supplier’s products.
Internal Links: Connecting Your Own Site
An internal link connects one page on your website to another, such as a blog post linking to a relevant service page. These links help visitors find useful information and help search engines discover pages and understand how your content fits together. They can also pass link equity between pages, supporting the pages you want to prioritise.
Good internal linking usually means:
- Using descriptive link text rather than “click here”, as Google’s link best practices recommend
- Linking to every page you care about from at least one other page (a page that nothing links to is an “orphan”, and is harder for Google or a visitor to find)
For more on how links pass value between pages, see What Is Link Juice in SEO?
For how internal links fit into your wider site structure, see Is Site Structure Important for SEO?
External Links: Pointing Away From Your Site
An external link is a hyperlink on your page that takes a visitor to a different website. For example, this post linking out to Google’s own documentation. They’re worth including when they back up a claim, credit a source, or point a reader to something useful.
Link to the original source where possible, and check that it supports the point you’re making. Ordinary editorial links don’t need a special attribute. Paid placements should use rel=”sponsored”; Google also accepts nofollow for paid links.
Backlinks: Other Sites Linking to You
A backlink is the same kind of link, in reverse: another website links to a page on yours. If a trade publication references a client’s research and links to their site, that’s a backlink for the client and an external link for the publication.
Backlinks can help Google discover your pages and contribute to its assessment of their relevance and usefulness. They can also bring visitors directly from the linking website.
There’s no fixed number of backlinks a website needs. We look at the relevance and quality of the sites linking to you, which pages receive those links, and how your profile compares with competing pages. The aim is to earn useful, relevant links rather than simply increase the total.
Buying links to manipulate rankings breaches Google’s spam policies. Paid advertising and sponsorship links are allowed when appropriately qualified with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”.
For how to earn relevant backlinks, see What Is Link Building?
Make Sure Your Links Are Crawlable
A link can look right on the page without being easy for Google to follow. Google generally needs an HTML anchor element with an href attribute, such as <a href=”/services/”>Our services</a>.
Links inserted using JavaScript can also be crawlable if they use this markup. If you’re unsure, ask your developer to check the link in the rendered HTML, particularly where navigation relies on click handlers.
Can Too Many Internal Links Hurt Your SEO?
Google gives no ideal number of links per page. Add internal links where they help readers find relevant information, using descriptive anchor text and enough surrounding context to make the destination clear. Avoid adding links purely to reach a target number.
Which Type of Link Should You Focus On?
Each type solves a different problem:
- Important pages are difficult to find: review your internal links. Can visitors reach those pages through relevant content and navigation?
- Your content makes claims readers may want to check: link to reliable sources that support those claims.
- You want relevant audiences to discover your content: consider whether you have useful research, expertise or resources that other websites would want to reference.
You don’t have to choose just one. Start with the problem you’re trying to solve rather than a target number of links.
How Wildcat Handles This
“We look at internal linking alongside Digital PR because the two should support each other. If we’re earning links to a piece of research, we also check that readers can easily reach the relevant service pages from it. That helps connect the coverage with what the business actually offers.”
— Fiorela Imerai, Account DirectorOur technical SEO work includes reviewing how your important pages are linked and whether search engines can reach them. Our Digital PR campaigns focus on earning relevant coverage and backlinks.
Wildcat Digital Example: For a financial crime investigation firm, our Digital PR campaign focused on earning coverage in publications relevant to their work, rather than chasing links for their own sake. We built the campaign around their team’s expertise in fraud investigations and asset recovery, which allowed us to offer journalists credible expert commentary and real case studies. Referring domains increased from 128 to 228, and the site’s Domain Authority rose from 6 to 16. Domain Authority is a third-party comparison metric rather than a Google ranking score.
If you’d like us to look at your internal linking or your backlink profile, you can book a free 30-minute consultation through our contact page.
Last Reviewed: 7 October 2026
Jon Herdman
SEO Executive
