{"id":2151,"date":"2026-08-14T10:07:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liquidwebdevelopers.com\/blog\/?p=2151"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T10:07:05","slug":"internal-linking-strategy-for-shopify-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liquidwebdevelopers.com\/blog\/internal-linking-strategy-for-shopify-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal Linking Strategy for Shopify Stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internal linking might be the highest-return, lowest-cost SEO work most Shopify stores never bother with. It costs nothing but attention, it helps both search engines and shoppers, and it’s almost entirely within your control \u2014 yet the typical store does it haphazardly, relying on automated navigation and little else, leaving products stranded and blog content disconnected from the pages that make money. Done deliberately, internal linking helps search engines discover and understand your pages, passes authority toward the pages you want to rank, and helps shoppers navigate and find more of what they want. It’s unglamorous and quietly powerful, which is exactly why deliberate internal linking is an edge \u2014 most competitors haven’t bothered.<\/p>\n

This piece covers what internal linking actually does, how Shopify stores typically under-link, and how to build a deliberate internal linking strategy that lifts both your SEO and your shopper experience. Let me walk through it, because this is one of those things where a little deliberate effort yields outsized, compounding returns.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What internal linking actually does<\/span><\/h2>\n

Internal links \u2014 links from one page on your site to another \u2014 do several important jobs, and understanding them shows why deliberate linking matters. They help search engines discover your pages: crawlers follow links, so a page that’s well-linked from other pages gets found and crawled, while a page with nothing linking to it (an orphan) is hard to discover and may not get indexed well. They pass authority (link equity): links pass ranking signals between pages, so linking from your strong pages to the pages you want to rank helps those pages. They communicate structure and importance: how pages link to each other tells search engines about your site’s structure and which pages are important (heavily-linked pages read as important). And they aid navigation: links help shoppers move through your store and find more of what they want, which is a UX and conversion benefit.<\/p>\n

So internal linking serves two masters at once \u2014 SEO<\/a> (discovery, authority, structure) and UX (navigation, helping shoppers find things) \u2014 and good internal linking serves both simultaneously. A link from a blog post to a relevant product both passes SEO authority to that product and helps the reader move toward buying. This dual benefit is part of why internal linking is such high-return work: the same effort improves both your search performance and your shopper experience. Understanding these jobs \u2014 discovery, authority, structure, navigation \u2014 is what lets you link deliberately to achieve them, rather than just linking randomly or relying on automated navigation alone.<\/p>\n

<\/span>How Shopify stores typically under-link<\/span><\/h2>\n

To improve, recognize how stores commonly fall short, because the gaps are predictable. Orphaned products and pages: products and pages with little or nothing linking to them, stranded where neither crawlers nor shoppers easily reach them \u2014 common when products only appear in their collection and nowhere else. Weak cross-linking between products: products not linked to related products, missing both the SEO benefit and the cross-sell\/navigation benefit. Blog content disconnected from commercial pages: the big one \u2014 blog posts that don’t link to the relevant products and collections, so the content brings traffic and builds authority but never channels it toward revenue or passes authority to commercial pages. Reliance on automated navigation only: depending entirely on the theme’s menus and automated links, with no deliberate, contextual internal linking beyond the standard navigation. And generic or missing anchor text: links with unhelpful anchor text (“click here”) rather than descriptive text that tells search engines and shoppers what the linked page is about.<\/p>\n

These gaps mean most stores leave the benefits of internal linking on the table \u2014 products stranded, authority not channeled, blog content disconnected, no deliberate linking beyond navigation. The opportunity is to address them deliberately, building the internal links that the typical store lacks. Since most competitors under-link in these same predictable ways, a store that links deliberately gains an edge that costs nothing but attention. So the strategy is largely about filling these gaps: connecting orphaned pages, cross-linking related products, linking blog content to commercial pages, going beyond automated navigation with deliberate contextual links, and using descriptive anchor text.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The structure: hubs, spokes, and hierarchy<\/span><\/h2>\n

A useful way to think about internal linking structure is hubs and spokes within a clear hierarchy. Your store has a hierarchy \u2014 home, collections, products \u2014 and internal links should reinforce it while also creating contextual connections beyond it. Important hub pages (key collections, cornerstone content) should be well-linked and should link out to related spokes (products, related content). Products should link to and from their collections and to related products. Content should link to the relevant commercial pages and to related content. The result is a well-connected web where important pages are well-linked, related pages connect, and authority flows toward the pages you want to rank.<\/p>\n

This structure does several things: it ensures discovery (everything is reachable through links), it concentrates authority on important pages (which are well-linked), it creates the topical-authority connections discussed in that context (clusters of related content interlinked), and it helps shoppers navigate (related things are connected). So rather than linking randomly, link with this structure in mind \u2014 reinforce your hierarchy, connect related pages, channel authority toward priority pages, and ensure nothing important is orphaned. The structure turns internal linking from a scattered afterthought into a deliberate system that strengthens your most important pages and connects your store coherently, for both search engines and shoppers.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Linking your products properly<\/span><\/h2>\n

Since stranded products are a common gap, link them deliberately. Products should be linked from their collections (which usually happens automatically), but also from related products (a “related products” or “you might also like” section, which both helps SEO and cross-sells), from relevant blog content (a guide linking to the products it discusses), and from other contextual places where it makes sense. The goal is that every product you care about has multiple, relevant links pointing to it, rather than being reachable only through its collection.<\/p>\n

This matters for both SEO (well-linked products get discovered and receive authority) and UX\/conversion (related-product links help shoppers find more of what they want and cross-sell). So go beyond the automatic collection links: implement related-product linking, link to products from relevant content, and make sure your important products aren’t orphaned with only their collection linking to them. For a large catalog, you can’t manually link every product, so related-products functionality (often app or theme-provided) handles cross-linking at scale, while you manually link your hero products from content and key pages. The principle is that products deserve multiple relevant internal links, not just their collection \u2014 connecting them into your store’s link structure rather than leaving them stranded.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The big one: linking blog content to commercial pages<\/span><\/h2>\n

The single most underused internal linking opportunity, and worth its own emphasis, is linking your blog content to your commercial pages. As discussed in the topical-authority context, blog content that doesn’t link to the relevant products and collections is half-built \u2014 it may bring traffic and build authority, but it doesn’t channel that traffic toward revenue or pass authority to the commercial pages you want to rank. The fix is to deliberately link from your content to the relevant products and collections: a buying guide links to the products it discusses, an educational piece links to the relevant collection, a how-to links to the products needed.<\/p>\n

This does double duty powerfully: it helps readers move from learning to buying (capturing commercial value from your content), and it passes internal-linking authority from your content to your commercial pages (helping them rank). Your blog is often one of your better sources of authority (content attracts links and builds topical authority), so channeling that authority to your commercial pages via internal links is high-value. Yet most stores’ blog content sits disconnected from their commercial pages, wasting this opportunity. So make linking content to commercial pages a deliberate habit: every blog post should, where relevant, link to the products and collections it relates to. This connects your content engine to your revenue engine, both for shoppers (guiding them toward purchase) and for SEO (channeling authority to commercial pages). It’s the highest-leverage internal linking habit for an ecommerce store with content.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Anchor text matters<\/span><\/h2>\n

A detail that’s easy to neglect: the anchor text of your internal links (the clickable text) should be descriptive and natural, telling search engines and shoppers what the linked page is about. “Click here” or “this page” tells search engines nothing about the linked page; descriptive anchor text (“our merino base layers,” “the complete sizing guide”) tells them what the page is about, which helps the linked page’s relevance for those terms. So use descriptive, natural anchor text that describes the linked page, rather than generic “click here” links.<\/p>\n

The caveat is to keep it natural and not over-optimize \u2014 stuffing exact-match keywords into every internal link anchor unnaturally can look manipulative and reads badly for shoppers. The goal is descriptive, natural anchor text that describes the linked page in language that serves both shoppers and search engines, not keyword-stuffed anchors. Done naturally, descriptive anchor text is a small thing that helps your internal links communicate relevance, improving the SEO benefit of your linking. So as you build internal links, give them descriptive, natural anchor text rather than generic clicks-here \u2014 a small habit that makes your internal linking more effective.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Don’t orphan your pages<\/span><\/h2>\n

A foundational principle worth stating directly: every page you care about should have internal links pointing to it. An orphaned page \u2014 one with nothing linking to it \u2014 is hard for search engines to discover and gets treated as unimportant, and shoppers can’t reach it through links either. Orphaned products, orphaned pages, orphaned content all waste the value of those pages. So periodically check that your important pages are well-linked: can you reach every important page through internal links? Are there products, pages, or content stranded with nothing pointing to them?<\/p>\n

Fixing orphaned pages \u2014 ensuring everything important has internal links pointing to it \u2014 is foundational internal linking work and a common quick win. Click around your store as if you were a crawler following links: can you reach everything important? Use your analytics or a crawl to find pages with few or no internal links. Then connect them \u2014 link orphaned products from related products and content, link orphaned content from related content and navigation, ensure nothing important is stranded. This is unglamorous but important: orphaned pages waste their own value, and connecting them into your link structure is one of the more impactful internal linking improvements. The principle is simple \u2014 nothing important should be orphaned \u2014 and checking for and fixing orphans is foundational to a good internal linking strategy.<\/p>\n

<\/span>A practical internal linking audit<\/span><\/h2>\n

To turn all this into action, here’s a practical audit you can run on your store. Start by finding orphans and weakly-linked pages: use a crawl tool or your analytics to identify important pages (products, collections, content) with few or no internal links pointing to them. Those are your priorities to connect. Then check your blog-to-commercial linking: go through your content and confirm each piece links to the relevant products and collections \u2014 if your blog posts don’t link to commercial pages, that’s your highest-value fix. Check your product cross-linking: do your products have related-product links, and are your hero products linked from content and key pages? Review your anchor text: are your internal links using descriptive, natural anchor text, or generic “click here”? And trace your hierarchy: can you reach every important page through links, and do your important pages receive plenty of internal links?<\/p>\n

Working through this audit surfaces your specific internal linking gaps and turns “improve internal linking” into a concrete to-do list: connect these orphaned products, add these content-to-commercial links, implement related-product linking, improve this anchor text. Prioritize by impact \u2014 the blog-to-commercial linking and the orphaned important pages usually offer the most, so start there. You don’t have to fix everything at once; work through the audit’s findings in priority order, and each improvement strengthens your store’s link structure. The audit makes internal linking actionable rather than abstract, giving you a clear picture of where your store under-links and a prioritized list of fixes. Run it periodically (your store grows and new orphans appear), and internal linking becomes an ongoing, manageable practice rather than a vague aspiration.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Why it compounds<\/span><\/h2>\n

A final point on why deliberate internal linking is such a good investment: it compounds. As you build out your internal links \u2014 connecting orphans, linking content to commercial pages, cross-linking products \u2014 your store becomes an increasingly well-connected web where authority flows effectively, pages are well-discovered, and shoppers navigate easily. This strengthens over time as you add content (each new piece links to relevant commercial pages and related content) and products (each connected into the structure). A store that practices deliberate internal linking accumulates an increasingly strong, well-connected link structure that benefits its SEO and UX more and more, while a store that under-links keeps leaving the benefits on the table and accumulating orphans.<\/p>\n

This compounding, combined with the low cost (it’s free, just attention) and the fact that most competitors under-link, makes deliberate internal linking one of the higher-return, more durable SEO investments available. It’s not a one-time fix but an ongoing practice that strengthens your store continuously \u2014 every piece of content linked to commercial pages, every product connected, every orphan fixed adds to a compounding structure. So treat internal linking as an ongoing habit woven into how you add content and products, not a one-time project: link content to commercial pages as you publish, connect products as you add them, and fix orphans as you find them. Done as a continuous practice, internal linking quietly compounds into a meaningful, durable advantage for both your search performance and your shopper experience \u2014 the kind of unglamorous, compounding edge that separates well-run stores from the many that never bother.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Internal linking and the bigger SEO picture<\/span><\/h2>\n

It’s worth placing internal linking in the context of your wider SEO, because it connects to nearly everything else. Internal linking is how the topical authority you build (through content clusters) gets reinforced \u2014 the interlinking of related content is part of what signals comprehensive coverage. It’s how the authority your content earns gets channeled to your commercial pages. It’s part of how your collection and product pages get discovered and supported. And it works alongside your technical SEO, content, and on-page optimization as one of the foundational elements. So internal linking isn’t a standalone tactic but a connective thread running through your whole SEO, tying your content, commercial pages, and structure together into a coherent, well-supported whole.<\/p>\n

This is part of why it’s such high-return work: it amplifies the value of everything else you do for SEO. Your content works harder when it’s linked to commercial pages and into clusters; your commercial pages rank better when they receive internal authority; your store is better understood when its structure is reinforced by deliberate linking. So as you work on your SEO across content, technical, and on-page, weave deliberate internal linking through all of it \u2014 it’s the connective tissue that makes the separate pieces reinforce each other rather than standing alone. A store that does its content, technical, and on-page SEO well but neglects internal linking leaves much of that work under-connected and under-amplified; a store that adds deliberate internal linking ties it all together, multiplying the return. That amplifying, connective role \u2014 making everything else work harder \u2014 is another reason internal linking deserves the deliberate attention most stores never give it.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The bottom line<\/span><\/h2>\n

Internal linking is free, underused, and quietly powerful \u2014 it helps search engines discover your pages, passes authority toward the pages you want to rank, communicates your store’s structure and importance, and helps shoppers navigate and find more of what they want, serving both SEO and UX at once. Most Shopify stores under-link in predictable ways: orphaned products and pages, weak cross-linking between products, blog content disconnected from commercial pages, reliance on automated navigation alone, and generic anchor text. Build a deliberate strategy that fills these gaps: structure your linking as hubs and spokes reinforcing your hierarchy and channeling authority to priority pages; link products from collections, related products, and content rather than leaving them stranded; above all, link your blog content to the relevant products and collections (the highest-leverage habit, connecting your content engine to your revenue engine for both shoppers and SEO); use descriptive, natural anchor text; and ensure nothing important is orphaned. Because most competitors under-link in these same ways, deliberate internal linking is an edge that costs nothing but attention and compounds over time. It’s the kind of unglamorous, high-return work that quietly strengthens your most important pages and connects your store coherently \u2014 well worth the deliberate effort the typical store never makes.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Frequently asked questions<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/span>Why does internal linking matter for SEO?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Internal links help search engines discover your pages (crawlers follow links, so well-linked pages get found while orphaned pages may not), pass authority (link equity) toward the pages you want to rank, and communicate your site’s structure and which pages are important. They also help shoppers navigate, so good internal linking serves both SEO and UX at once. It’s free, largely within your control, and most stores under-use it \u2014 making deliberate internal linking a high-return, low-cost edge.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What’s the most underused internal linking opportunity?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Linking your blog content to your commercial pages. Most stores’ blog posts don’t link to the relevant products and collections, so the content brings traffic and builds authority but never channels it toward revenue or passes authority to commercial pages. Deliberately linking from content to the relevant products and collections does double duty \u2014 guiding readers toward purchase and passing SEO authority to your commercial pages. It’s the highest-leverage internal linking habit for a store with content.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What is an orphaned page and why does it matter?<\/span><\/h4>\n

An orphaned page is one with nothing linking to it. It’s hard for search engines to discover (crawlers follow links, so an unlinked page may not get found or indexed well) and gets treated as unimportant, and shoppers can’t reach it through links either \u2014 so the page wastes its own value. Orphaned products, pages, and content are common on Shopify. Ensuring every important page has internal links pointing to it is foundational internal linking work and a common quick win.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What anchor text should I use for internal links?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Descriptive, natural anchor text that tells search engines and shoppers what the linked page is about \u2014 “our merino base layers” or “the complete sizing guide” rather than generic “click here,” which tells search engines nothing. Descriptive anchors help the linked page’s relevance. But keep it natural and don’t over-optimize by stuffing exact-match keywords into every anchor unnaturally, which looks manipulative and reads badly. Natural, descriptive anchor text serves both shoppers and search engines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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