Internal Linking Strategy for Shopify Stores

Internal linking is one of the most underrated SEO tactics available to Shopify merchants. It's free, within your full control, and directly influences how Google crawls and values your pages. A well-planned internal link structure distributes 'PageRank' from your homepage and high-authority pages down to the product and collection pages that earn you revenue.

How Internal Links Pass Authority

Google uses links to discover new pages and to determine how important pages are relative to each other. Pages that receive many internal links are interpreted as more important. Your homepage typically has the most external backlinks, making it your most authoritative page — internal links from the homepage pass significant value.

Priority Pages to Prioritise

• Top-revenue collection pages: ensure these are linked from the homepage and navigation
• Best-selling product pages: link from related products sections, blog posts, and collection descriptions
• Seasonal or promotional pages: temporarily increase internal links during peak periods
• New pages: freshly published pages have zero internal links — add them immediately

Anchor Text Best Practices

Anchor text is the clickable text of an internal link. It signals to Google what the linked page is about. Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text rather than generic phrases like 'click here' or 'read more'. Vary your anchor text naturally — exact-match anchors used repeatedly can look unnatural even for internal links.

Where to Add Internal Links in Shopify

• Navigation menus: your most important collection pages should always appear in the main nav
• Homepage featured sections: hero CTAs, featured collections, and promotional banners
• Product descriptions: link to related products and relevant collection pages
• Collection page descriptions: many themes display an editable description at the top — use it for internal links
• Blog posts: every blog post should link to at least 2–3 relevant product or collection pages
• Footer: category links in your footer provide crawlable pathways to key pages

Auditing Your Internal Link Structure

Use a tool like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs' Site Audit to see which pages on your site have the fewest internal links. Orphaned pages — those with no internal links pointing to them — are invisible to Google's crawler unless they appear in your sitemap. Make it a monthly task to identify and fix orphaned pages.

“Think of internal links as votes within your own site — every link you add is a deliberate editorial decision about what matters most.”