Internal Linking Strategy for Shopify: A Practical Guide for Store Owners

Internal linking is the practice of connecting pages within your website using hyperlinks. For Shopify stores, this means linking your product pages, collection pages, blog posts, and other content together in a strategic way.

Internal links serve three primary functions:

• They help search engines discover and index your pages. When Google crawls your site, it follows internal links to find new content. Without proper internal linking, some pages may never get indexed.
• They distribute authority across your site. Search engines pass ranking power (often called "link equity") through internal links. Strategic linking helps important pages rank higher.
• They guide users through your store. Well-placed internal links help customers find related products, learn more about topics, and move toward purchase decisions.

For Shopify stores specifically, internal linking affects both SEO performance and conversion rates. A customer who lands on a single product page should be able to easily navigate to related products, relevant blog content, or helpful collection pages.

How Shopify's Default Structure Affects Internal Linking

Shopify creates a basic internal link structure automatically. Understanding what Shopify does by default helps you identify where manual intervention is needed.

Automatic Internal Links in Shopify

Shopify automatically creates several types of internal links:

• Navigation menu links. Your main menu and footer menus create links to collections, pages, and other sections.
• Breadcrumb links. Many Shopify themes include breadcrumbs that link from product pages back to collections and the homepage.
• Collection page links. Products listed in collections are automatically linked from those collection pages.
• Related products. Some themes include related product sections that create additional internal links.

While these automatic links provide a foundation, they are rarely sufficient for a strong internal linking strategy. Most Shopify stores need to add manual internal links to maximize SEO value.

Common Internal Linking Gaps in Shopify

Default Shopify structures often have these gaps:

• Orphan pages. Pages with no internal links pointing to them, making them hard for search engines and users to find.
• Shallow link depth. Important pages that require too many clicks from the homepage to reach.
• Missing contextual links. Product descriptions and blog posts that don't link to related content.
• Weak blog integration. Blog posts that exist in isolation without connecting to products or collections.

Building an Effective Internal Linking Strategy for Shopify

A strong internal linking strategy for Shopify balances SEO goals with user experience. Here is how to build one systematically.

Step 1: Identify Your Most Important Pages

Start by categorizing your pages by importance:

• High-priority pages. Your best-selling products, main collections, and key landing pages that drive revenue.
• Supporting pages. Related products, subcollections, and educational content that support purchase decisions.
• Informational pages. Blog posts, guides, and other content that attracts organic traffic but may not directly drive sales.

High-priority pages should receive more internal links from across your site. This signals to search engines that these pages are important and helps them rank higher.

Step 2: Create a Logical Site Hierarchy

Organize your Shopify store into a clear hierarchy:

• Homepage at the top level
• Main collections one level down
• Subcollections or filtered views at the next level
• Individual product pages at the bottom

This hierarchy should be reflected in your URL structure and internal links. Users and search engines should be able to move up and down this hierarchy easily.

For example:

Homepage → Clothing Collection → Women's Clothing → Women's Winter Coats → Specific Coat Product

Each level should link to the levels above and below it.

Step 3: Add Contextual Links in Product Descriptions

Product descriptions are valuable real estate for internal links. Add links naturally within the text where they provide genuine value:

• Link to related products that customers often buy together
• Link to collection pages for similar items
• Link to size guides, care instructions, or other helpful pages
• Link to blog posts that explain how to use or style the product

Example: If you sell a winter coat, your description might say: "This coat pairs perfectly with our wool scarves and is designed for the same cold-weather conditions discussed in our guide to layering for winter."

The key is to make these links feel natural and helpful, not forced.

Step 4: Connect Your Blog to Your Store

Many Shopify stores treat their blog as separate from their commerce pages. This is a missed opportunity.

Every blog post should include relevant internal links to:

• Products mentioned or featured in the post
• Related collection pages
• Other blog posts on similar topics

When a blog post ranks for informational keywords, these internal links help convert that traffic into customers by guiding readers to relevant products.

Example: A blog post titled "How to Choose the Right Running Shoes" should link to your running shoe collection, specific shoe products, and related posts about running gear.

Step 5: Use Collection Page Descriptions

Shopify collection pages can include text descriptions. Use this space to:

• Explain what the collection contains
• Link to related collections
• Link to relevant blog content
• Link to your most popular products in that category

This adds contextual internal links and improves the SEO value of collection pages, which are often some of your most important pages for organic traffic.

Step 6: Build Topic Clusters Around Product Categories

A topic cluster is a group of related content pieces linked together. For Shopify stores, this means creating blog content around your product categories and linking it all together.

Structure:

• Pillar page: A comprehensive guide on a broad topic (often a collection page or long-form blog post)
• Cluster content: Multiple blog posts covering specific subtopics
• Internal links: All cluster posts link to the pillar page, and the pillar page links to all cluster posts

Example for a coffee shop:

• Pillar: "Complete Guide to Brewing Coffee at Home" (links to coffee product collections)
• Clusters: "French Press Brewing Guide," "Pour Over Coffee Techniques," "How to Choose Coffee Beans," etc.
• Links: Each guide links back to the main pillar and to relevant coffee products

This structure helps you rank for both broad and specific keywords while guiding users toward products.

Technical Best Practices for Internal Links in Shopify

Beyond strategy, the technical execution of internal links matters for SEO.

Use Descriptive Anchor Text

Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. It tells search engines and users what the linked page is about.

Good anchor text is:

• Descriptive of the destination page
• Natural within the sentence
• Varied across different links to the same page

Avoid generic anchor text like "click here" or "read more." Instead, use phrases that describe what users will find:

• Weak: "Check out our products here"
• Strong: "Browse our collection of organic cotton t-shirts"

Link Using Relative URLs When Possible

Shopify allows both absolute URLs (https://yourstore.com/products/item) and relative URLs (/products/item). Relative URLs are generally preferred for internal links because they:

• Work correctly if you change domains
• Load slightly faster
• Are cleaner in the code

However, Shopify's rich text editor often creates absolute URLs automatically. This is not a critical SEO issue, but using relative URLs when you can is a minor technical improvement.

Avoid Excessive Links Per Page

While there is no strict limit, pages with hundreds of links can dilute the value passed to each link. More importantly, too many links can overwhelm users.

General guidelines:

• Product pages: 5-15 contextual internal links plus navigation
• Collection pages: Focus on the products listed, plus 3-5 contextual links in descriptions
• Blog posts: 5-10 relevant internal links to products, collections, or other posts

Quality matters more than quantity. Each internal link should have a clear purpose.

Make Sure All Important Pages Are Linked

Every page you want indexed by search engines should have at least one internal link pointing to it. Pages with no internal links (orphan pages) are much harder for search engines to find and rank.

Common orphan pages in Shopify stores:

• Older blog posts not linked from newer content
• Products not included in any collection
• Landing pages created for ads but not linked from the main site

Regularly audit your site to identify and fix orphan pages.

Consider Link Depth

Link depth refers to how many clicks it takes to reach a page from the homepage. Pages that are only 1-2 clicks from the homepage tend to rank better than pages buried 5-6 clicks deep.

For your most important products and collections, minimize the number of clicks needed to reach them. This often means including them in your main navigation or linking to them from high-traffic pages like the homepage or popular blog posts.

Common Internal Linking Mistakes to Avoid

Even with good intentions, it is easy to make internal linking mistakes that hurt your SEO.

Linking Only in Navigation

Many Shopify stores rely entirely on their header and footer navigation for internal links. While navigation is important, contextual links within content are more valuable for SEO.

Contextual links have more weight because they appear within relevant content and use descriptive anchor text. They also provide a better user experience by offering related information at the moment it is most useful.

Ignoring the Blog

Your blog can be a powerful source of internal links to products and collections. Blog posts that rank for informational queries can drive traffic deeper into your store.

If your blog posts do not link to products or collections, you are missing an opportunity to convert that traffic.

Using the Same Anchor Text Repeatedly

If every link to a product uses the exact same anchor text, it can look unnatural to search engines. Vary your anchor text while keeping it relevant.

Example for a product called "Organic Cotton T-Shirt":

• "Our organic cotton t-shirt"
• "This comfortable organic tee"
• "Organic cotton t-shirts"
• "Eco-friendly cotton shirts"

Each variation is relevant but not identical.

Creating Link Loops

A link loop occurs when pages link to each other in a circular pattern without progressing users forward. While not inherently bad, excessive loops without clear paths forward can confuse users and waste crawl budget.

Example of a problematic loop: Product A links only to Product B, Product B links only to Product C, Product C links only back to Product A, with no links to collections or other content.

Make sure your internal link structure guides users toward conversion points and allows them to explore your site logically.

Forgetting Mobile Users

Most Shopify traffic comes from mobile devices. Internal links that work well on desktop may be difficult to tap on mobile.

Make sure:

• Link text is large enough to tap easily
• Links are spaced far enough apart to avoid mis-taps
• Navigation menus work smoothly on mobile

Measuring Internal Linking Success

To know if your internal linking strategy is working, you need to measure its impact.

Track Rankings for Target Pages

If you have added more internal links to specific product or collection pages, monitor whether their rankings improve for target keywords.

Improvements may take several weeks to appear as search engines recrawl your site and process the new link structure.

Monitor Pages Per Session

Good internal linking should encourage users to view more pages during their visit. An increase in pages per session suggests that your internal links are successfully guiding users to related content.

Check Indexing Status

Use Google Search Console to verify that important pages are indexed. If you have fixed orphan pages by adding internal links, check whether they get indexed within a few weeks.

Analyze User Behavior

Look at how users navigate your site. Are they following your internal links? Do certain internal links get more clicks than others?

This data can help you refine which pages you link to and where you place those links.

Advanced Internal Linking Tactics for Shopify

Once you have the basics in place, these advanced tactics can further improve your internal linking.

Link to Older Content From New Content

When you publish new blog posts or add new products, include links to older, related content. This helps older pages continue to receive fresh internal links, which signals to search engines that they are still relevant.

Update Old Content With New Links

As you add new products or publish new blog posts, go back and update older content to link to these new pages. This keeps your internal link structure current and helps new content get discovered faster.

Use Breadcrumbs Correctly

Breadcrumbs show users their location in your site hierarchy and provide internal links back to parent pages. Most Shopify themes include breadcrumbs, but make sure they are:

• Visible and easy to use
• Implemented with proper schema markup for SEO
• Accurately reflecting your site structure

Create Hub Pages

A hub page is a resource page that links to many related pages. For Shopify stores, this could be:

• A "Complete Gift Guide" that links to multiple product categories
• A "Resource Center" that links to all your how-to blog posts
• A "Best Sellers" page that links to top products across categories

Hub pages consolidate internal links in one place and help users discover multiple relevant pages quickly.

Link From High-Traffic Pages

Pages that receive a lot of organic traffic have more authority to pass through internal links. Identify your highest-traffic pages and look for opportunities to add relevant internal links to pages you want to boost.

This is especially effective when a high-traffic blog post can link to a product or collection page you want to rank better.