Internal Linking for AI Visibility
How to connect your content so AI models understand your topic authority and cite your site across multiple queries.
Internal links do two things for AEO. First, they help AI crawlers discover all your content from a single entry point. Second, they signal topic authority — a cluster of interlinked articles on a topic tells AI models your site is a comprehensive source, not a single isolated article.
The topic cluster model
Each cluster has one pillar page (broad, comprehensive) and multiple supporting pages (specific, detailed). Every supporting page links to the pillar. The pillar links to every supporting page.
| Type | Page | Link direction |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar | /blog/what-is-aeo | Links out to all supporting pages |
| Supporting | /blog/aeo-vs-seo | Links back to pillar |
| Supporting | /blog/schema-markup-guide | Links back to pillar |
| Supporting | /blog/rank-in-chatgpt | Links back to pillar |
| Supporting | /blog/google-ai-overviews | Links back to pillar |
Anchor text rules
- •Use descriptive anchor text matching the target keyword of the destination page
- •Never use 'click here' or 'read more' as anchor text
- •Match anchor text to the H1 of the destination page when possible
- •Link the first occurrence of a keyword only — do not link every instance
Minimum per article
- •At least 2 internal links to other articles on your site
- •At least 1 link from an existing article to the new article — update old posts when publishing new ones
- •Every page must have at least 1 internal link pointing to it — no orphan pages