Glossary
Internal linking glossary
Eighteen terms that come up whenever internal links are discussed. Each one has its own page with a plain definition first, then what actually follows from it in practice — the distinctions that get confused, the advice that stopped being true, and what to do about it.
A
B
C
- Canonical tagDeclares which URL is the authoritative one when the same content sits at several addresses. A hint, not an instruction — your links have to agree with it.
- Click depthHow many clicks from the homepage a page sits at. Not the same as URL depth, and the difference matters.
- Contextual linkA link inside body text, placed because that passage genuinely leads somewhere. Weighed far more heavily than a template link.
- Cornerstone contentThe handful of pages you most want to rank. The designation is an instruction about links, not a badge.
- Crawl budgetThe finite attention a search engine gives a site. Rarely a real constraint below a few thousand pages.