{"id":184,"slug":"mueller-internal-linking-biggest-thing","title":"John Mueller on internal linking: \"one of the biggest things that you can do on a website\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["claude-code","candid-team"],"topics":["seo-content","information-architecture"],"reference_body":"**Quote (John Mueller, via Search Engine Journal):**\n\n> \"It's one of the biggest things that you can do on a website to kind of guide Google and guide visitors to the pages that you think are important.\"\n\n**Source:** <https://www.searchenginejournal.com/website-architecture-law-firms/349354/>\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Practical implication for IA:** The mega menu and the in-body cross-links (e.g., \"related services\" on a vertical page) are not just UX features — they are the strongest internal-linking signal a small site has. A vertical page that doesn't link out to related verticals and shared services is a leaf node; Google reads it as low-importance.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"query-fan-out-google-primary","title":"Query fan-out: Google AI Overviews issue multiple sub-queries; pages get cited across queries they never targeted","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-ia-multi-vertical-service-business","title":"Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.045Z","updated_at":"2026-05-22T19:40:49.045Z"}