How Internal Linking Boosts Your OnPage SEO

The Foundational Mechanics of Internal Linking

Internal linking is the practice of connecting one page on a domain to another page on the same domain. In its most basic form, it is a hyperlink from yourwebsite.com/page-a to yourwebsite.com/page-b. This simple action forms the foundational skeleton of a website’s architecture, creating a network of pathways that serve two primary audiences with equal importance: human users and search engine crawlers. For users, these links are the primary mode of navigation, allowing them to discover related content, move from a general category to a specific product, or find supporting information for a claim made in an article. A well-structured internal linking system creates a seamless, intuitive user experience, guiding visitors through a logical journey, increasing their engagement, and helping them achieve their goals on the site.

For search engines like Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo, internal links are the roadways they use to discover and understand a website. When a search engine’s crawler, often called a spider or bot, lands on a page (typically the homepage), it reads the content and follows the links on that page to discover other pages within the site. Without internal links, a page becomes an “orphan,” isolated from the rest of the site and virtually invisible to search engines unless it is found through an external backlink or an XML sitemap submission. Therefore, internal links are the most fundamental requirement for getting a site’s pages crawled and indexed.

The process begins with discovery. A crawler follows links to build a map of the entire website. The more links a page has pointing to it from other relevant pages on the site, the stronger the signal to the search engine that this page is important. This concept is a direct descendant of the original principle behind Google’s PageRank algorithm. While the modern algorithm is infinitely more complex, the core idea remains: links act as votes of confidence. An internal link is a vote from one of your own pages to another. This internal voting system helps the search engine establish a hierarchy of content. Pages with many internal links, such as a homepage or major category pages, are perceived as more authoritative and important than pages with very few links, like a blog post from five years ago with no incoming internal links.

This flow of authority, often colloquially referred to as “link equity” or “link juice,” is a critical concept in on-page SEO. Imagine your website’s homepage as a reservoir of authority, built up from all the external links pointing to your domain. Every internal link leading from the homepage acts as a channel, allowing some of that authority to flow to the linked pages. These pages, in turn, can then pass authority to other pages they link to. A strategic internal linking structure is, therefore, an exercise in directing this flow of equity. The goal is to channel authority from high-value pages (like the homepage or popular blog posts with many backlinks) towards pages you want to rank, such as key service pages, product pages, or cornerstone content. By creating deliberate pathways, you are essentially telling search engines, “This destination page is significant. We are endorsing it with a link from this other important page.” This deliberate distribution prevents authority from being diluted or wasted on low-priority pages and instead concentrates it where it can have the most impact on search engine rankings and business goals.

Establishing Site Hierarchy and Topical Relevance

A well-executed internal linking strategy is paramount for communicating the structure and subject matter of a website to search engines. It moves beyond simple crawlability and delves into the sophisticated task of establishing topical authority. Search engines strive to understand not just what a single page is about, but how that page fits into the broader context of the entire website. Internal links are the primary clues they use to piece together this puzzle. By strategically linking related content, you create semantic relationships between pages, building a powerful narrative about your expertise in a specific niche.

The most effective model for achieving this is the “topic cluster” or “hub-and-spoke” model. This architecture involves creating a central, authoritative pillar page (the hub) that provides a broad overview of a major topic. This page is then linked out to multiple, more specific cluster pages (the spokes) that each delve into a detailed sub-topic. Crucially, each of these cluster pages must link back to the main pillar page. This creates a tightly knit, semantically related group of content. For example, a digital marketing agency might create a pillar page titled “The Ultimate Guide to SEO.” This page would then link out to cluster pages on topics like “Keyword Research for Beginners,” “Technical SEO Audit Checklist,” “Link Building Strategies,” and “Understanding Core Web Vitals.” Each of these cluster pages would, in turn, contain a link back to “The Ultimate Guide to SEO.”

This structure sends an incredibly strong signal to Google. The reciprocal linking between the pillar and cluster pages demonstrates a clear, deliberate relationship. It tells the algorithm that you haven’t just written one isolated article about SEO; you have created a comprehensive resource covering the topic from multiple angles. The pillar page, by receiving numerous internal links from highly relevant cluster pages, accumulates authority and becomes a strong candidate to rank for broad, high-volume keywords (e.g., “SEO guide”). The cluster pages, supported by the contextual link from the authoritative pillar, have a better chance of ranking for more specific, long-tail keywords (e.g., “how to do keyword research”). This symbiotic relationship boosts the ranking potential of the entire cluster.

This hierarchical organization mirrors how a user might learn about a new subject. They start with a general overview and then dive into a specific area of interest. The internal linking facilitates this journey, improving user experience metrics like time on page and pages per session. These positive user signals are themselves indirect ranking factors, further reinforcing the SEO benefits. Without this structure, your content might be a collection of disconnected articles. With it, your content becomes a library, organized by subject, with a clear hierarchy that Google can easily understand and reward. The internal links are the card catalog system of that library, guiding both users and crawlers to the most relevant information and establishing your website as an authoritative source on the topic. This authority is not just perceived; it is algorithmically calculated based on the dense, logical, and relevant web of internal links you have meticulously constructed.

The Critical Role of Anchor Text in Internal Linking

Anchor text is the clickable, visible text of a hyperlink. Its importance in an internal linking strategy cannot be overstated, as it is one of the most powerful signals you can send to a search engine about the content of the destination page. When a crawler encounters a link, it doesn’t just register the connection between Page A and Page B; it pays close attention to the words used in the anchor text to understand the context of the link and the topic of the linked-to page. A well-optimized anchor text strategy can significantly improve a page’s ability to rank for its target keywords.

There are several types of anchor text, each with a specific use case and strategic value.

1. Exact Match Anchor Text: This is when the anchor text is the exact keyword phrase you want the destination page to rank for. For example, linking to a page about blue running shoes with the anchor text “blue running shoes.” This is the most potent type of anchor text for signaling relevance. However, it must be used sparingly and naturally. Overusing exact match anchor text, especially for external links, was a common spam tactic that led to Google’s Penguin algorithm update. While the rules are more lenient for internal links, excessive use can still appear manipulative and unnatural, potentially leading to on-page over-optimization filters. A good rule of thumb is to use it for your most important links pointing to a key page, but ensure it is surrounded by relevant content.

2. Partial Match Anchor Text: This includes a variation of the keyword on the linked-to page. For example, linking to the same page with an anchor like “best running shoes in blue” or “find comfortable blue sneakers here.” This is an excellent way to diversify your anchor text profile while still providing strong contextual clues. It looks more natural to both users and search engines and helps the page rank for a wider range of related, long-tail search queries.

3. Branded Anchor Text: This uses your brand name as the anchor, such as “Acme Shoe Co.” This is best used when linking back to your homepage or a primary brand-level page. It helps to strengthen your brand identity and association in the eyes of search engines.

4. Naked URL Anchor Text: Here, the anchor text is simply the URL of the destination page, such as www.yourwebsite.com/blue-shoes. While not as descriptively powerful as keyword-rich anchors, it is a natural part of a link profile and can be useful in certain contexts, like source citations.

5. Generic Anchor Text: These are non-descriptive, common phrases like “click here,” “read more,” “learn more,” or “visit this page.” While ubiquitous, these anchors provide almost zero SEO value. They do not tell the search engine anything about the destination page. A user must read the surrounding text to understand the link’s purpose. Whenever possible, generic anchors should be replaced with descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text. A link that says “read our guide to running shoe maintenance” is infinitely more valuable than one that simply says “click here.”

6. Image Links: When an image is linked, the anchor text is provided by the image’s alt attribute (alt text). This is a frequently missed SEO opportunity. An image of blue running shoes linking to the product page should have an alt text like alt="Nike Air Zoom blue running shoes for men". This provides the same kind of descriptive, contextual signal as text-based anchor text. Leaving the alt text blank means the link passes no contextual information, effectively making it a generic link.

A sophisticated internal linking strategy involves a natural, diverse mix of these anchor text types. The goal is to create a profile that appears organic and user-focused while still providing clear, strategic signals to search engines. The context surrounding the link is also crucial. A link with the anchor “blue running shoes” placed within a paragraph discussing marathon training is far more powerful than the same link placed in an unrelated footer section. The algorithm analyzes the text before and after the link to further validate its relevance. Therefore, the best internal links are contextual, placed within the body of the content, using descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text that accurately reflects the topic of the page it points to.

Leveraging Internal Links to Funnel Authority and Boost Rankings

One of the most potent applications of internal linking is the deliberate channeling of link equity to improve the search engine rankings of specific, high-priority pages. Every page on a website has a certain amount of authority, derived from both its internal links and, more powerfully, its external backlinks from other websites. This authority is not static; it can be directed. A strategic internal linking plan acts as a system of dams and canals, controlling the flow of authority across your site to water the pages you want to grow.

The first step is to identify your high-authority and high-priority pages.

High-Authority Pages: These are the pages on your site that already have significant power. They are often your homepage (which naturally attracts the most backlinks), popular blog posts that have gone viral or been cited by other sites, comprehensive guides, or resource pages. You can identify these pages using tools like Ahrefs or Moz’s Link Explorer, looking for pages with the highest number of referring domains or the highest URL Rating/Page Authority score. These pages are your power reservoirs.

High-Priority Pages: These are the pages you want to rank higher. They are typically your “money pages”—the ones that directly contribute to your business goals. This includes key service pages, product category pages, e-commerce product pages, or lead generation landing pages. These pages often target valuable, competitive keywords but may lack the authority to rank on their own.

The strategy is to build a bridge from your high-authority pages to your high-priority pages. The most effective way to do this is through contextual internal links. For example, imagine you have a highly authoritative blog post titled “10 Training Mistakes Every New Runner Makes,” which has earned dozens of backlinks. You also have a high-priority product page for “ergonomic running shoes” that is struggling to rank. You would edit the blog post and find a relevant place to add a link. Within a section discussing the importance of proper footwear to avoid injury, you could add a sentence like, “Investing in a pair of high-quality, ergonomic running shoes can be one of the most effective ways to protect your joints.” The phrase “ergonomic running shoes” becomes a keyword-rich internal link pointing directly to your product page.

By adding this single link, you are accomplishing several things. First, you are creating a direct pathway for users who are reading about running problems to discover a product that offers a solution. This improves the user journey and can lead to conversions. Second, and more importantly for on-page SEO, you are passing a portion of the blog post’s significant link equity directly to the product page. This endorsement from a powerful, relevant page on your own site tells Google that the product page is important and authoritative on the topic of ergonomic running shoes. This infusion of authority can be the catalyst that pushes the product page from the second page of search results to the first.

This process should be scaled across your site. Conduct an audit to find all relevant opportunities to link from your power pages to your money pages. A single high-priority page should receive links from multiple relevant, authoritative sources on your site. The more relevant internal endorsements it receives, the stronger its own authority profile becomes. This technique is far more powerful than simply adding the priority page to a sitewide footer. While footer links do pass some equity, they are devalued by Google because they are not contextual. A link embedded within a relevant paragraph of text is seen as a much stronger editorial vote. By meticulously identifying and connecting your most powerful pages to your most important pages, you can systematically elevate the ranking potential of your entire website, turning your existing authority into a powerful engine for SEO growth.

Conducting an Internal Linking Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

To optimize your site’s architecture, you cannot simply guess where to add links. A systematic internal linking audit is essential for identifying weaknesses, uncovering opportunities, and making data-driven decisions. This process involves using specialized tools to analyze your current linking structure and then developing a plan to improve it.

Step 1: Crawl Your Website

The foundation of any internal link audit is a complete crawl of your website. The best tool for this job is a desktop crawler like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Sitebulb. For smaller sites, the free version of Screaming Frog (up to 500 URLs) may suffice. For larger sites, a paid license is necessary. When you initiate a crawl, the software acts like a search engine bot, starting from your homepage and following every internal link to discover all the pages on your site. Once the crawl is complete, you will have a comprehensive dataset of all your URLs and the links connecting them.

Step 2: Identify Orphaned and Deeply-Linked Pages

Orphaned pages are URLs that have zero incoming internal links from the crawled parts of your site. They are invisible to search engine spiders (unless found via sitemaps or backlinks) and receive no internal link equity. In Screaming Frog, you can find these by comparing the crawl results with a list of URLs from your sitemap or Google Analytics. The tool has a specific function in the “Crawl Analysis” configuration to find orphan URLs. Once identified, your goal is to reintegrate these pages into your site structure by finding relevant, authoritative pages to link from.

Deeply-linked pages, also known as “deep pages,” are pages that require a user or crawler to click through many links to reach them from the homepage. The “Crawl Depth” report in Screaming Frog shows this metric. Pages with a high crawl depth (e.g., more than 3-4 clicks from the homepage) are often seen as less important by search engines and may be crawled less frequently. Prioritize reducing the click depth of your important pages by linking to them from pages closer to the homepage, such as major category pages or even the main navigation menu if they are critical.

Step 3: Analyze and Remediate Broken Internal Links (404s)

Broken internal links are a significant problem for both user experience and SEO. When a user clicks a broken link, they land on a 404 error page, creating frustration. For a search engine, a broken internal link is a dead end. It wastes crawl budget and stops the flow of link equity. The crawler reaches the broken link and can go no further down that path. In Screaming Frog, navigate to the “Response Codes” tab and filter for “Client Error (4xx).” This will give you a list of all broken links. For each broken link, you need to use the “Inlinks” tab at the bottom of the interface to find all the pages on your site that are linking to that broken URL. The fix is to edit each source page and either update the link to point to the correct, live URL or remove the link entirely if the destination page no longer exists and has no suitable replacement.

Step ika-ika (Step 4): Scrutinize Anchor Text Distribution

Your audit must include a thorough analysis of your internal anchor text. A lack of descriptive anchors is a massive missed opportunity. Using your crawl data, you need to examine the anchor text pointing to your key pages. In Screaming Frog, select a high-priority URL in the main window, then look at the “Inlinks” tab. This will show you every page linking to it and the exact anchor text used for each link.

Look for a few key problems:

• Overuse of Generic Anchors: Are most links using “click here” or “read more”? If so, create a plan to update these with keyword-rich, descriptive anchor text.
• Over-optimization of Exact Match Anchors: Is every single link to a page using the identical exact-match keyword? This can look unnatural. Diversify by introducing partial-match and LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keyword variations.
• Irrelevant Anchor Text: Is the anchor text misleading or unrelated to the content of the destination page? This confuses both users and search engines and should be corrected immediately.
• Blank Alt Text on Image Links: Export all image links and check the alt attribute. Fill in any blank or non-descriptive alt text to provide contextual signals for those links.

Step 5: Find Under-linked High-Priority Pages

Identify your most important service, product, or cornerstone content pages. Using the crawl data, check how many internal links each of these pages has. You can sort your URLs by the “Inlinks” column in Screaming Frog to find pages with a low number of incoming links. If a critical page only has two or three internal links, it’s a clear signal that it’s being undervalued within your own site architecture. The next step is opportunity mining: using your site’s search function or specific Google search operators (e.g., site:yourwebsite.com "target keyword") to find other pages on your site that mention the page’s topic. These are prime candidates for adding a new internal link. For example, if your under-linked page is about “email marketing services,” find every blog post on your site that mentions “email marketing” and add a contextual link back to your service page. This systematic process turns an unstructured website into a highly optimized, hierarchical structure that maximizes crawlability, authority flow, and topical relevance.

Advanced Strategy: The Topic Cluster Model in Detail

The topic cluster model is an advanced SEO strategy that organizes a site’s content architecture to establish topical authority, and internal linking is its functional backbone. It represents a shift from focusing on individual keywords to dominating entire topics. The model consists of three core components: the pillar page, cluster content, and the internal links that connect them.

1. The Pillar Page (The Hub)

The pillar page, or cornerstone content, is the heart of the topic cluster. It is a long-form, comprehensive piece of content that covers a broad topic in its entirety but at a surface level. It’s designed to be the definitive resource on that subject for your website. For example, a pillar page topic could be “Content Marketing,” “Project Management Software,” or “Retirement Planning.”

• Characteristics:
  • Broad Scope: It touches upon all major sub-topics related to the primary theme. For “Content Marketing,” it would briefly cover strategy, creation, promotion, analytics, etc.
  • Lengthy and Comprehensive: Pillar pages are often several thousand words long, aiming to be a one-stop-shop for someone new to the topic.
  • Targets High-Volume Keywords: It’s optimized for a broad, “fat-head” keyword with high search volume (e.g., “content marketing”).
  • Heavily Internally Linked: It serves as the primary distribution hub for links, linking out to all the related cluster content.

2. Cluster Content (The Spokes)

Cluster content consists of multiple, more detailed pieces of content that each focus on one specific sub-topic mentioned in the pillar page. These are typically blog posts, articles, or specific landing pages that explore a niche area in great depth.

• Characteristics:
  • Narrow and Deep: Each piece of cluster content takes one sub-topic from the pillar and expands on it comprehensively. Following the “Content Marketing” example, cluster content could be “A Guide to Creating a Content Calendar,” “15 Ways to Promote Your Blog Post,” or “How to Measure Content ROI.”
  • Targets Long-Tail Keywords: Each cluster page is optimized for a more specific, long-tail keyword that has lower search volume but often higher user intent (e.g., “how to make content calendar template”).
  • Links Back to the Pillar: This is the most critical linking rule. Every single piece of cluster content must have at least one contextual link pointing back to the main pillar page.

3. The Internal Linking Hyperstructure

The internal links are the “hyper” in hyperstructure; they are the active ingredient that makes the model work. The linking pattern is specific and intentional:

• Pillar to Cluster: The pillar page contains links that point outward to each of the individual cluster content pages. These links act as chapter headings, allowing a user (and Google) to navigate from the broad overview to a deep dive on a specific aspect. The anchor text for these links should be descriptive and closely match the topic of the cluster page (e.g., a link from the pillar to the cluster page about content calendars should use an anchor like “creating a content calendar”).
• Cluster to Pillar: Every cluster page must link back up to the pillar page. This reciprocal link closes the loop and is the signal that tells search engines that this group of pages is a deliberately organized, semantic cluster. The anchor text for this link back to the pillar should often be the broad topic keyword itself (e.g., “our complete guide to content marketing”). This reinforces the pillar’s authority on that main term.
• (Optional but Recommended) Cluster to Cluster: It is also highly beneficial to link between related cluster pages where it makes sense for the user. For instance, the cluster page on “Content Promotion” could logically link to the one on “Content Analytics” to help users understand how to measure the results of their promotional efforts. This creates a more tightly woven web, further reinforcing the topical relationship and improving user navigation.

The SEO Payoff:

This deliberate architecture creates a powerful feedback loop. The pillar page consolidates authority because it receives dozens of highly relevant, contextual internal links from the cluster pages. This accumulated authority helps it rank for the highly competitive broad keyword. In turn, the high-ranking pillar page passes authority back down to all the linked cluster pages, lifting their ranking potential for their respective long-tail keywords. Google’s algorithms see this organized structure and recognize that your website has covered a topic with immense depth and breadth, establishing your domain as a topical authority. This can lead to higher rankings across the board for all content within the cluster, creating an SEO moat that is difficult for competitors with disorganized content to overcome.

Internal Linking for E-commerce Websites: A Unique Challenge

Internal linking for e-commerce sites is a far more complex and dynamic undertaking than for a standard blog or corporate website. The sheer scale of pages (potentially millions of products), the template-driven nature of the site, and the critical importance of faceted navigation create a unique set of challenges and opportunities. A strategic approach is vital for ensuring product discoverability, distributing link equity effectively, and maximizing sales.

1. Navigational and Category Page Linking

The primary structure of an e-commerce site is defined by its navigational hierarchy. This starts with the main navigation menu, flowing down to major category pages, then to sub-category pages, and finally to individual product pages. This top-down linking is fundamental.

• Homepage to Major Categories: The homepage must link directly to the top-level, most valuable product categories (e.g., “Men’s,” “Women’s,” “Electronics”). These links, usually in the main menu, are some of the most powerful internal links on the entire site, funneling massive amounts of homepage equity to the category hubs.
• Category to Sub-Category: A main category page like “Electronics” must link clearly to its sub-categories (“Laptops,” “Smartphones,” “Headphones”). This creates a logical user journey and establishes a clear hierarchy for search engines.
• Category to Product: Category and sub-category pages are the primary gateways to products. They should link to the most popular or featured products within that category. Pagination (Page 1, 2, 3…) is a form of internal linking that must be handled correctly (using rel=next/prev in the past, now just standard tags) to ensure crawlers can discover all products.

2. Breadcrumb Navigation

Breadcrumbs are a crucial internal linking element for e-commerce. A typical breadcrumb trail looks like: Home > Electronics > Laptops > Product Name. Each part of this trail is a link.

• User Experience: Breadcrumbs show users their location within the site’s hierarchy and allow for easy, one-click navigation back to a higher-level category.
• SEO Value: Breadcrumbs create a consistent, site-wide pattern of internal links that reinforces the site structure for search engines. They consistently link up the hierarchy, from product to sub-category to category, funneling a small amount of equity upwards and clearly defining content relationships. Implementing breadcrumb schema markup further enhances this signal for Google.

3. Faceted Navigation and the Crawl Budget Problem

Faceted navigation (or filtering) allows users to refine product listings by attributes like brand, color, size, or price. While essential for UX, it can be an SEO disaster if not managed correctly. Every combination of filters can create a new, unique URL (e.g., /laptops?brand=apple&color=silver&size=13-inch). This can lead to an astronomical number of low-value, duplicate-content URLs, which wastes crawl budget. Search engine crawlers get trapped crawling millions of filter combinations instead of your important pages.

• The Solution: The best practice is to control which facets are crawlable. Allow crawlers to follow links and index pages for high-value filter combinations that have search demand (e.g., “apple laptops”). For most other combinations, use techniques to prevent crawling and indexing. This can be done by using the robots.txt file to disallow crawling of specific URL parameters, using the rel="nofollow" attribute on links for less important facets, or using JavaScript to generate filter links in a way that Googlebot won’t follow by default. The goal is to present a clean, crawlable architecture to search engines while still offering full functionality to users.

4. Linking from Product Pages

Product pages themselves are a goldmine for strategic internal linking opportunities.

• Cross-sells and Up-sells: Sections like “Customers Also Bought” or “Frequently Bought Together” are perfect for creating relevant internal links. Linking to a compatible accessory from a main product page is a great UX and SEO practice, as it creates a relevant link and can increase the average order value.
• “Complete the Look”: In fashion e-commerce, linking from an item of clothing to other items shown in the model’s photo is a powerful contextual linking strategy.
• Linking to a “Brand Page”: Linking the product’s brand name to a dedicated brand page on your site helps users discover other products from the same brand and builds the authority of those brand-specific category pages.
• Contextual Links in Descriptions: If a product description mentions a specific technology or material (e.g., “Gore-Tex”), and you have a blog post or guide explaining what that is, link to it. This helps users and signals your expertise.

By carefully managing the main navigation, implementing breadcrumbs, controlling faceted navigation, and leveraging on-page linking opportunities, an e-commerce site can guide both users and search engines effectively, ensuring products are found, authority is distributed, and revenue is maximized.

The Impact of JavaScript on Internal Linking and SEO

In the modern web, JavaScript is ubiquitous, powering dynamic, interactive user experiences. However, its implementation can have profound and often detrimental effects on a site’s internal linking structure and, consequently, its on-page SEO. Search engines, particularly Google, have become much better at crawling and rendering JavaScript, but it is not a foolproof process and introduces complexities that do not exist with standard HTML links.

The core issue stems from how links are implemented. A standard, SEO-friendly internal link is created using the HTML tag with an href attribute: Link Text. When a crawler encounters this, it immediately recognizes it as a link, adds the /page-b URL to its crawl queue, and understands the connection.

JavaScript frameworks (like React, Angular, or Vue.js) and custom scripts can generate links in different ways that are not as straightforward for crawlers.

1. Client-Side Rendering (CSR)

Many modern websites use client-side rendering. This means the server sends a minimal HTML shell to the browser, which then executes JavaScript to fetch data and render the page’s content, including the links. This creates a two-step process for Google:

• Crawling: Googlebot first downloads the initial HTML. If the links are not present in this initial payload, it doesn’t see them.
• Rendering: The page is then passed to Google’s Web Rendering Service (WRS), which executes the JavaScript, much like a browser. Only after rendering is complete does Google see the links and add them to the crawl queue.

This rendering process is resource-intensive for Google and can cause delays. Pages that require rendering are often placed in a separate queue, and it can take days or even weeks for them to be rendered and for the links on them to be discovered. This significantly slows down the discovery of new content and the flow of link equity compared to server-side rendered (SSR) or static HTML sites where links are immediately visible in the source code.

2. Non-Standard Link Implementations

Developers sometimes use non-standard HTML elements for navigation, relying on JavaScript to provide the linking functionality. For example, they might use a or