Businesses expanding abroad spend heavily on translation, localisation, and new market content. Then they link it together as an afterthought. The result is a site where the English pages hold all the authority and the Spanish, German, or Arabic pages struggle to rank at all.
Internal links decide how authority flows through your site. They tell search engines which pages matter and how topics connect. On a multilingual website, they also decide whether each language version stands on its own or remains a weak shadow of the main site.
The SERP Master Agency team fixes internal linking on multi-language sites for exporters, service firms, and ecommerce brands. This guide explains how to build a linking structure that helps every market rank.
Each language version needs its own complete internal linking structure
A language version is not a translation layer on top of your main site. Search engines treat it as a set of pages that must earn rankings in their own market. That requires a full internal structure within each language.
Every language version should have its own navigation, category hierarchy, contextual links, and related content modules. Links inside a French page should point to other French pages, not back to English ones. Mixed-language linking confuses users and splits authority across markets.
A Belgian B2B software company ran English, French, and Dutch versions of its site. Our crawl showed that 60% of contextual links on French blog posts pointed to English service pages. French visitors bounced, and French service pages had almost no internal links. After re-pointing links to French equivalents, the French service pages moved from page three to page one for several core terms within five months.
Run a crawl filtered by language folder and count internal links pointing out of each version. Anything beyond the language switcher usually needs fixing.
Language switchers should link to the equivalent page, not the homepage
Many sites send every language switch to the homepage of the other version. A German visitor reading an English product page clicks “Deutsch” and lands on the German homepage. They must then search again for the product. Many never do.
Link each switcher option to the direct equivalent page in the other language. This matches the pairs you declare in hreflang and gives search engines a consistent picture. It also reinforces the relationship between equivalent pages across markets.
Use crawlable HTML links for the switcher. JavaScript-only switchers and dropdowns can hide those links from crawlers. Where an equivalent page does not exist, link to the closest relevant category rather than the homepage.
An online homewares brand selling across the Nordics rebuilt its switcher to link page-to-page. Bounce rates from language switches dropped sharply. Hreflang errors in Search Console fell as well, because the switcher links now matched the declared alternates.
A hub page covers a broad topic and links out to detailed pages on each subtopic. Those detailed pages link back to the hub. This structure builds topical authority and channels link equity to the pages that sell.
Build hubs in each language around the topics buyers in that market search for. The hub for “industrial pumps” in English might become “Industriepumpen” in German, with subtopics chosen from German keyword research. Do not simply translate the English hub structure if local demand differs.
A Spanish agricultural equipment exporter built separate hubs for irrigation systems in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The Portuguese hub focused on the Brazilian market’s interest in large-scale centre pivot systems. The English hub focused on drip irrigation for Australian growers. Each hub began ranking in its market within a few months, and enquiries from Brazil rose noticeably.
Hub architecture sits at the centre of our SEO services for multilingual sites.
Descriptive anchor text in the local language helps pages rank for local terms
Anchor text tells search engines what the linked page covers. On a multilingual site, that anchor text must use the language and terminology of the target market. Generic anchors such as “click here” or “más información” waste the opportunity.
Use the terms local buyers search for. British English buyers search for “trousers”, American buyers for “pants”. Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese differ in vocabulary too. Match your anchors to the market, not just the language.
A UK clothing retailer launched a US store using its British product terminology throughout. Internal anchors used “trainers”, “jumpers”, and “trousers”. US category pages struggled until the team rewrote anchors and headings with American terms. Rankings for “sneakers” and “sweaters” category pages improved within one quarter.
For ecommerce catalogues, anchor text in navigation and category modules carries significant weight. Our ecommerce SEO services localise these anchors for every market we support.
Orphan pages multiply on multilingual sites and need regular clean-up
Orphan pages have no internal links pointing to them. Search engines struggle to find them, and users never reach them. Multilingual sites generate orphans constantly, because teams publish localised content without adding it to navigation or linking modules.
Find orphans by comparing your XML sitemap and analytics landing pages against a full site crawl. Any URL in the sitemap or analytics but missing from the crawl is likely orphaned. Then link it from relevant pages in the same language, or remove it if it serves no purpose.
A travel insurance comparison site with seven language versions ran this check and found over 400 orphaned pages. Most were localised guides published by regional teams and never linked. After adding them to the relevant language hubs, many began ranking for long-tail queries in their markets. The site gained organic traffic without publishing a single new page.
Schedule an orphan check every quarter. It takes a few hours and regularly uncovers content you have already paid to create.
Links between language versions should follow clear, deliberate rules
Some cross-language links make sense. A global “about us” page or a multilingual support centre might link to several versions. The problem comes from accidental cross-language links scattered through body content.
Set clear rules for your editors:
- Body content links only to pages in the same language.
- The language switcher and hreflang handle connections between equivalent pages.
- Global resources may link to all language versions from a clearly labelled section.
- Where no local equivalent exists, link to the closest relevant page in the same language.
A Dutch logistics company wrote these rules into its content style guide after a linking audit. Regional editors now check links before publishing. Mixed-language links dropped to near zero, and each version’s pages gained internal authority that previously leaked to the English site.
Location and service pages should link together within each market
Service firms with offices or clients in several countries often build location pages and service pages separately. When those pages do not link to each other within each market, neither performs well. Search engines cannot see the connection between what you offer and where.
Link each market’s location page to the services you deliver there. Link each service page to the markets where you deliver it. Keep all these links within the same language version.
A Dubai-based facilities management company served clients in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Its Arabic and English location pages sat unlinked from its service pages. After connecting them within each language, both page types gained visibility for combined service and location searches. Where the business also maintains physical offices, our local SEO services strengthen those location signals further.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should my English pages link to my translated pages?
Only through the language switcher and hreflang, in most cases. Body content should link within the same language. Global pages such as a company overview can link to all versions from a dedicated section.
How many internal links should each page have?
There is no fixed number. Every page should receive links from relevant pages in its own language and link onward to related content. Focus on relevance and clear anchor text rather than hitting a count.
Switcher links are ordinary links, so they do pass some value. Their bigger role is helping users and crawlers move between equivalents. Pair page-to-page switcher links with correct hreflang for the best result.
What tools can find internal linking problems on multilingual sites?
Desktop crawlers such as Screaming Frog or Sitebulb can segment by language folder. Combine the crawl with your XML sitemaps and Search Console data. Those three sources reveal orphans, cross-language links, and weak pages.
Should translated pages keep the same URL slugs as English pages?
Localised slugs usually serve users better and may include local keywords. Consistency matters more than the choice itself. Pick one approach and apply it across the whole language version.
Key Takeaways
- Give every language version its own complete navigation and contextual linking structure.
- Point language switchers to equivalent pages, not homepages.
- Build topic hubs in each language based on local keyword demand.
- Write anchor text in the vocabulary of each target market.
- Find and fix orphan pages every quarter.
- Keep body content links within the same language and let hreflang connect versions.
Are your translated pages getting the authority they need to rank abroad? The SERP Master Agency team audits and rebuilds internal linking across every language version of your site. Get in touch with our team and give every market a fair chance to win customers.
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