How should I link guides, categories and products in my online store?

We would not begin with a fixed number of links per article. First, each page needs a purpose: does it explain a buying decision, present a range or describe one product? That determines which other page genuinely helps.

A guide to lighting above a dining table might link to a relevant category. A product page might link back to an explanation of colour temperature where that helps the decision. This is a hypothetical example of a relationship between content. A random bestseller link would be less helpful in the same place.

The expectation before the click matters. “Pendant lights for large dining tables” says more about the destination than “click here”. Google recommends descriptive anchor text and crawlable links in its link best practices. The wording should fit the sentence rather than become a string of search terms.

A published page can be accessible but have few internal routes leading to it. We would compare known product, category and guide URLs with the pages reached by a crawl following internal links. A URL appearing only in the sitemap warrants closer examination.

A page with relatively few links can still serve its purpose. What matters is where those links originate and whether visitors have the relevant question at that point. A useful link from a well-used guide may support navigation more effectively than the same link buried in a long, mixed-topic footer.

The XML sitemap and internal navigation serve different purposes. Google describes a route through categories and subcategories to products; a search box alone does not replace it. See its ecommerce site structure guidance.

• Inventory: record important guides, categories and products with their respective purposes.
• Entry points: establish which existing pages let users reach that content.
• Relationships: identify useful follow-up questions and their destination pages.
• Anchor text: describe the destination clearly and place the link in a relevant context.
• Technology: check real links, direct destination URLs, language versions and accessibility.
• Maintenance: assign responsibility and recheck links after catalogue or URL changes.

We would begin with a commercially important product group. That keeps implementation manageable and lets the editorial team learn from a concrete mapping. Once it works sensibly, the approach can be extended to other areas.

A visible button is not necessarily a useful internal link. In theme and module components, we check whether a real destination is rendered and whether it can be discovered without a particular user action. Links should also lead directly to the intended pages where possible, rather than passing unnecessarily through old redirects.

In a bilingual store, an English guide should link to the appropriate English destination. Similar-looking slugs are not enough to verify this. We open the destination and check content, language and product assignment. If a category has become empty, the recommendation in the guide needs reassessment too.

PrestaShop provides scope to connect editorial content and store functionality appropriately. Whether existing CMS functions, a module or a custom change are suitable depends on the theme and the scale of the task. We would assess existing capabilities first. Buying another extension is not a prerequisite for every new text link.

Google says established SEO fundamentals remain relevant to its AI Search features. Internal links can help make useful content discoverable and clarify relationships between pages. That does not imply a fixed number of required links or an entitlement to an AI citation. Google explains the context in its AI Overviews and AI Mode guidance.

For our work, this means connecting supported answers with the appropriate detail pages. The guide should solve the reader’s question first. A service or product link belongs where it offers a useful next step. This applies to merchants as much as to our own knowledge content.

Our category page optimisation article covers the category’s content itself. Here, the focus is on connections between pages, rather than another article answering the same search question.

Before making changes, we document accessibility, existing links and the selected product group. Afterwards, we recheck the routes and, where appropriately measured, how the links are used. Search visibility and orders should be assessed over a suitable period. A simultaneous increase alone is not proof that internal linking caused it.

At sjmedia, this work can connect SEO for online stores, content improvements and PrestaShop development. The concrete deliverable would be a documented mapping of source pages, anchor text and destinations, followed by implementation and verification. Often, the first task is therefore improving existing content before writing the next guide.