Internal linking for ecommerce
Every link inside your store does two jobs: it passes importance (pages linked often, from prominent places, matter more) and it passes meaning (the words in the link tell machines what the target is about). Ecommerce sites are lucky here - the catalog structure generates thousands of internal links automatically. The craft is directing them.
The links your structure already gives you
Navigation → collections, collections → products, breadcrumbs → back up the tree. This mesh is why Phase 1's architecture work matters so much: it is your internal linking, at scale, maintained automatically. Two checks make it work harder. Breadcrumbs: present on product pages, reflecting your taxonomy, marked up with schema - they're the cleanest "where does this page sit" signal you can send. And the three-click rule from Phase 1, now with its SEO rationale visible: link depth is crawl priority.
The links you have to choose
Collection-to-collection links are the underused ones. Related categories linking to each other ("Linen shirts" ↔ "Linen trousers" ↔ "Summer edit") build topical neighborhoods, and the linking text is exactly the query language you want associated with the target. A short "related categories" block, or links woven into the collection content from last lesson, covers it.
Product-to-product links - "wears well with," "the heavier version of" - pass relevance and merchandise at the same time. Written into descriptions where natural, not bolted on.
Blog-to-catalog links are where content earns its keep. A guide on "how to care for wool" that links to your wool coat collection converts editorial authority into commercial ranking power. Content that never links into the catalog is marketing to the void.
The self-inflicted wounds
Three patterns quietly bleed ecommerce sites. Orphaned products: in the sitemap, in no collection, linked from nowhere - indexed late, ranked never (your Phase 2 automated-collection rules largely prevent this). Linking to dead ends: collections that empty out seasonally, discontinued products - internal links pointing at 404s or empty grids waste everything they pass (a later lesson handles sunsetting properly). Generic anchor text everywhere: "click here" and "shop now" pass importance but no meaning. The fix costs nothing: say what the target is. "Shop the linen collection" beats "shop now" for machines and, honestly, for humans.
The habit: when any new page ships - product, collection, post - ask the two directions. What should link to this? What should this link to? Two minutes at publish beats an audit next year.