Internal links help Google discover and rank your site’s pages. They connect content across your site and establish its structure and hierarchy. A strong internal linking strategy guides both users and search engines to your most important pages. One concept that has long circulated in SEO is First Link Priority.
What Is First Link Priority?
The theory of First Link Priority refers to how search engines like Google handle multiple links on your page that lead to the same destination URL. According to the theory, Google will consider the anchor of the first link only to pass authority. The first anchor keyword will decide the relevance and context of the target page.
For instance, imagine you have two links on your homepage that both point to your "About Us" page, using different anchor texts like "Our Story" and "Learn More About Us." Search engines will likely only consider the anchor text of the first link ("Our Story") for ranking purposes.
In such cases, there are a few essential SEO considerations to keep in mind:
HTML Order Matters: Search engines determine the “first” link based on its position in the HTML code, not where it appears visually on the page. So, if the navigation menu comes before the content in the HTML, its link is prioritized.
Anchor Text Relevance: Only the first link's anchor text is counted for SEO and keyword relevance. Using keyword-rich anchor text for the first link can improve the destination page’s ranking potential.
Link Equity: Only the first link passes link equity (PageRank); additional links to the same URL on the same page do not provide extra SEO value.
Google’s John Mueller has said that while the algorithm may prioritize the first link in some cases, it’s not a strict rule—and behavior may vary. In other words, First Link Priority was never a fixed part of Google's system—it was more of an SEO theory that sometimes appeared to work but wasn’t reliable.
How Google Handled Anchor Text and PageRank in Early SEO?
Anchor text (the clickable text of a link) helps Google understand the content of the page you're linking to.
Early SEO theories suggested that only the first link to a page mattered for ranking, with additional links passing PageRank but not affecting rankings. Webmasters would prioritize their most important keywords in the first link.
However, research shows that diverse anchor texts in internal links improve SEO. Google clarified that all links pass PageRank, and as Matt Cutts explained, “If two links both go to the same page, then twice as much PageRank would go to that page.” Google might consider only one anchor text, typically the first text link, while the second link’s anchor may be ignored for relevance.
In summary, all links pass PageRank, but only the first anchor text traditionally affected keyword rankings.
Google’s Updated Handling of Duplicate Links
Google’s stance on multiple links has evolved. Search advocates like Cyrus Shepard call Google’s current behavior Selective Link Priority, meaning Google may index anchor text from more than just the first link. In other words, Google no longer strictly ignores every anchor after the first.
John Mueller’s advice is clear: the algorithm isn’t “always the first link” or “always an average” – it can choose differently depending on context.
As he explained:
“I don't think we have that defined at all... it can happen that we pick one of these and we try to understand which one is the most relevant one, but I wouldn't kind of make the assumption that we just naively take the first one on a page and just only use that. Or only take the one that has the longest anchor text and ignore the other ones. We essentially try to understand the site structure the way that a user might understand it, and take that into account. And the way that kind of this ambiguous situation is handled, that can also vary over time.”
What Google Says Today?
Google’s official advice is about making links useful and relevant, not about trying to control which link comes first. The Google Search Central guide says to give every page clear and descriptive anchor text so both people and Google know what the link is about. Google also suggests using “concise, relevant” anchor text and not using common phrases like “click here”.
John Mueller also supports this focus on users first. He says internal links should help users find their way, and having more than one link is “completely normal” and something Google is used to seeing.
Best Practices for Internal Linking in 2025
While First Link Priority is no longer a hard rule, smart internal linking still plays a critical role in SEO. Here are a few modern best practices:
- Use descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text – Make sure the anchor tells users and Google what to expect on the destination page.
- Link naturally within your content – Don’t force links; place them where they make sense contextually.
- Avoid excessive duplicate links – A few repeated links are fine, but overdoing it can clutter the page and confuse both users and bots.
- Prioritize user experience – Structure links to guide visitors to your most valuable or conversion-focused pages.
- Use consistent site structure – Ensure your most important pages are only a few clicks from the homepage and are interlinked logically.
In short, multiple links to the same page are completely normal. Google treats this as a common pattern, as long as it helps users and isn’t done in a spammy way. As John Mueller put it, “It seems fine & common to me, I wouldn’t worry about that.