Podcast Summary: Voices of Search

Episode: Will internal linking continue to be a core pillar in building topical authority?

Host: Tyson Stockton
Guest: Daniel Hurwitz, Informatica
Date: September 16, 2025

Brief Overview

This episode dives into the critical role of internal linking in SEO, with a focus on whether it will remain a core pillar for building topical authority in the next 6-12 months. The discussion also addresses the future of automating internal linking, particularly in the age of AI and advanced content management systems.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Is Internal Linking Still a Core SEO Pillar?

[00:43 - 02:06]

Buy or Sell: Tyson Stockton asks Daniel Hurwitz if he's "buying" (supporting) or "selling" the idea that internal linking will remain crucial for topical authority.
- Daniel Hurwitz:
  - Strongly affirms his support ("I am definitely buying it. I think it's super important. I think it's only going to become more important.").
  - Internal linking is not only essential, it's one of the strategies he recommends most.
  - Emphasizes the tactical advantage:
    
    "As an SEO, it's, you know, assuming you have access to the website, it's something you can just go do, which is great."
  - Highlights the significant impact on semantic relationships, noting that both Google and AI crawlers rely on these connections to understand context:
    
    "How else is Google or AI crawlers going to create semantic relationships between, you know, pages on your website?"
  - Gives a practical example: connecting e-commerce pages and relevant blog posts or articles.
    
    "If you have an e-commerce page and there's... a blog post you have that's relevant, of course you would link the product in. Right."
  - Concludes that building such logical, semantic relationships is crucial, especially between product and content pages.

2. Automation and the Future of Internal Linking

[02:06 - 03:23]

Automation Trends:
- Tyson Stockton follows up, asking whether internal linking will become increasingly automated and driven by frameworks SEOs set, with systems handling the details.
- Daniel Hurwitz:
  - Recognizes the potential, mentioning that we're in the “infancy” of the AI/agent era.
  - Points out existing tools (e.g., Link Whisperer) work to some extent but often lack full contextual understanding:
    
    "There are tools I've used like Link Whisperer... they're okay, I would say, like they don't always get the full context of what you're doing."
  - Notes that automation works better with common CMS platforms like WordPress versus more bespoke enterprise systems.
    
    "...a lot of these tools work better with like WordPress... versus like much more customized CMSs."
  - Envisions a future where autonomous AI agents can make these changes seamlessly—inputting pages, rewriting content, and integrating directly with CMSs.
    
    "Once I think we truly have some level of AI agents that are like easy to use... I don't see why [automation] wouldn’t be possible."

Notable Quotes

Daniel Hurwitz [01:14]:

"I am definitely buying it. I think it's super important. I think it's only going to become more important."
Daniel Hurwitz [01:41]:

"How else is Google or AI crawlers going to create semantic relationships between pages on your website?"
Daniel Hurwitz [02:28]:

"They're okay, I would say, like they don’t always get the full context of what you're doing."
Daniel Hurwitz [02:54]:

"Once I think we truly have some level of AI agents that are like easy to use... I don't see why [automation] wouldn’t be possible."

Timestamps for Key Segments

[00:43] – Tyson introduces the core question: Is internal linking still a crucial pillar?
[01:12-02:06] – Daniel discusses the ongoing and growing importance of internal linking for topical authority.
[02:06-03:23] – The conversation shifts towards automation of internal linking, limitations of current tools, and future possibilities with AI agents.

Overall Tone & Takeaways

The episode maintains a conversational but technically insightful tone. Daniel Hurwitz strongly advocates for internal linking as an evergreen and expanding SEO strategy, while also pragmatically assessing the current capabilities and future potential for automating this practice through AI.

For SEOs and content marketers:

Internal linking isn’t going anywhere—it remains foundational.
Automation is coming, but current solutions are only partial; true AI-driven integration is on the horizon but not yet commonplace.
Maintaining logical, semantic relationships across your site is both common sense and good SEO.

Transcript

A (0:00)

The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice then visit iheareverything.com welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast. A member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network, ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts. Sit back, relax, and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search podcast, Tyson Stockton.

B (0:43)

All right, so we're coming up on kind of the tail end of the conversation here and I want to go through a few lightning round type questions where they're going to be shorter form and I'm going to introduce kind of a theme to it and then you can see how you would. How do you respond to each of these? So now the first one is going to be buy or sell. Are you buying or selling that? Internal linking will continue to be a core pillar in building topical authority in the next six to 12 months.

C (1:12)

I am definitely buying it. I think it's super important. I think it's only going to become more important. It's honestly one of the things I advocate for the most. Just I think it's something where one of the best things about it obviously is as an SEO, it's, you know, assuming you have access to the website, it's something you can just go do, which is great. You know, I just think the impact is enormous. I mean, how else is are Google or AI crawlers going to create semantic relationships between, you know, pages on your website? Like, you know, if you have an E commerce page and there's, you know, a blog post you have that's relevant, of course you would link the product in. Right. So if you just think of it like that, you know, that's a good way forward. It's just like, well, if there's really a semantic relationship, it just is logical that you would create it on the website, especially between product pages and article or blog content.

B (2:06)

And maybe a follow up to that is do you see this becoming something that's going to be more and more automated, where it's something that as SEOs, we're putting in the frameworks, but then were allowing the systems to make the changes more autonomously?

C (2:22)

I think in the agent era, I mean, you know, really just like in the infancy of that right now, Look, I mean there are tools I've used like Link Whisperer, there's a couple others. And honestly they're okay, I would say, like they don't always get the full context of what you're doing. You know, I've also done a lot of work on like the blog publication side as well as the enterprise side. It's on the enterprise side, I think it's hard to automate, you know, especially like a lot of these tools work better with like WordPress and things like that, you know, versus like much more customized CMSs. So, you know, I think that's part of the thing. But yeah, you know, once the once I think we truly have some level of AI agents that are like easy to use. Yeah, I see at least some element. I mean, like what I was talking about, you know, going to Claude and you know, putting in the page and you know, asking it to rewrite a sentence and if you could actually like give it all those custom instructions and tell it to go ahead and do that and you know, it can log into your CMS and everything, I don't see why wouldn't be possible.