Deep pages
A deep page is any page that requires 4 or more clicks from the homepage to reach through navigation. Search engines allocate less crawl attention to deep pages and users are less likely to discover them.
Why depth matters
Google has confirmed that pages closer to the homepage in terms of click distance tend to receive more crawl attention. A page that is 2 clicks from the homepage is crawled more frequently than a page that is 6 clicks deep, even if both are in the sitemap.
How internal links flatten depth
Every internal link creates a new path between two pages. If a page is buried 5 clicks deep in a category hierarchy, but a blog post on the homepage links directly to it, its effective depth drops to 2 clicks. Internal links bypass navigation hierarchies entirely.
The pipeline approach
After running Automatic Internal Links, keyword-based links are created across all content. A product page buried deep in a WooCommerce category can receive a direct link from a blog post that mentions the product name. This flattens the site structure automatically.