Notion Fundamentals: Page Links, Backlinks, and Sub-Pages

Notion’s page linking and nested sub-pages let a workspace behave like a navigable wiki—without cluttering the sidebar. The core takeaway is that there are multiple link types, each with different behavior for where links appear (sidebar vs inline), and multiple ways to create new pages at different nesting levels (top-level, sub-pages on the sidebar, or sub-pages embedded inside text).

Nested pages are a defining feature: pages can contain other pages as “page blocks,” which themselves can contain further page blocks. This creates effectively unlimited depth inside a workspace. Navigation isn’t limited to the left sidebar either—links can be created from any page to any other page, and the choice of link style determines how that navigation shows up.

For linking to existing pages, the “Link to Page” block is the most sidebar-friendly option. It’s added via the slash menu (type “/Link” and choose “Link to Page”), then search for the target page (e.g., a “Today” view). Once inserted, it creates a clickable entry in the sidebar—useful for building a “Personal Dashboard” that can be favorited once and then expanded to access multiple internal destinations. A second method uses URL pasting: copying a page URL (via Control/Command L) and pasting it offers choices like “Mention” (inline link), “Dismiss,” or “Link to Page” (which produces the sidebar-linked block). In the example workflow, additional dashboard links such as “Next 7 Days,” “Habit Tracker [DEMO],” and “Thomas Frank’s Note-Taking System” are added the same way.

Inline links are the alternative when sidebar clutter is a concern. Inline links sit within text and do not appear in the sidebar. They can be created by pasting a page URL and choosing “Mention,” or by using Notion’s inline syntax: double brackets (“[[ ]]”) to search for a page and insert it into a line of text. Inline links can be embedded inside other blocks too, such as checkbox tasks—turning a task like “Don’t forget to…” into a clickable reference to a specific page (e.g., “Create Homepage”).

Linking also triggers backlinks. When a page is linked from elsewhere, Notion shows backlinks on the target page, indicating which pages contain incoming links. Backlinks in Notion are less granular than in Roam Research because they don’t reveal the exact location of the link—only the page that contains it. Backlink display can be customized (expanded by default, always shown, or turned off) through the page’s three-dot menu.

Creating new pages and sub-pages uses similarly flexible mechanics. Pages can be created from the sidebar using the plus button (creating a top-level page or a child page under any existing sidebar page). A “New page” button at the bottom also creates a blank page with a selectable destination. In the content area, a “Page” block (slash “/Page”) creates a full page block that appears in the sidebar. For inline wiki-style creation, the “Plus” syntax can insert a sub-page on the same line of text; however, inline sub-pages behave differently from page blocks—inline sub-pages can’t be transformed into other block types like toggles because they live inside text. Finally, “New [Page] page in” creates a sub-page in a different location; because it’s inserted inline, it won’t show in the sidebar until it becomes an actual page block at its destination.

Overall, the lesson ties these options together by rebuilding a “Personal Dashboard” template with the right mix of sidebar links, inline mentions, and sub-page creation—setting up the next step: linked databases.