One of the crucial link-building strategies is to create internal links.
Internal linking is one of the essential aspects of on-page optimization, yet it is often overlooked or misunderstood. It links one page to another page within your website.
While the concept may be simple, the implications are not. Internal linking is a powerful tool to influence your site architecture, content, and SEO. It can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), improve usability, and increase traffic and conversions when used correctly.
However, before using internal linking for SEO, it’s essential to understand its role in your website.
What are Internal Links?
Internal links work by connecting two pages on the same website. Internal links help visitors navigate a website and find the information they’re looking for.
By creating internal links pointing between web pages on your site, you can help to improve your ranking and help search engines index your site.
An internal link audit analyses your website’s internal linking structure to identify potential issues. Internal link analysis can be beneficial if you’ve recently changed your site structure or content.
Google Analytics is a tool that understands how people interact with your website. One of its powerful features is its ability to track internal links. By tracking clicks and pageviews, you can get a sense of what people are interested in and where they’re coming from.
However, an internal link structure uses different types of links.
HTML Link
These are the links you see in a web page’s code to link to other pages on the same website. Most internal links use HTML links because they link pages on the same domain.
HTML links are created using the element. The href attribute identifies the URL of the page the link will take you to.
Redirect Link
A redirect link is a link that automatically takes you to another page. Redirects send visitors from one URL to another, such as when a page has been moved or renamed.
They add links as redirection from the old URL to the new one. Creating shortcuts to high authority pages also uses redirect links.
Image Link
Image links link to other pages using an image instead of text.
The hyperlink links an image to another web page or file. When clicked, the image will open the linked content in a new window or tab.
Image links usually open more extensive versions of images or create a gallery of images.
Types of Internal Links
Navigational links
A navigational type of internal link work by allowing users to click through to different pages on the site.
An internal navigational link usually appears as a menu or list of links and can be found on every website page. In the site’s internal linking structure, they typically link to the essential pages on the site.
Navigational internal links help people move from one page to another and can be used to find specific pages or content within the site.
Contextual links
Contextual internal links are within the body of a website, and they provide additional information about the topic discussed.
These internal links are the most potent type of internal link, as they help search engines understand the relationship between the linked-to page and the linking page. A good rule is to only link to a page that makes sense to the content on the linking page.
Footer Links
Footer links appear in the footer of a website’s homepage.
Footer links are internal links pointing to pages that contain information about the website or company, such as the Contact page and About page.
These internal links are usually less important than the links found in the header or main body of the page but can still be helpful for visitors.
Footer links may include links to privacy policy pages and terms and conditions pages that are not as essential to the website’s main content.
Why is it Important?
An internal link is vital for search engine optimization (SEO) because they help link equity flow throughout your site structure, and they help improve the usability of your site.
When Google crawls a page, it follows linked pages. If there are many internal links, Google can easily find and index all the pages on your website.
An internal link is significant for websites with many pages because people often follow links to pages on your website when reading an article or blog post.
Internal links help Google navigate the website, and the spider will crawl. If there are multiple internal links, this can encourage people to explore your website further and visit more pages.
How does it affect SEO?
Internal and external links both improve your website’s SEO. However, external links are links pointing to other websites of your own, while internal links focus on links within your website.
Google Search Console is a service allowing you to view your website’s search traffic and performance.
When a webpage links to another webpage, it passes along credibility and page authority that can help improve that page’s ranking.
You can boost your website’s search engine results pages (SERPs) by linking to high-quality pages.
When choosing which pages to link to, look for those with relevance to your site’s topic and have high-quality content.
What are the benefits of Internal Links?
There are benefits to internal link building in your content. Here are just a few:
- It can improve user interaction
- It helps to spread the “link juice”
- Improve page rank and time on site
- It helps to crawl and indexing
It can improve user interaction
When users are satisfied with your content, they are more likely to stay on your website and click on pages linking to it.
When it comes to user experience, internal linking is essential. By providing links to other pages on your website, you can help guide your visitors to the information they need.
Additionally, it can also help boost your rankings in search engines if people are regularly clicking through your site.
It helps to spread the “link juice”
Internal linking is critical for SEO because it helps spread the link juice.
By linking to other internal subpages, you can pass on the authority or link juice to those pages, making them authoritative pages.
That’s why it’s essential to take internal linking opportunities and make sure that they pass link juice to the most critical pages on your site.
Dofollow links
Dofollow links are hyperlinks that pass linking power to the destination website. Giving linking power means that the destination website will boost its search engine rankings.
Dofollow internal links are essential for SEO because they help Google crawl and index your website.
When a website has dofollow internal links, it tells Google that the site is trustworthy and relevant. Search engines will follow the link to another page on your site when they crawl it.
Nofollow links
It’s essential to be aware of the nofollow internal links. These links don’t pass any linking power from one page to another.
Nofollow tag can be bad for your website because your pages are less likely to be found.
Nofollow internal links can still be helpful, though, as they can help send traffic to your site. Even if that traffic doesn’t improve your search engine ranking, it can still be valuable to your business or website.
Improve PageRank and Time on Site
You can help improve your PageRank if you add internal relevant links. By linking to other pages on your site, you effectively vouch for them and tell search engines they are worth paying attention to.
Adding internal links can help increase the amount of time people spend on your website or so-called “time on site”.
Finally, internal linking can also be a great usability tool. By linking to relevant pages, you can help guide visitors to the information they’re looking for.
Internal links can improve your website’s overall conversion rate and make it user-friendly.
It helps to crawl and indexing
Internal linking is a great way to help search engines crawl and index your website.
Linking to your content can be highly beneficial for SEO. It helps Google index and crawls your site, and it makes it more likely that Google will find your new content.
When you have internal links, you tell Google what your website is about and what is essential.
Internal links help Google understand your site and can result in higher rankings.
How to set up an internal linking strategy?
An internal linking strategy is a key to a successful website. By linking to other pages on your site, you can help search engines and visitors navigate your site more easily.
If you want to set up a smart internal linking strategy, there are a few things you need to do:
- Recognize your important pages
- Do a site search
- Add contextual links
- Anchor Text
Recognize your important pages
When identifying the most important pages that should focus on your internal linking strategy, there are a few things to look for.
First, consider the page’s overall purpose and whether it is essential to your site’s operation. Suppose the page is necessary for visitors to navigate your website or find the information they’re looking for. In that case, it’s likely a vital page that you should include in your internal linking strategy.
Another critical factor to consider is the page’s popularity. If a particular page on your site receives a lot of traffic or has many backlinks, it’s also likely an essential page you’ll want to include in your internal linking strategy.
Finally, look at the page’s content and see if it contains any valuable or keyword-rich information that could help improve your site’s structure. If so, then this is another crucial factor to consider when determining which pages on your site are the most important and should focus on your internal linking strategy.
You can place posts in a specific hierarchy in a hierarchical post type by selecting a parent page. The parent page covers a category page (child page) and an overarching topically related theme. A parent page can have many child pages, but a child page can only have one parent page. So a child page can have a category page on the same level. For instance, a Team and Mission page is probably a child page of the About us page on a company website. And in that case, the Mission and Team pages are siblings.
Do a site search
Site search is a great way to find internal links relevant to the user’s query. By including a site search engine on your site, you can help users find the content they’re looking for and improve user experience.
If you’re unsure how to add a site search engine to your website, domain.com will help. Once you’ve added a site search engine, you can start linking to other internal pages.
Site search can help you find content on your site, and you can also use it to help you publish new content. It enables you to see orphan pages not linked to from the home page.
Add contextual links
One of the essential things you can do is add contextual links to internal linking. These are links that appear in the body of your content, and they help provide readers with additional information about the topic at hand.
Search engines like Google use the links within your content to help determine your page’s topic and its relevance to a user’s query.
Anchor Text
You can ensure that your links are more valuable and informative for users and search engines by including descriptive anchor text.
Anchor texts are the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. It’s essential to use the same anchor text that accurately describes the page you’re linking to. Use relevant terms for your anchor texts.
Anchor text is an essential keyword to include when optimizing for internal linking strategies. The exact match anchor text is the actual text in the link. It’s important not to over-optimize your internal link anchor text.
The maximum amount of anchor texts you can use in your internal linking strategy is eight keywords. So, make sure to keep your anchor text within this limit! Any more anchor text, and you risk being penalized by Google.
Conclusion
How many internal links your website should have?
There’s no definitive answer to how many links you should have on your website. Generally, it’s good to aim for around 2-3 internal links per 100 words of content.
Too few or fewer links, and you risk not passing enough link equity to the page you’re trying to promote. Too many internal links and you risk coming across as spammy and jeopardizing your site’s rankings.
It can be frustrating if you find broken internal links on your website. They are difficult for visitors to navigate, but they may even lead to decreased traffic for the site.
Broken internal links can result from misspellings, outdated information, or simply lousy website design. Make sure to fix broken internal links.
Overall, many benefits of having a lot of internal links on your website. That’s why it is essential to ensure that you link to your content as much as possible. You can help Google crawl your website more effectively, improve your website’s SEO, and increase traffic by internal links.
