Google uses countless factors to determine how well a webpage answers a search query. That’s why sometimes it can be hard for SEO professionals to determine what works best for their site and what doesn’t. However, among the primary ones lies internal linking. The reason why we are calling internal links primary factors is because they facilitate the discoverability of your content. In simple words, Google needs ways to discover your content, and internal linking tends to provide the same. In this blogpost, we’ll discuss what internal links are, how they are useful and some of the best practices to make your internal linking strategy.
What are Internal Links?
An internal is the link from any page of your website pointing towards another page of your website, again. These internal links assist both users and search engines to navigate through the site and find the content. If we put it out simply, search engines cannot see a page if there are no links pointing towards it.
There are several ways to put internal links in content. For example, when to add links on your home page besides post feed, menu, etc, they are contextual links. They drive users to related content and content users may also be interested in.
These links offer relevant information to the user within the moment they need it, without requiring them to navigate away from their current workflow to find answers.
Contextual links also help Google by providing a strong signal of relevance and authority to a webpage.
As we move forward, we will discuss the rest of the types throughout the blog and learn their importance in On-page SEO strategy.
Why are Internal links Important?
Internal links allow Google to find and index your content. Moreover, it also helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your site.
By placing internal links smartly, you can send page authority to content-rich and important pages. For this, you have to link the pages (of your own site) with high-quality backlinks to another important page. This practice is called passing on the link juice (transfer authority and ranking power to another page through a backlink).
Google crawls websites using internal and external links. Here is how the process goes on:
- Google bot lands on a website’s homepage
- Renders the page
- Follow all the links given in it to discover the new pages
- Analyze the links between pages to determine the hierarchy.
How to Set up Your Internal linking Strategy
The main goal of setting up an internal linking strategy is to help Google understand the following:
- Relevance of your pages
- Importance of pages
- Relationship between pages
So, while making up your strategy, you must take care of the following:
1. Make up a clear idea about the ideal structure of your website
The right structure for setting up your website’s internal links is oftentimes equated with forming a pyramid. Let’s break this down for you.
The main idea behind a pyramid internal link structure is to place the most important pages at the top of the structure, with the homepage at the very top. The goal is to have the least amount of links between the homepage and any given page. This gives rise to the concept of “crawl depth.” It is basically the number of clicks or navigation levels a crawler needs to take in order to reach a specific page on a website. Higher depth is generally considered bad for SEO as it indicates the complexity search engine faces in discovering and indexing your pages.
You should specifically have lower drawl depth for the pages that drive most of the revenue on a website. This practice also supports link equity to flow throughout the site, thus boosting the ranking potential for each page.
At last, you must possess appropriate knowledge to use navigational, contextual, and sideback links and footers effectively.
2. Use descriptive anchor text
Anchor text refers to the clickable text in a hyperlink. Descriptive anchor text gives users and search engines a clear idea of the content they can expect when clicking the link. For example, instead of using “click here,” use “learn more about SEO services” to describe the linked content.
3. Use keyword-rich anchor text
Incorporating relevant keywords into your anchor text can improve the SEO of both the linking and linked pages. For instance, if you link to a page about “SEO Services,” using “SEO Services in Mississauga” as anchor text will help search engines understand the content and relevance of the linked page.
4. Link to and from important pages
Prioritize linking to your most valuable pages, such as service pages, product pages, or other content that you want to rank well. This helps boost the SEO of these pages by distributing link equity (the value passed through links) to important areas of your site.
5. Avoid duplicate anchor text
Repeating the same anchor text on multiple pages can confuse search engines about the content of those pages. It can also make your internal linking strategy appear unnatural. Instead, vary your anchor text while still keeping it relevant to the linked content.
6. Audit your internal links
Regularly reviewing your internal links ensures that they’re working, not broken, and continue to provide value to users and search engines. It’s also an opportunity to update anchor text and link to new or updated pages.
Pro-Tip: During your audit of internal links, you can review whether the content of linked pages, including their meta descriptions, aligns with the anchor text used for internal links, ensuring consistency and relevance.
7. Aim for 5 to 10 links per 2000 words
A good internal linking strategy involves adding enough links to improve navigation and SEO, but not so many that it distracts from the main content. For every 2000 words, 5 to 10 links are a general guideline to keep things balanced.
8. Use title attributes
Title attributes are additional information that appears when a user hovers over a link. While this doesn’t directly impact SEO, it enhances the user experience by providing more context about the link and its destination.
9. Use “rel” attributes
The `rel` attribute in a link helps define the relationship between the current page and the target page. For example, using `rel=”nofollow”` tells search engines not to pass link equity to the target page. This is often used for external links but can also be applied to internal links when appropriate.
10. Use the “first” and “last” buttons
The “first” and “last” buttons are typically used in pagination to guide users to the first or last page of a series. Using internal links with these buttons can improve navigation, ensuring users can easily explore your site without getting lost on multiple pages.
11. Place links high on the page
The higher a link is placed on the page, the more value it typically passes to the linked page, as search engines tend to prioritize content that appears earlier. Aim to place internal links toward the top of your content when it makes sense to do so, but still in a way that provides value to users.
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