Recently updated: January 5th, 2019
In simple terms, Internal Links are the links that are connecting the web pages. It is different from External Links, which take you to a resource on a different domain. The internal link structure will boost the SEO success and an internal link strategy will help the creation of a user-friendly website experience for the visitors. Internal links in the website will aid the website navigation and define the structure of the website. It will spread authority and rank throughout different pages of a website.
Before moving insights into the working of internal links, it is very important to know exactly how it impacts the whole SEO strategy. Links are ideal to increase the rank of the content and Google finds it best to get your posts & pages linked to from somewhere on the web. It is connecting the contents and provides Google the idea of the total structure of the website. Thus the establishment of hierarchy on the site becomes easier. More link value can be provided to the most important pages and posts than other, less valuable, pages.
The idea behind internal linking is simple yet effective. Each page of the site will contain links to the other pages of the site. The goal of the SEO strategist will be to optimize the internal linkages which will include the right number of links on each page, point to the exact destinations, with the use of right keywords.
They are not going to pass new authority to the page but depending on their build-up, it can have an impact on the site indexing & ranking. It is important for the SEO workers to understand and evaluate the internal linking strategy. The addition of right internal links will help Google understand the relevance of the page.
Use of Anchor Text and Context
Anchor text in external links will categorize the web pages. To let Google understand the relevance of the page, consistent linking to a specific internal page with a specific phrase will help. It helps Google understand the relevance of the page, and feature it for appropriate keyword queries. But make sure that the “Professional SEO Experts“ or SEO strategist understands the usage well enough as anchor text can be a spam trigger for Google when used in external links.
Relationships between Pages
Internal linking assists the easy understanding of website layout and also the relationships within it. Establishing a hierarchy of category pages, main pages, and subpages is easy with the use of internal linking strategy.
Re-distribution of Strategic Authority
Some of the re-distribution of your own authority to a new page is possible with internal links. But it is not possible to increase the overall authority.
Retention of Visitors
There will be links in the blog page and the user needs to click on the link to view the webpage. They also don’t need to exit the page. It serves as the miniature call to action which is keeping the users on the site for a longer duration, resulting in more brand exposure.
Site Navigability
It helps the customers navigate to the site at an ease. It can also be used as the guide to let the users know about the content and provide shortcuts to use them immediately.
Top-Level Commandments for Internal Linking in SEO
It is important to create a lot of content. A lot of internal pages are required to create a lot of internal links. Get in place an impactful content marketing strategy for killer internal strategy. There will a lot of linkable contents when you create lots of content and it will lead to internal linking strategy with more links to different places.
The deeper the links go, better for internal linking strategy. The best links are the most natural links in content marketing strategy which are place deep within the structure of a site.
Build internal links to the money pages. Find the exact pages which you want to be ranked higher in the Google search results. Now place the internal links on the highest authority pages of the site which will lead to the target pages.
Automatically include internal links with the use of plug-ins. There is a number of plug-ins available for WordPress users to automatically hyperlink certain keywords to certain URLs of the site. It is the best way to set-it-and-forget-it with the internal linking strategy.
Use relevant links and follow links. Make sure that you link content is relevant to the source context. Don’t link just for the sake of linking as it would not yield any positive outcome. Follow links is the other best way to build the internal link architecture.
Use links that will be natural for the readers. For adding value and information, the used-focused approach is essential. Internal linking is improving the user engagement on the site and the link value gets distributed throughout the site.
Avoid keyword stuffing. The use of exact same phrasing every time you link a page will raise red flags and the whole strategy will fall face down. Make sure that the links in the page are placed carefully.
Conclusion – The Bottom Line
Internal linking will contribute heavily in building a valuable SEO strategy and content marketing. A minute and detailed attention is required to relate the pages to one another and try keeping the navigation as convenient as possible. Internal linking can be complicated or difficult when commended without planning or precision. Consistent internal linking will lead to a stronger link profile and better SEO.
Your content will not rank well without links and there is need to be a solid internal linkage strategy in place. It will help understand the relation between contents and make out the most informative ones. Understand your site better with the guidelines in this article and increase the chances of ranking.
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