It is highly likely that internal linking does not measure up to the top five of your SEO strategies. It is not unexpected; this is due to the fact that there are numerous SEO techniques that can help you get to the top of Google quickly. In addition, the majority of posts focused on internal linking tend to explain in great depth, how difficult the topic truly is.
Despite its complexity, internal linking is a basic concept in marketing and thus should be incorporated in your content plan. It is essential to provide your reader with more of everything: more incentive, an abundance of content, and an extensive education.
Sounds great, right?
An extra benefit of internal linking is that it can revive the older content on your website. Summing up, you can enhance your present material to acquire more non-paid website visitors. Instead of having a lot of seemingly unrelated content, you have a web of connected articles. Something your readers will truly value you for.
Here is a step-by-step manual on how to do on-page optimization and raise your SEO ranking through internal linking if this is something that appeals to you.
What Are Internal Links?
Connecting one page of a website to another can be described as ‘internal linking’. Due to its design and structure, all websites have numerous pages linked together. Many websites feature a straightforward layout that consists of a main page connected to a menu and other pages. The structure of the layout should be straightforward and understandable so both people and search engine algorithms will have an easier time accessing your information.
Apart from your homepage, site menu, and post feeds, there are also other kinds of internal links. The connections that are placed inside the material you write about are called contextual links. This is what both users and search engines need in order to traverse the amazing material you possess on your website.
Customers are dependent on internal links to go around your website and discover the information they need, whereas search engines use them to search through your material. The architecture of your website can be clarified by using internal links, and it is an undisputed truth that sites with an orderly and easy-to-understand layout perform better in search engine results.
Why don’t more people take advantage of internal linking if it truly helps boost your content visibility?
That’s one thing those articles got right. Although the basic idea is straightforward, the actual theory, procedure, and methods involved in internal linking and content enhancement are far more complex than they seem. It’s both complicated and simple.
Luckily, there is a way out.
How do you make your way through this easy yet intricate idea?
Well…
Gaining knowledge about interlinking and the best strategies for employing it. This is your best bet to boost and enhance your standing and expertise in the field.
How Internal Links Affect SEO
The significance of internal links is that they aid search engines in determining, cataloging, and interpreting all the pages that are on your website. If used skillfully, they can transmit page authority to essential pages and are essential for any website that desires to enhance its SERP positioning.
Google’s search technology has made enormous progress considering its starting point of search engine optimization, and it is becoming more demanding to outmaneuver the system. It is no longer possible to take the easy route to achieving a high position; rather, you must dedicate effort and labor to succeed. Enhancing elements like your internal connections can significantly boost your SEO results, making the need to manipulate the system redundant.
To make clear why these connections are significant, here are some advantages that they offer.
Benefits of internal linking to SEO
Enhances website indexation
Search engine spiders traverse the internet by means of following link pathways in order to discover and organize websites. Consider the enormity of a large library, wherein these robots are attempting to sort out all the information. It would be difficult to accomplish this if they cannot determine what is located on the website, correct? The connections you have within your website aid the search engine crawlers in organizing and tracking your content. If somebody searches for something related to your writing, your work will appear as a result. They also establish the arrangement and ranking of your website.
Aids in website navigation
Google employs two different bots for examining and storing pages: the fast crawl bot and the thorough crawl bot. The new automated programs monitor the critical pages regularly, cataloging them on a regular basis about every couple of days. The bots that tour the web deeply will come across the majority of pages at least once a month, emphasizing key content. If you implement a well-structured internal linking plan, it will be easier for web crawlers to browse your website, leading to better positions in search engine results.
It improves the backlink earning potential of deep content pages
Many links to your website could point to your main website page, and you might believe this is beneficial, but SEO-wise, it isn’t. The reason being is that while your homepage is useful, it doesn’t have the exhaustive material a user may want to see. If the majority of your backlinks point to your homepage, users will not be motivated to revisit your website. However, if the majority of the traffic is being directed towards internal pages on your website, then you are taking better care of your visitors.
It spreads page authority and ranking power everywhere on your website
It’s possible that you are aware of the term “link juice”. This is no longer very current, however it alludes to a page’s status and its power to be placed high in rankings. The ability of a page to be authoritative can be determined by the number of links that are leading to it, these can be links from the same website or from external sites. Typically the homepage on any website is king. It contains nearly all of the details that someone may need. So it’s safe to say it has some authority. By using internal linking, other pages on the website can benefit from transferring the page rank value of the page with links.
Internal links with anchor texts enhance link value
A snippet of HTML code is used to connect one web page to another site within the same website, which is referred to as an internal link. If the word or phrase is constructed with an anchor word instead of a picture or a navigation term, its worth will increase. The inclusion of keywords and content in the linking process adds greater value to a link, making it more useful. Now, rather than just having a label, the link has descriptive text associated with it. This is suitable for the transition to utilizing anchor texts which integrate seamlessly into the entirety of the text rather than cramming in keywords into the anchor texts.
Understanding the Different Types of Internal Links
Several kinds of internal links can be identified: links found in navigation menus, footer menus, in the context of a page, and sidebar links.
Here’s how they appear on your site.
Navigational Links
Navigational links are the most crucial internal links since they are consistently placed in the primary menu. They also make up your site’s main navigational structure.
The main navigational options typically appear on the top bar or side bar and encompass items related to products, services, or the primary areas of content.
Footer Links
Footer links are a type of navigation link. They are present on every page of your site, but positioned at the bottom rather than the top.
These connections would direct the user to other parts of your website that they may want to explore.
Some typical elements that are often found in footers are contact information, a brief overview of the company, any frequently asked questions, and other related pages.
Sidebar Links
Navigational links located in the sidebar of a website can be used to direct people to content associated with what they are currently viewing.
How to Build Your Internal Linking Strategy
Now that you are familiar with the fundamentals, it is time to create your plan.
1: Identify Your Site’s Pillar Pages
Create a list to begin with of core pages that cover a wide range of topics and link to related, narrower pages.
Using your pillar pages as a base, you can create clusters of related content around particular topics. Creating hub pages and primary themes will be beneficial in creating the structure of your website.
It is better to focus on keywords that have a large number of searches instead of those that are more particular and longer.
Consider your pillar page as the head of your advertising and marketing channel – customers have an interest and are just trying to find out general information.
2: Create Topic Clusters Using Internal Links
Once you have figured out what the main topics are, you should now create more detailed bunches of topics that correlate with each one.
Your pillar should be the principal subject and the clusters should be related topics that are more precise.
If your main topic was about “copywriting,” your related topics could be “What Is Copywriting?” and “Copywriting Tools.”
You can even create more clusters for your clusters. As one example, back up your cluster about email copywriting with webpages about topic headings and requests for action (CTAs).
The content on these pages should have references back to the main pillar page to prove its relevancy and demonstrate that the first page is the most reliable source.
Begin by plotting out your topic groups and formulating ideas for relevant auxiliary pages.
3: Choose the Right Anchor Text
You have complete power over the link description on your website. Be deliberate in your choice of words and expressions to make sure they accurately portray the topics of their respective pages.
Good anchor text aids in informing both users and search engines as to what content will be present when they access a page.
Anchor text is the clickable text that appears in a hyperlink.
Creating pertinent anchor text helps Google’s algorithm comprehend the layout of your website more accurately, resulting in it having more knowledge of how the pages are affiliated with each other.
SEO-friendly anchor text is:
- Brief: Keep anchor text brief so that it’s clear to users and search engines what the page’s topic is about. We recommend keeping anchor text to five words or less.
- Relevant: Avoid vague, clickbait anchor text like “click here” or “this weird life hack will help you lose 10 pounds a week.” Neither option tells Google what the linked page is actually about.
- Optimized: It’s not likely that you’ll be penalized for using exact-match anchor text for internal links as long as the anchor text is relevant to the linked page. And you aren’t trying to over-optimize by keyword stuffing.
Take caution when dealing with outside links. Altering the anchor text of external sites does not conform to Google’s webmaster directives.
Consider the suggestions from best practices when creating anchor text for your main and related pieces of content derived from keyword research.
4: Identify Your Site’s Authority Pages
Backlinks from external pages which are of excellent quality should point to your pages with the most authority.
Google sees backlinks as a vote of confidence. If a page has received numerous votes, or backlinks, some of its authority can be transmitted.
The aim is to transfer the power of a link (or the value of a link) to other pages within the website through internal linking.
5: Support Your New Pages
An effective internal linking setup is especially essential when you have acquired few reputable external links as of yet.
Select a new article or page on which you would like to see greater performance. Then, identify opportunities for relevant interlinking.
After deciding on which piece of content you want to utilize, enter the subject related keyword into Google search engine to locate any relevant webpages on your website.
Bonus Step: Maximize the Impact of Digital PR Campaigns with Internal Links
Digital PR is a type of PR that employs techniques with the goal of gaining links from other websites. PR personnel assemble sources of information, articles, and other helpful materials and showcase them to appropriate publications in order to acquire backlinks and an increase in prominence.
This method can also be employed to better your internal linking.
Think about how you can utilize the landing pages of your campaign to link to other relevant pages on your website.
This could include simple directing connections or connections in the content of the touchdown page to optimize SEO and enhance the user experience.
The page that is connected to the campaign landing page offers more information for those who arrive on it. If the promotional webpage acquires incoming links, it will disseminate that power via internal links.
A win-win.
Fix Internal Linking Issues With Site Audit
Although you have begun to put into action your fresh internal linking tactic, it is still essential to consistently inspect for issues.
It is a wise idea to periodically go through a Site Audit and review the Internal Linking Report on a monthly basis or so to detect any potential problems. This is the optimal method for tracking the functioning of your website and making any modifications that may be necessary.
