The effectiveness of internal linking is sometimes disregarded, but it has the potential to make or break the success of your website. We’ll go over some of the main advantages of internal linking for search engine optimization, along with some doable best practices you can implement on your website to enhance the user experience and raise search engine rankings.
What is an Internal link in SEO?
Any link on a website that takes users from one page inside the same domain to another is called an internal link. Internal links help visitors and search engines alike by making a website easier to navigate, creating a clear site design, and distributing link equity, or “link juice.”
Internal links are frequently employed in homepages and primary navigation to take viewers to different pages within the same website. They are often located in the header and footer.
Internal and External Links – What’s the Difference?
An internal link is a hyperlink that takes viewers to a different page within the same website, whereas an external link takes readers to a different website. This is the primary distinction between internal and external links. External links are typically located in the body text of a web page and are also referred to as outbound links or backlinks.
Why does SEO value Internal linking?
So, the actual query is: Does SEO benefit from internal linking? To put it succinctly, sure! Internal links essentially aid in the understanding of your websites by search engines such as Google, which in turn raises your prospective rating. Internal links should therefore be a component of your entire marketing plan because they are crucial for SEO.
Let’s examine some of the advantages of internal links and how using them might raise your website’s search engine ranking (SERPs).
1. Internal connections are the source of authority
A link from one website to another gives the destination page more legitimacy or authority and raises the likelihood that the page will rank. Keep in mind that internal links do not convey domain authority, in contrast to external connections. They do, however, pass page authority, which can increase your chances of appearing higher in search engine results.
2. Linking internally enhances usability
Internal links enhance user experience by giving users access to more worthwhile material and facilitating page navigation.
Page rank is increased by internal links. A Google metric called PageRank uses a score ranging from 0 to 10 to represent how important a web page is. Higher-scoring pages are those that have more authority transferred from other pages.
Internal linking helps keep visitors on your website longer by directing them to interesting content. It also lowers the bounce rate. A lower bounce rate can help you rank higher on search engines and is a sign of a favorable user experience.
3. Enhances indexing and crawling
Bots will find it easier to crawl and index a website that has a sensible internal linking structure. Proper indexing is necessary to ensure that search engines can see your pages and potentially rank them.
Ways to Build a Successful Internal Linking Strategy
The following are some recommended strategies to maximize the effectiveness of your internal linking strategy:
1. Make use of informative anchor text
The visible, clickable text in an HTML hyperlink is known as the anchor text. On a webpage, an anchor link usually appears as blue text that is underlined. It is advised that you include keywords or descriptive language in your anchor links to indicate the page to which the hyperlink points. By giving context, this will enhance the user experience and aid search engines in comprehending the architecture of your website.
2. Including a link from your most reputable pages
Most link juice and authority will pass through links from high-authority pages or pages with a large number of internal links, such as a homepage. Thus, you must ensure that you smartly link to these important pages. Using online resources, such as the Top Linked Pages report from Google Search Console, you may determine which pages on your website are the most authoritative.
3. Make the most of low-hanging fruit to reach the top
Examine your pages to determine which ones might use a little extra push. Internal links to pages ranked lower on page 1 or page 2 would be very beneficial in order to increase the authority of those pages. By examining the SERPs, you can manually check your rankings to determine which pages to target, or you can use a tool to view your ranking positions, such as the Queries report in Google Search Console.
4. Create a user-focused SEO linking plan
The customer should always come first when it comes to everything Google does. You are optimized not just for search engines but also for people. Because of this, it’s critical to avoid forcing internal links; instead, put them where they appear appropriate and, most importantly, helpful. Being perceived as spammy is something you want to stay away from since it can hurt your rankings.
The number of internal links on your website is up to you. There are no hard-and-fast guidelines. You must choose which links offer the best user experience because Google can scan through hundreds of links on a single page.
5. Use pages with a lot of traffic to boost conversions
Even though some pages get a lot of traffic, they might not have a great conversion rate. However, there’s a chance that not enough people visit your conversion pages. This is the perfect chance to use internal links to drive traffic to your conversion pages. You can convert website visitors into paying clients with this method.
Using the Landing Pages report, Google Analytics is an excellent tool for determining which of your pages are generating the most traffic and conversions. Keep in mind that conversion rates are only displayed in Google Analytics if goal tracking is enabled.
6. Calls to action might help you get the desired results
It’s great that your website is getting a lot of traffic, but what are these users actually doing on your pages? After reading your blog, looking through your items, and seeing your demo video, what comes next? They need to take action now. Telling consumers what you want them to do—whether it’s purchasing from your website, filling out a contact form, or subscribing to your email newsletter—and providing a suitable call-to-action can help them get there.
This may be, for example, an internal link from your homepage to your contact or email sign-up page, or from your blog to your product pages. Use descriptive wording whenever possible, as generic language, such as “click here” or “read more,” does not convey to consumers what action you want them to take.
7. Put contextual linking into practice
Internal links are helpful for tying together articles on related subjects, giving Google more context and benefiting users with more details. To build content topic clusters, you may also incorporate a related post section or make use of internal links.
You can also read about: On-Page SEO: What It Is and How to Do It
8. Connect from every page—old or new
Your authority is reset when you create a new page; thus, it’s preferable to transfer authority by including useful links from previous sites. Nonetheless, it is reciprocal. When it makes sense, we advise revisiting earlier pages and adding new links.
9. Make use of do-follow links
You must use do-follow links rather than no-follow links if you want link equity to flow between pages.
10. Check frequently for broken links
Both SEO and the user experience suffer from broken links. It’s crucial that you frequently check your website for broken links and fix them. Usually, this occurs when a page is relocated or removed without the necessary redirects in place. Screaming Frog and other online resources can be used for this. The usual result of a broken link is a 404 error page.
Conclusion
Internal linking can be the last push your website needs to outperform its rivals and rule the SERPs. Internal links may be a really rapid victory for your website and are wonderful because you have complete control over them. You’ll definitely see benefits if you take our advice.