The Importance of Internal Links in SEO

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), internal links are just as important as content and are crucial to SEO success. Internal links allow for seamless navigation around a website and support your SEO by driving traffic to other pages. In ranking Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), Google analyzes a site’s depth by establishing links that take web visitors from one page to the next. It looks at how people use those links to move to different locations within your site.

Most companies focus on backlinks and tend to overlook internal links. Lack of internal links on a page hinders search engines from searching and ranking your page. Think of internal links as directions for someone to follow in search of products or information. In essence, internal links enhance users’ experience by allowing for smooth navigation. Here’s a look at the importance of internal links in SEO.

Why should you focus on internal linking?

Internal links are a must-have on any site to establish solid site architecture and help spread the juice. Search engines such as Google leverage algorithms to spot content and access link structures that are highly crawlable. As a site owner, focusing on internal links will help you bridge the authority gap between your most link-worthy content as well as your profitable content. This translates to increased web visibility coupled with increased activity from your online customers and prospective clients.

Advantages of Good Internal Linking

Internal linking is a vital part of your SEO strategy. From allowing for easy navigation on your site to making your page rank higher in the SERPs, internal links offer several advantages as below:

1. Internal linking improves PageRank
2. Internal linking enhances visibility through anchor texts.
3. Internal links spread the link juice.
4. Internal Links Boosts Time on Site and Lowers Bounce Rate

Top 8 Components of Good Link Building

Below are 8 common components of ideal internal linking

• Links should be added in moderation.
• Internal links should be organically placed.
• Internal links should be of value to SEO
• Internal links are important for your landing pages
• Internal links should be compatible with the audience
• Internal links must be added first to the most important pages
• Internal link context matters.
• Anchor text should relate to the landing page topic.

How to Optimize your Internal Linking?

Internal link optimization involves reviewing existing links a site has earned and ensured the site gets maximum value from them. Below are some ideas on how you can optimize your internal linking.

1. Analyze pages separately and come up with specific strategies for each page
2. Build semantic link silos
3. Use sensible keywords
4. Link your pages from time to time
5. Set up nofollow and no-index for non-performing pages

The Importance of Internal Links

Lack of internal links on your page can significantly hinder search engines from searching and ranking your page. Internal links are important on a website for three main crucial reasons.

• Facilitates seamless navigation from users’ perspective
• Boost a website’s ranking power, i.e. ‘link juice.’
• They are needed for site visitors to take the necessary action as per the content displayed on the website.

Why are links important to Google?

Google analyses a website by following both internal and external links using bots. The bot first analyzes your website’s home page and continues to the other pages by following the links. By analyzing the internal links, Google can figure out the pages that cover the similar subject matter. Google analyzes the relationship between the pages, posts, and content on your website pages.  It also establishes whether the pages cover a similar subject matter. Therefore, internal links enable Google bots to find deeper pages on your site that are not always visited. In turn, the bots enhance the traffic of less-visited pages enabling your website to rank high overall in SERPs.

Internal Links V.S. External Links

Websites contain both internal and external links to aid Google in crawling the website easily and facilitate easy navigation. External links have a much bigger bearing compared to internal links since they portray your website as a good source of information, products, or service. Unlike external links, internal links go from one page on a domain to a different page on the same domain. They are mostly used in the website’s main navigation and function to point out another page on the same website.

Both external linking and internal linking are vital for link building and are extremely important when ranking a site high on SERPS. The higher a page ranks on search engine pages for a specific keyword, the more it generates organic traffic.

Setting Up an Internal Linking Strategy

It’s vital for your site’s SEO to constantly evaluate and enhance internal linking strategy regularly. This is one of the effective ways to enhance the overall ranking of your website. By inputting the correct internal links, you make it easy for Google to understand the relevance of pages, the relationship between pages, and each page’s value in your website. When setting up an internal linking strategy, there are several things to consider based on your website as well as your SEO goals. Nonetheless, the below steps are essential in setting up an internal linking strategy.

• Step 1: Determine the best web structure for your site.
• Step 2: Establish the most important content for your website.
• Step 3: Place contextual links in your blogs or articles
• Step 4: Link hierarchical pages
• Step 5: Consider adding a related post section.
• Step 6: Add navigational links
• Step 7: Add links to your taxonomies
• Step 8: Consider adding links to popular or recent posts.

Never Do This with Your Internal Link Structure

Internal linking is an integral aspect of the SEO process, and knowing what to do with your internal links can be the difference between the success of your SEO practice or its complete failure. When it comes to internal linking, there are several don’ts, including:

• Don’t link too much
• Don’t orphan pages
• Don’t link to page B using the same anchor text you want page A to rank for
• Don’t link to multiple versions of web pages.
• Don’t force content just to get that link in there.
• Don’t bury pages deep within your website’s architecture.
• Don’t use “rel=nofollow” on internal links.
• Don’t use “click here” or “read about it” or other boring, non-descriptive words for links.

Conclusion

Internal linking is a crucial part of your overall SEO campaign. Internal links enable site owners to bridge the ‘authority gap’ between their most link-worthy content and their most profitable content. From link juice improvements to increased conversion, internal linking can substantially enhance your overall SEO performance enabling your site to rank highly in SERPs. Building a solid internal linking architecture is key to SEO success. Now that you have this information, it’s time to implement it and generate organic traffic to your site.