The importance of internal linking strategies in SEO

What is an internal link?

Internal links are what we call links that you create on your website that link to other pages on your own website. These are a very important part of getting your site to rank well in search engines. They help search engines determine which pages on your site are most important and should be more highly ranked than others. It’s not just about linking to your homepage, but also linking to other pages within your site, such as an About Us page or Contact Us page. The more internal links you have pointing back at these types of pages, the better they will rank in Google results.

Differences between internal and external linking

An internal link is a hyperlink to another page within your own website. An external link is a hyperlink to an outside website. External links are important for SEO and accessibility. External links are a very important matter in building the authority of the website and organic position in the search results. Links placed on sites with similar topics and / or high authority are much more valuable.

Why should You use internal links?

Because internal links are one way search engines know you’re talking about related topics. Search engines can also crawl pages more easily when they have a good internal linking structure, which helps them rank your site higher.

It helps Google to understand that those two pages are connected in some way—and it helps give both pages a boost in rankings. This is why it’s important to use keywords and phrases when creating internal links. Use these phrases as anchor text for your links. For example, if you want to link from page A to page B, write click here for page B or read more on page B as anchor text for that link. The anchor text should match what people will be searching for when they land on your site (or at least be closely related).

Types of internal links

There are a number of different kinds of internal links that you can implement to further optimize your website. Consider using breadcrumb navigation, which allows users to click through each level of your site hierarchy with ease; inline linking, which allows users to click on words or phrases and be taken directly to relevant pages; and footer linking, which allows users to click on important information at the bottom of each page. These types of links not only help users navigate your site easily but also help search engines crawl and index more content on your site.

When creating new content, think about how it might link to existing pages. If you have no way of doing so naturally (perhaps because there’s no natural connection between topics), then consider adding an artificial anchor text link within your content (invisible to readers) as a means of encouraging search engine crawlers to find and access additional parts of your site.

The most common mistakes

A website that uses internal linking strategies will boost search engine rankings and make it easier for site visitors to access specific content. The problem is that most business owners don’t know how to create effective internal links.The most common errors found in internal linking include:

• no optimized (sales) anchors,
• linking to non-existent subpages,
• too many links on one subpage,
• the use of “read more” anchors,
• frequent linking to subpages from various thematic groups (silos),
• internal links repeated in the content, pointing to the same subpages,
• linking to irrelevant subpages,
• orphaned pages that are not linked to by any internal links.

Useful tools in creating internal links

Tools are just what they sound like—tools to help you build better internal links within your website. Some examples include: 301 Redirects, URL Targeting, Canonical URLs, and more. A lot of people are confused about how to use these tools correctly.

Screaming Frog

Among other things, this tool informs you about broken links on the site. It supports analyzing the website architecture. Screaming Frog easily allows you to find all broken pages within the site. Just choose the “Inlinks” card and we will find out immediately:

• which pages the links lead from,
• what anchor texts direct to the page, in the case of graphics – “alt” attributes,
• whether the links are dofollow or nofollow.

Sitebulb

This tool, in turn, allows us to detect any errors related to internal linking. We also get ready-made error hints and of course the specific URLs on our site that they relate to. It is paid, but you can start with the demo version. Sitebulb has a much friendlier interface, however, which can be especially useful for novice administrators.

Xenu’s Link Sleuth

This program scans the website, creates a site link map and provides us with key information that helps us to spot any technical problems. By providing us with a list of all internal and outgoing links, the tool allows you to detect broken, broken URLs. First of all, it is completely free.

Broken Link Checker

A useful tool for WordPress website owners. It monitors all internal and external links and shows which of them are broken. Moreover, broken links can be edited directly from the plugin, without having to manually update the posts.

Last words

Search engine optimization is a constantly evolving science. While keywords are still important, they’re no longer enough to drive traffic to your site. In order to achieve your website’s full potential, you need to understand linking strategies and how search engines crawl through links. Your site architecture has a major impact on your search engine rankings and deserves as much attention as keyword selection. This post outlines some internal linking strategies you can use today to improve your website rankings.