Internal Linking Strategies: Enhancing Website Navigation and SEO

To ensure the effectiveness of your internal linking strategy, here are some best practices you can follow:

Creating Lots of Content

Having diverse content on your website is crucial for an effective internal linking strategy. The more content you have, the more opportunities you have to create internal links. However, ensuring that your content is valuable, informative, and covers various topics related to your niche is important. This allows you to naturally incorporate internal links within your content, guiding users to relevant pages and improving their overall experience.

Example: If you run a fitness website, you can create blog posts on various topics such as “5 Effective Cardio Workouts,” “The Benefits of Strength Training,” or “Nutrition Tips for Weight Loss.” Within these articles, you can incorporate internal links to relevant pages like “10 Healthy Recipes” or “Best Fitness Equipment for Home Workouts.”

Linking High Authority Pages to New Ones

Internal links from high-authority pages to newer or less authoritative pages can significantly boost the visibility and rankings of the latter. When a high authority page links to a new page, it passes on some of its authority and credibility to that page. This can help the new page gain more visibility in search engine results and attract organic traffic.

Example: If you have a high authority blog post on “Top 10 SEO Techniques,” you can internally link it to a newly published blog post on “Advanced SEO Strategies for 2023.” This helps transfer the authority of the high-ranking page to the new one, boosting its visibility and rankings.

Using Anchor Text That You Want to Rank For

Anchor text plays a crucial role in internal linking. It is clickable text that serves as the link. You can optimise your internal links for search engines by using keywords in your anchor text. This practice helps search engines understand the context and relevance of the linked page, improving its chances of ranking.

Example: Suppose you have an e-commerce website selling running shoes. When discussing the features of a specific shoe model, you can use anchor text like “best running shoes for marathon training” or “top-rated long-distance running shoes.” This optimises the anchor text for search engines and increases the chances of ranking for those keywords.

Linking Deep

While it’s important to have internal links from the homepage and top-level pages, it’s equally important to link deep into your website. Connecting relevant subpages or blog posts makes it easier for users to discover and navigate your content. Deep linking helps users find specific information and explore related topics, improving user experience and increasing the time spent on your website.

Example: If you have a blog post about “Healthy Breakfast Ideas,” you can internally link specific recipes mentioned in that article to their dedicated recipe pages. This deep linking helps users easily navigate to the detailed recipes they are interested in.

Ensuring Contextual Links

Contextual internal links are placed within the content itself, providing additional information or expanding on a topic. These links are highly valuable for both users and search engines. They help users find more relevant and related content, enhancing their overall experience. From an SEO perspective, contextual links help search engines understand the logical connections between your pages and establish the topical authority of your website.

Example: If you have a blog post on “Social Media Marketing Strategies,” you can internally link specific tactics mentioned in the article to detailed guides explaining each tactic. This provides users with additional information and allows them to explore related topics within your website.

Using Relevant Links for Internal Linking

Internal links should be relevant and logical. When linking pages, ensure they are related in content, theme, or topic. This helps search engines understand the logical connections between your pages and strengthens the overall topical authority of your website. By linking relevant pages, you can guide users through a logical flow of information and keep them engaged on your website.

Example: If you have a product page for “Digital Cameras,” you can internally link to a blog post on “Choosing the Right Camera for Photography.” A good practice to ensure your Internal links are always relevant and logical is adopting a “site link chart.” Using a flowchart maker, you can develop a comprehensive website link chart with which you (or anyone working on your site) can view the status of all your internal link connections. “What’s page A linked to?” “Is page G naturally linked to the homepage?” “Can we find a better and more logical page to link page X to?” Much like your kids’ A for Apple Charts.

Being Reasonable with the Number of Internal Links Used

While internal links are valuable, using them in moderation and maintaining a balance is important. Overloading a page with excessive internal links can confuse users and dilute the importance and relevance of each link. Focus on quality over quantity and ensure that each internal link adds value to the user’s experience or provides additional relevant information.

Example: In a blog post about “Home Improvement Tips,” it’s important to use internal links judiciously. Instead of linking every relevant term or phrase, focus on the most valuable and informative ones that enhance the user experience.

Avoiding Sitewide Footer Links

Sitewide footer links, which appear on every page of your website, may be viewed as less relevant or manipulative by search engines. It’s generally advisable to prioritise contextually relevant internal links within the content of each page. This ensures that the internal links are placed where they are most useful and relevant to users.

Example: Instead of having a sitewide footer link saying “Home,” “About Us,” or “Contact,” include these links in the main navigation menu. Reserve the footer for more specific and relevant links to important pages like “Services,” “Product Categories,” or “Resources.”

Preventing the Use of the Same Anchor Texts for Different Pages

To maintain clarity and avoid confusion, it’s important to use unique anchor texts for each internal link. Using the same anchor text for different pages can make it difficult for search engines to differentiate between the linked pages and understand their relevance. Each anchor text should accurately reflect the specific content or topic of the linked page.

Example: Suppose you have two blog posts on “Benefits of Meditation” and another on “Stress Management Techniques.” Instead of using the same anchor text like “click here” for both articles, use unique anchor text that accurately describes the content, such as “Learn about the benefits of meditation” and “Discover effective stress management techniques.”

Placing Links High Up on Your Page

Positioning internal links on the page, such as in the introductory paragraphs or within the first few sentences, helps search engines and users discover and navigate to relevant pages more effectively. Prominently featuring internal links within the content signals their importance and relevance to both users and search engines.

Example: In a blog post about “Digital Marketing Trends,” include internal links to related articles or resources within the introductory paragraphs. This ensures that users and search engines encounter these important links early in the content.

Using Internal Links to Help with Indexing

Internal links are vital in helping search engines discover and index your website’s pages. By strategically linking to new or less frequently crawled pages, you can ensure that search engine bots find and index them more effectively. This enhances your website’s visibility in search results and increases the chances of your pages being ranked and displayed to users.

Example: If you have a newly published landing page for a product or service, internally link it from relevant blog posts or existing pages on your website. This helps search engine bots discover and index the new page faster, increasing its visibility in search results.