To improve SEO with internal linking, every important page of a website should receive internal links from other pages. This strategy facilitates navigation for users and helps Google better understand the site, improving organic ranking.
Poor internal linking! Often pushed to the “corner, mistreated, not to say forgotten. Yet Google leaves no doubt about the key role that a good internal linking strategy plays in the”SEO optimization of any site, including e-commerce.
The message is loud and clear, and Google’s guidelines confirm that “internal links help both people and Google understand your site more easily and find other pages within it.
Every page that’s important to you should have a link from at least one other page on the site. Think about which other resources on the site could help your readers understand a particular page on your site and include a link to these pages”.
At this point, I don’t want to play devil’s advocate, but I do want to help clarify. Especially because a good SEO strategist must perfectly plan the hierarchy of pages and the links to include within them, following the best practices that I will outline in the guide.
Let’s start understanding how to build a solid network of internal links to improve the organic ranking of your website!
What is internal linking?
When you publish content on the website, whether it’s a blog article or a page, and create a connection between them, you’re moving in the magical world of internal linking.
To do this, an anchor text is necessary, clicking on which the user is transferred to another page of the website.
Don’t think, however, that it’s enough to add anchor text excessively, because internal linking is not a game but an activity to be done strategically and constructively, otherwise it can have negative effects on SEO optimization and user experience.
Difference between internal links and external links
It may seem obvious, but before proceeding, I prefer to clear up any doubts: when talking about links within a website, we need to distinguish between internal links and external links. Both have an anchor text, it’s true, but the purpose is different:
- Internal links connect different pages of the same domain and are useful for improving navigation and guiding the “user through various related content. They can be navigational – part of the site’s” architecture and found in the menu, breadcrumb, or footer to help the “user move around – or contextual, inserted in the text of articles and pages. They have a direct impact on PageRank distribution within” the site and on “SEO structure optimization. Moreover, they help search engines understand the hierarchy and” importance of pages.
- External links are equally important, especially because they contribute to increasing the “authority and credibility of a website, always if they point to relevant sources. They are used, or rather, should be used, to refer to external sources that represent a plus ultra for the” user. Alas, we know well that this isn’t always the case and that there are still many spam backlinks out there.
What are the advantages of a good internal linking strategy for SEO?
Here we are at the pulsating heart of the guide, ready to discover the many benefits that a carefully designed internal link strategy can bring to SEO optimization and, therefore, to the organic traffic to your website:
1. Navigation within the website becomes easier
By strategically inserting internal links, you facilitate user navigation, allowing them to move seamlessly between various pages of the site.
Google and other search engines “highly regard websites that care about” user experience and manage to reduce the bounce rate. After all, those who easily find content find a treasure and won’t abandon it!
2. PageRank is distributed among pages
I’ve already mentioned PageRank, but now I want to dwell on it for a moment to understand this important concept well. It’s an algorithm developed by Google to measure the “importance and” authority of a web page based on the links it receives.
It should be noted that Google hasn’t updated the public PageRank since 2013 and definitively removed it from the Toolbar in 2016. Today, it’s just one of the many factors that determine a page’s ranking.
You’ll now surely understand better why a good internal linking strategy helps ensure that the most important pages, which receive more links, gain greater visibility in search results.
Connecting relevant and well-structured pages improves the overall relevance of the site in the eyes of search engines; remember this well.
A brief but necessary digression: what is link juice?
PageRank and link juice are often confused, yet there are differences. I’ve already explained in the previous paragraph that PageRank is an algorithm that measures the importance of a page based on the quantity and quality of links received.
Link juice, on the other hand, refers specifically to the concept of transferring value from one page to another through links, but it’s not an official indicator or algorithm.
Now that we’ve clarified the two concepts, let’s get back on track and resume the list of advantages related to the internal link strategy.
3. Improves indexing by search engines
Google’s crawler, like those of other search engines, relies on internal links to find and scan website pages.
The better the link structure is done, the more easily pages are indexed. Remember that without proper internal linking, you risk some pages of the website not being found by search engines and thus losing important opportunities for positioning in the results page.
4. Users stay longer on the website
When you’re on a journey and have a well-marked path to follow, which guides you smoothly and without hitches, you enjoy those moments without even noticing the passing of time and will probably repeat the experience in the future.
Similarly, a website with relevant and useful internal links encourages users to stay and visit more pages and, why not, even return!
If the bounce rate therefore has a low value, search engine bots understand that the site offers quality content, and the reward will be the most coveted: better organic positioning in search results!
Practical tips for an effective internal link strategy
After the fundamental theoretical basics, it’s time to plan and implement the internal link strategy that will improve your SEO. I recommend following the to-do list in the order I propose:
1. Determine which are the most important pages
First of all, you must determine which are the most important contents, or pillar pages, of your website, which best represent your activity and which you want to receive more internal links to increase their importance in the eyes of search engines and users.
I advise you to pay utmost attention to this initial research. You absolutely need to understand which valuable content, highlighting your main services or best-converting product, you want to emphasize in your communication and marketing strategy.
2. Use Optimized Anchor Texts
The link text, or anchor text, is the text that the “user clicks to land on” another page, either internal or external to the site.
I can assure you that choosing the right anchor text requires attention, a precise strategy, and a lot of familiarity. First of all, it must be descriptive and relevant to the content that will open on the destination page.
Never use the well-known but useless click here, for example! You should use keywords that anticipate the content the user will find when clicking.
Let me give you an example:
Let’s suppose that at the end of this paragraph, I want to direct you to learn more about link building. You will certainly never find this: “To learn more, click here” but something like this: “Remember that having a well-planned and curated strategy for link building is fundamental to improve website ranking and increase organic traffic”.
That “link building strategy” will be my anchor text that links to the in-depth page.
Before moving to the next paragraph, I must absolutely remind you to not overuse keywords in all internal links or you’ll fall into keyword stuffing, which Google doesn’t like at all.
Strive to use different anchor texts with related and long-tail keywords. Think about how users reason, give importance to their point of view and their search intents, I recommend!
3. Create Logical Connections Between Pages
The internal linking strategy requires a logical structure that relates pages. This means you shouldn’t add links just for the sake of numbers, but because they truly serve the user to better understand and delve deeper.
For example, in the guide you’re reading, you find internal links that direct you to other pages on the Qreativa site, but only because these are relevant and related contents.
I certainly won’t suggest you go read the articles I’ve written about advertising, for instance! I’m writing this even though it’s obvious because believe me, you come across all sorts of things navigating certain sites.
Last consideration, don’t forget to add internal links when you publish new content, so you won’t break the network of connections and the internal linking strategy won’t be interrupted.
Follow These Best Practices to Optimize Internal Link Management
I really want to explain these common-sense rules to you, because mistakes happen, it’s part of the job, but it’s better to avoid them where possible. By following these best practices, you’ll limit glaring slip-ups, so treasure them.
1. Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Internal Links
I’m the first to tell you that the anchor text should be optimized and contain keywords and related terms, but it takes little to go overboard and fall into keyword stuffing, which translates to excess of keywords.
Google penalizes this practice and sites that use too many keywords in internal links, because it considers it inappropriate behavior aimed at manipulating search results.
You’re probably wondering what you should do then, and the answer is simple: virtue lies in the middle, as the ancient Romans used to say.
Use natural language as much as possible and choose words that best fit the context and the discourse in which you need to insert them.
2. Don’t Overdo It with Internal Links on Each Page
Too much is too much even for search engines and users. Personally, I struggle with sites that insert hundreds of internal links, maybe even in succession on the same line. They confuse me, tire me out, and in the end, I not only tend not to click but I actually run away from the site!
And this confusion, besides worsening the user experience, is not appreciated by search engines either. Moreover, the link value is distributed among all the links present on a page, so the more links you have, the less value each link will transfer.
Common sense is always a valuable ally, so only insert strictly necessary and relevant links for the topic you’re discussing and that can truly be useful to the user. And if you see that there are too many, sacrifice a few. See the image below? Too much, don’t you think?
3. Remember that links must be relevant and useful for the user
Users and search engines only need anchor texts with truly useful links. Everything else is an excess harmful to SEO optimization, so why waste time filling your pages with useless things?
Make sure that every link you insert directs the user to related and useful content.
4. Limit the use of nofollow links
When you add the nofollow attribute to a URL, you’re telling search engines not to follow that link and not to transmit link juice. This attribute is usually added when you don’t want to transfer authority, for example in case of paid or affiliate links.
This is also fine if done with discretion, but use the attribute sparingly and with extreme caution in internal links, because the risk is creating breaks in the link network and causing pages to not be displayed or indexed.
Use the “nofollow attribute only when it’s really necessary, for example for links that shouldn’t affect the site’s ranking, or to prevent search engines from following useless paths. An example, which I show you in the” image below, is the nofollow for the site’s Privacy policy page.
5. Watch out for crawl depth
Put in very simple words, it indicates how many clicks it takes for the user to reach a certain page starting from the home page.
A good internal linking strategy requires no more than three clicks otherwise, if a page is too deep in the site hierarchy, search engines tend to consider it less important, negatively affecting its SEO ranking.
Furthermore, a greater crawl depth reduces the chances that Google bots or other search engines will index it, as they tend to prioritize more easily accessible pages.
Frequently monitor internal linking with Google Search Console
To understand how the internal linking strategy is progressing, it’s important that you regularly and carefully dedicate yourself to analysis activities on tools like Google Search Console.
Within “the platform, select the site you want to research, go to the Links section, within” which you can find very important information about internal and external links.
For example, you can see the pages of your site with the number of internal links pointing to each of them.
Do the pages have the right number of internal links?
This analysis allows you to understand if the most important pages of your site receive the right number of internal links, or if some pages need more attention.
If you see that there are pages with few or no internal links (orphan page) you should perk up your ears because search engines will struggle to find those pages and therefore the ranking will suffer.
Check if these pages are relevant and, if they are, increase the number of internal links pointing to them. If not, that’s fine, you can focus on something else.
Broken links: how to solve?
Broken links are a real problem, fortunately solvable. You’ve surely heard of the dreaded 404s, which occur if a link points to a page that no longer exists, or that presents an error. Continue below to better understand what it’s about.
404 Errors
You should avoid them like the plague, because they cause frustration for the user and negatively impact SEO. They prevent search engines from accessing linked content and are also seen as a sign of poor site maintenance.
If from the “link analysis you encounter any 404 errors in the Internal Links section, you can update the” URL of the link if the content it was pointing to has been moved or renamed.
If the problem simply stems from a change in a page’s permalink, correct the link by inserting the new URL.
301 Redirect
If the page the link points to no longer exists, you need to create a 301 redirect, which means linking to a relevant and useful page in the context.
I strongly recommend avoiding redirects to useless, irrelevant, or generic pages like the home page, or you’ll confuse the user and make the link lose value!
And if you don’t have a suitable page for replacement? Remove the broken link, the important thing is to never leave 404 errors!
Example of Qreativa’s internal link structure
Let’s stay at home and take our website as an example:
The importance of internal links for Qreativa
For us, it’s essential to have an internal linking strategy to improve “user experience and” indexing by search engines.
We have therefore optimized internal links for navigation to connect different sections of the site, so that users can easily find relevant information and reference projects.
Main menu and navigational links
The navigational links in the top menu provide users with immediate access to the main pages: Home, Team, Services, Case Studies, Guides, Contacts.
Navigational links in the central part of the home page
In the center of the home page, we have repeated the navigational links that lead to pages and services important for our business and the user.
Footer and links to relevant resources
In the footer of the site, the user finds a series of links that lead to service pages, privacy policy, and other useful sections.
These links are important not only for the user but also for search engines that need to evaluate the site’s structure.
Contextual internal links to improve SEO and user experience
At Qreativa, we insert contextual links within the site’s content to connect blog articles, case studies, and other related pages.
Every time I write a new article in the guides and, for example, talk about a specific service, I add an internal link that leads directly to the page offering that service.
For instance, in the photo below, you can see how, when talking about a strategy to attract new clients starting from keyword research, I added a link to the dedicated section where we present the service.
On Qreativa’s website, we regularly check that all internal links work correctly and don’t point to non-existent or removed pages. Also because 404 errors risk giving us a heart attack!
Conclusions
By now, you should have a clear understanding of how important it is to plan a careful internal linking strategy to optimize the SEO of any website or eCommerce.
In the guide, we’ve seen what internal links are and how they differ from external links. Thanks to internal links, you will improve “user experience and facilitate search engines’”indexing and ranking of pages.
We have also seen how internal links help search engines better understand the site structure and distribute authority among pages, thanks to concepts like PageRank and the passing of link juice.
To get the most out of an internal linking strategy, remember to identify the main pages of the site (pillar pages) and link them effectively.
Use optimized anchor texts that reflect the target content and create links that are logical and relevant for both users and search engines.
Monitor and fix broken links and optimize the crawl depth, so all important pages are reachable within a few clicks.
Want to know more or wish to have SEO strategy experts by your side? Qreativa is here for you! Request a free consultation right away with no obligation.
