While inbound links or backlinks are like the extroverted cool kids of search engine optimization, let’s not overlook the importance of their introverted counterparts — internal links. They might not get out much, or at all, but that doesn’t mean they are any less valuable to your overall SEO strategy.

Rather than haphazardly linking to pages, here are four things to keep in mind to improve your internal linking efforts.

If You Build It (And Link To It), They Will Come

Internal link structure plays a crucial role in how your site is experienced by users and search engines alike. Navigating a website should be intuitive for all parties involved. Like the 90s video game Pipe Dream, you are responsible for building logical pathways for people and spiders to find (or crawl) the content on your site.

If pages aren’t linked from the main navigation or other relevant pages, how are people supposed to find them? Search engines are just as susceptible to the same quandary. If they cannot find a page, said page won’t be crawled, meaning it won’t be indexed.

Ideally, your site should follow some sort of hierarchy with the homepage at the top, main navigation pages below that, and child pages below them. Unless you have a very good reason for leaving a page as an “orphan,” take the time to make sure all of your pages are linked accordingly.

linking

Act Naturally

That brings me to my next point, link naturally folks! Linking one page to another page for the hell of it is not what we’re aiming for. In the most basic sense, links are meant to be pathways that help people complete an action or find more information related to the topic at hand. It’s essential that you guide users down the rabbit hole. After all, you want them to spend time on your site digging deeper or making a purchase, not getting lost or turned around.

For example, if you have a tourism website, it would make sense to link a page about points of interest from the page showing local hotels. What would make less sense would be to link a page about current TSA guidelines from that same hotels page. Now obviously it wouldn’t be weird to have a page about airline travel tips on your site, but that page should be linked somewhere else, like on the flights or “how to get here” page.

Anchor Text

Besides common sense, anchor text is the next most important part of the linking process. Anchor text is the word or words that are clickable; most commonly they are denoted by their blue font color.

The rules of natural linking also apply to anchor text. For instance, you wouldn’t link to a site’s homepage from the words “paid search.” Sure, users can find the paid search page from the homepage, but why should they have to? If I see the words “paid search” hyperlinked, I’m going to assume it’s taking me to a page related to paid search, and it should. When a user clicks on a link, they should have an inkling as to where it goes.

In addition, anchor text is more than a gateway to another page; it’s also a ranking factor. Not a big one by any means, but it still plays a part in how well your site ranks in search for related keywords. Now, don’t take this as an invitation to hyperlink every keyword mention on any given page. Doing so may result in your site being flagged as spam; beware of Google’s Penguin algorithm updates.

Bottom line, if you vary your anchor text, even with keyword iterations and link to pages that make sense within the context of your content, you’ll be just fine.

Everything in Moderation, Including Links

As with just about every other aspect of SEO, moderation is key. Yes, the takeaway from this blog should be that internal links and anchor text are important, but that does not mean you should be turning every page into a smorgasbord of internal links.

There isn’t some magic number for how many links should be on a page, all I can tell you is to use your discretion. If linking to another page would help clarify or provide more insight into something mentioned, then by all means link to it. Likewise, if a link helps a user complete a step in the buyer’s journey, then certainly hyperlink away. But once again, don’t go overboard. Users do not need to be presented with links to everything on your site all at once. Too many links can be overwhelming and appear spammy. Understand the purpose of each page and create links to help users complete their objectives.

If you keep the user in mind while following the above advice, all should be well. It’s really as simple as logically linking your content via relevant anchor text and related pages. It’s not rocket science, it’s just internal linking. You don’t need to send someone to the moon, just to your contact us page.

seo

About the Author

Jamie Paton is a Project Manager at PCG Digital Marketing by day and a TV connoisseur by night. As an SEO strategist she spends a lot of quality time on social media sites and with Google Analytics and Search Console.