Internal linking, when done strategically is a powerful asset for better SEO. Internal links in SEO are one of the easiest ways to boost search rankings. At the same time, it provides your visitors with a user-friendly website. In this blog, we have discussed the importance of internal links with the most effective strategies. These strategies will help you understand the best ways to get an internal link structure that lets search engines to crawl better.
Internal links connect different web pages in the same domain. Internal links are mainly used in website navigation. They are important because not only do these links provide navigation to visitors, but also establish an information hierarchy. Internal links in SEO give search engine crawlers an idea about the website structure and identify, which pages are of more value than the others. Click here to read this SEO: Beginner Manual to learn about SEO and to know the strategies that make a website search engine friendly.
Here are a few reasons why it is important to make internal links for proper search engine optimization:
IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL LINKS
1. Help search engines to rank web pages
Google has stated that the number of internal links that point towards a particular web page, signal to the crawlers that the web page is of importance. The web page that has the most number of links is deemed to be more important. Since crawlers use links to crawl through the content, internal links make it easier to understand the content.
2. Improves indexation of the website
Search engines navigate webpages by crawling from page to page, using links as paths. Strong internal linking makes crawling and indexing of your website easier.
3. Anchor text adds content value
Anchor texts are clickable words that the visitors see. Adding anchor text means that visitors can navigate to a webpage that is relevant to the content that they are currently reading. Using anchor text in your keyword can make your site rank higher. But remember, over-optimizing or using the same keyword in your anchor texts can harm your rankings.
If you wish to learn how to incorporate SEO keywords into the content of your website. Read this blog on the topic: Choosing The Right Keyword In Content Writing – An Integral Part Of SEO Strategy.
4. Provide value to users
Internal links help users to navigate through your website easily. Not only that, but they also help users to discover more interesting content on your website. That is why our website should have a very nice content because the content is considered as the KING in SEO. Click here to understand How Content Plays An Important Role in SEO Marketing.
STRATEGIES TO MAKE INTERNAL LINKS FOR SEO
1. Link posts and pages
Link posts and category pages to each other. Link to pages, which have the most important content. Then, from there, create internal links to pages that fall into similar categories. Linking with the articles and posts (other than the homepage) also builds a deep linking pattern. Such a pattern of linking helps to distribute page rank equally within the website.
2. Use proper anchor texts
Create a list of web pages that are similar and are connected to each other in some way. Then decide, what are those links that you would like to add to a particular webpage. Choose words, phrases or keywords that describe your link and make it as an Anchor Text. Proper use of Anchor Text can help the linked page to rank higher for chosen keywords in search engines.
3. Link similar pages
Linking to related posts helps Google to understand the internal structure of a website. It also signals to the visitor that the link will provide even more value to them. Visitors are less likely to click on a link if it is irrelevant to the content on the previous page.
4. Update old articles with internal links
Updating old content is an on-page optimization strategy that makes crawlers to re-index webpages. This might increase the overall ranking of the webpage in the search results. When you update old content, add links to new blogs or articles that you have recently posted. Remember to choose relevant posts only. Follow this link to learn about the Most Important and Effective On Page Techniques.
5. Don’t add too many links
It seems unnatural and unnecessary to add to many links to your content. A lot of links in your content may distract the visitor or they may get confused about which link to click. Also, the more links you have, the lesser page rank will be passed to each link. So make sure to link to relevant content that provides valuable information to your visitors.
Internal linking in SEO is one of the easiest on page optimization techniques. Internal links optimize a website to ranking higher in SERPs and encourage visitors to read more content and stay on the website longer. Internal links improve the credibility of your website and provide value to the visitors.
If you will follow the strategies that we have discussed in this blog, your website will become more user-friendly and easily crawl-able. By adding anchor texts and by creating a strategic link structure, your web page rankings will surely improve.
