What is Internal Linking?
Internal linking is links between pages within the same website.
Here is an example of an internal link on a page
Here is what it looks like in the code
it’s a link from one Minodor page “https://www.minodor.com/how-to-create-the-best-title-for-seo/” to another Minodor page “https://www.minodor.com/what-is-a-serp/”
The Importance of Internal Linking
The importance of Internal linking:
- Pass authority from one page to another on your website. When you link from one page to another within your site, you’re essentially telling search engines that the linked page is important and relevant to the content on the linking page. By strategically placing internal links throughout your site, you can help boost the authority of specific pages and improve their chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages.
- navigate between relevant pages on your site, improving their user experience and keeping them engaged for longer periods. This can lead to increased time spent on the site and a lower bounce rate.
- Help search engine crawlers understand the structure of your website better. By following internal links, they can discover new content and index it more efficiently. They can also understand which pages are important. Google create an article for explaining how Google works and index webspages
- Improve your SEO, in this article about how Google ranks pages we learn that links are strongly correlated to rank higher in a SERP. A study by Moz.com confirm that websites with strong internal link structures tend to rank higher in search engine results than those without them. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that all critical pages on your website are linked internally.
Types of Internal Links
There are several types of internal links that you can use to enhance your website’s user experience and boost its visibility online.
1. Navigational links
Navigational links helps users navigate through your website easily. These links are usually found in the header or footer section of a webpage and provide quick access to important pages such as the homepage, contact page, or about us page.
2. Contextual links
3. Contextual links, which are embedded within the content of a webpage. These links provide additional information related to the topic being discussed and help users find more relevant content on your site.
4. Image links
Image links, where images on a webpage are linked to other pages within your site. This not only improves user experience but also helps search engines understand what each page on your site is about.
5. Call-to-action (CTA) links
Call-to-action (CTA) links that encourage users to take action such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. CTAs should be strategically placed throughout your website and linked appropriately for maximum impact.
In this example the button “start writing for free” is an call to action link
All Tips for internal links
There are several tips for internal links that you can use to improve your internal links
1. Create a clear site structure
Create a clear site structure that organizes content into categories and subcategories.
2. Use descriptive anchor text
Use descriptive anchor text when linking between pages to give users an idea of what they’ll find on the other end. Don’t use generic one like “click here” or “learn more”. This is part of the Google article about importance of link architecture.
3. Prioritize internal links
Prioritize based on their importance and relevance. Pages with high traffic or conversion rates should be linked more frequently than those with lower engagement metrics.
4. Audit your internal links
Audit your internal links to ensure they’re still relevant and functioning properly. Broken or outdated links can harm user experience and negatively impact SEO efforts.
5. Keep important pages within several clicks from the home page
This is part of the Google article about importance of link architecture.
By following these tips for internal linking, you can create a well-organized website that provides value to both users and search engines alike.
All Internal Linking Mistakes
Internal linking is an essential part of SEO, but it’s easy to make mistakes that can hurt your website’s ranking.
1. Overusing internal links
Overusing internal links on a single page, which can dilute their effectiveness and make the page look spammy.
2. Broken internal links
Broken internal links are links that point to pages that no longer exist or have been moved to a different URL. This can be frustrating for users who are trying to navigate your website and can also negatively impact your SEO efforts. When search engines crawl your website and find broken internal links, it can hurt your website’s overall ranking. Therefore, it’s important to regularly check your website for broken internal links and fix them as soon as possible. This will not only improve the user experience but also help boost your website’s SEO performance.
3. Internal redirects
Internal redirects happen when a link on your website points to a URL that redirects to another URL on the same site. This can create confusion for both users and search engines, as it can lead to broken links and a poor user experience. It’s important to ensure that all internal links point directly to the intended page, rather than through a redirect.
4. Linking to low-quality or irrelevant pages,
Linking to low-quality or irrelevant pages as this can harm your site’s credibility with search engines and users alike.
5. Orphaned pages
Orphaned pages are those that are not linked to any other page on the website. This can happen when a page is created but not added to the navigation menu or when a link to the page is removed accidentally. Orphaned pages can negatively impact your website’s SEO as search engines may not be able to find and crawl them. It’s important to regularly check for orphaned pages and ensure they are properly linked within your website’s structure.
6. Page with only one internal link
. This means that the page is not well-connected to the rest of your website, which can make it difficult for search engines to crawl and index it. Additionally, users may have a hard time navigating to other relevant pages on your site. To avoid this mistake, make sure to include multiple internal links on each page, pointing to other relevant content on your website. This will help search engines and users alike to better understand the structure and content of your site.
7. Linking on an HTTPS to an HTTP page
Linking on an HTTPS to an HTTP page can cause a security warning to appear in the user’s browser, which can be a major turnoff for visitors. It’s important to ensure that all internal links on your website are consistent and use the same protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) to avoid any confusion or security issues. It’s also higly recommended to choose the secure HTTP protocol HTTPS.
8. Nofollow Attributes in Internal Links
Nofollow attributes are useful for external links to prevent link juice from flowing to low-quality or spammy websites, they should not be used for internal links. They can prevent search engines from crawling and indexing important pages on your website, which can negatively impact your SEO efforts. It’s important to ensure that all internal links on your website are followed by search engines to maximize the visibility and authority of your content.
9. Creating a redirect loop
This happens when two or more pages on your website link to each other in a circular pattern, causing the user to be stuck in an endless loop of redirects. Not only can this be frustrating for the user, but it can also negatively impact your website’s SEO. Search engines may view this as a sign of poor website architecture and penalize your site accordingly. To avoid this mistake, make sure to carefully plan out your internal linking strategy and double-check all links to ensure they are not creating a redirect loop.
Tools for Internal Linking Optimization
Internal linking is an essential aspect of SEO, and optimizing it can significantly improve your website’s ranking. However, manually managing internal links can be a daunting task, especially for large websites. Fortunately, there are several tools available that can help you optimize your internal linking structure.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: This tool crawls through your website and identifies all the pages on it. It also provides information about each page’s URL structure and the number of internal links pointing to it. You can use this data to identify pages with low link equity and add more internal links to them.
- Ahrefs Site Explorer: This tool provides detailed information about your website’s backlink profile as well as its internal linking structure. You can use this data to identify pages with high link equity that you should prioritize when adding new content or updating existing ones.
- Google Search Console provides insights into how Google crawls and indexes your site, including which pages have the most inbound links from other sites.
- Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress offers a simple way to manage internal links within WordPress sites automatically by suggesting relevant posts while creating new content based on keywords used in previous articles or posts published on the same topic/category/tag etc., making sure that every post has at least one relevant link pointing towards another post/page within the same domain/site architecture.
- Internal link juicer plugin for WordPress : It’s a simple tool for adding internal linking to your pages. In each pages you can add an “internal link keyword” when this keyword is used in another pages it creates an internal link to the original pages
In conclusion, using these tools will help you optimize your site’s internal linking structure efficiently without spending too much time manually managing them yourself!
Measuring the Success of Internal Linking
Measuring the success of internal linking is crucial for any website looking to improve its SEO. One way to measure success is by analyzing metrics
- click-through rate (CTR) of internal links. A higher CTR indicates that users are finding the linked content relevant and engaging, which can lead to increased time spent on site and ultimately, better search engine rankings.
- bounce rate. If users are clicking on internal links but quickly leaving the site afterwards, it may indicate that the linked content isn’t meeting their expectations or needs.
- Number of internal links per pages. Pages with a high number of internal links may be seen as more important by search engines and therefore receive higher rankings.
Overall, measuring the success of internal linking involves analyzing user behavior and engagement metrics in order to optimize your website’s structure for both users and search engines.
