Internal Linking: Understanding The Fundamentals

By MarketingmartialartistUncategorized
Internal Linking Structure

Internal linking is one of those SEO activities that everyone knows that they should be doing, but it often ends up low on the priority list or only remembered after the article has been published.

I am here to make the case why internal linking should be top of mind when making content and creating new pages on your website.

SUMMARY

What is Internal Linking?

Why should we care about Internal Linking?

Types of Internal Linking

Internal Linking Issues

What is Internal Linking?

Internal linking is not that difficult of a concept to understand. It’s rather straightforward. The definition of internal linking that I like to go with is the following: An internal link is a link on one of your website pages that strategically points to another page on your website.
 
Where things get more complex is when we jump into internal linking structure.
 
To understand internal links, it’s first important to understand the basics of website structure and why a website is structured in a certain way. There are three types of website structure: sequenced, hierarchical, or webs. 

Most websites that are discussed are based off hierarchy. It helps implement discipline not only into how content is laid out, but also into the internal link structure as well. Sound website structure is crucial for both SEO and UX, it’s often the case that good UX leads to good SEO. This is due to the fact that UX is tied to ease of navigation, meaning how logical and understandable the website is and a solid website structure helps pages that buried further within your website get indexed and start ranking on search engines.
 
First, you need to identify pillar content. This is the pages/content that is essential to your website. Pillar content needs to be high in your website structure and therefore will have many subtopics or cluster content branching out from it. Take an audit and think about the purpose of your website and what questions that you’re trying to answer for your users.
 
From there you can create supporting content to back up your pillar content and provide more authority on those topics.
 
 
 

Why should we care about Internal Linking?

There are 5 important reasons why we should care about internal linking. This includes:

Helps search engines understand what your website  is about and which pages are the most relevant

Search engines have an easier time finding new content and therefore can rank new pages faster

Improved user experience

Reduced bounce rate

Spread authority across the website

 
Types of Internal Links

There are two different, yet key types of internal links. The first is navigational and the second is known as contextual links.
 

Navigational Links

Navigational links are often times found on the homepage or in the footer. These links are important to get right because you’re essentially telling search engines that these are fundamental pages to the website and that they should pay attention to what is happening and where these links are being directed to. 

The main purpose of navigational links are to get the user to where they need to go, while creating a seamless experience for the user.

Contextual Links

Contextual links are found more often in content such as blog posts or infographics. 

This form of internal linking is by far the best known internal linking method… and for good reason! Contextual links give you a great opportunity to understand which pages are cornerstone content and allows you to link to relevant sub topics off of that content. 

In short, pass off the link equity from your most important pages to pages that are performing less well.

Also, be sure to place your internal links either at the beginning or end of paragraphs (We can help.)

Internal Linking Issues

 

While internal linking may seem like a magic pill, it certainly has its drawbacks.

There are 5 main internal linking issues to consider when getting the ball rolling.

Broken Internal Links

Orphaned Pages

Page Crawl Depth

Only One Internal Link On A Page

Redirects

Broken Internal Links

Broken internal links may appear as “404-Not Found” Pages. These issues need to be addressed as quickly as possible, but luckily, it’s quite easy to do. 
 
You can either bring down the 404 page, redirect it, or create new content on that page. It’s important to address 404 pages because it leads to dead ends on your website, which leads to a negative user experience and search engines will lower your SEO rankings as a result.

Orphaned Pages

Orphaned pages mean that this page is not linking to any other page on your website. As a result, the page cannot be crawled. 

I’ve seen it many times where clients have important pages, but don’t use any internal linking and they are left wondering why there are SEO issues. If the page isn’t important then consider removing it. 

Page Crawl Depth

Search engines take into consideration how many clicks it takes to find your page. If it takes more than 3 clicks to find a page, search engines deem these pages not of critical importance. 

Also, keep in mind search engine bots have finite resources so pages deeper on your site will most likely not be crawled, which means that they will not rank as well and as a result, will have less traffic pushed their way. 

Be sure to make the most important pages on the website readily accessible.

Only One Internal Link On A Page

While this may not be a major issue compared to the previous ones, it is still something to consider. It depends on your website architecture and if you’ve done more internal linking on other pages. See if there are more internal linking opportunities during audits.

Redirects

While it may not always be possible, avoid sending users to redirected pages. 

If you do use redirects, be careful to use them properly otherwise there can be a severe impact on the user experience that negatively effects SEO.

Conclusion

Internal linking is extremely important for any company that wants to increase their marketing efforts, boost their SEO, and help users find what they are looking for on their website.

Have questions about how internal linking can help your SEO and marketing strategy? Get in touch here or feel free to send me an email at grant@kimura.digital

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