Internal Linking for SEO: Here's How to Improve Your Site

There’s no question that external link building is an essential component of any SEO strategy. Inbound links from relevant, authoritative sites can significantly boost SEO when done as part of an overall strategy. But it’s not only inbound links that can help in your SEO efforts. Internal linking within your site can also help support your marketing goals in several ways.

What is internal linking?

Internal links connect pages on the same domain and are useful for creating navigation pathways for both users and search engines to move through your content logically. Since they help highlight important pieces of content on your site, they can also help search engines with ranking content for search results.

Benefits of internal linking

Internal links can help support your site’s user experience and search engine optimization in various ways.

Indexing

Search engines use web crawlers to find content and index pages on your website. These crawlers rely on internal links to move from page to page on a site. But if there are no links available, that page may not get indexed, which essentially makes it invisible to the search engine. Ensuring your site is properly indexed is a vital piece of SEO and internal links are the most effective way to accomplish that.

User experience

User experience refers to how users interact with your site. By inserting relevant internal links, you can contribute to a good user experience in several ways.

1. Decreases bounce rate

Search engines track user behavior in many ways. One such way is through the bounce rate of a website, which refers to the number of users who visit and then immediately leave, rather than visiting other pages on the same site. A high bounce can be a signal to the search engines that your site’s information isn’t useful to visitors, and it can also mean that users aren’t immediately finding what they’re looking for, so they give up and go on to the next site. When you provide internal links to other related pages on your site, there’s a better chance that users will find something useful and extend their time on your.

2. Improves page views

Pageviews is another metric search engines use to determine how useful a site is to visitors. The more pages a user views during a single session, the more relevant the search engine considers it to be for the user’s query. Internal links help increase pageviews by offering users related information, prompting them to remain on your site and move through multiple pages of information.

3. Improves navigation

When used properly, internal links make navigating a site much easier. Users can utilize links within anchor text or a section for related content to transition smoothly from one related page to another rather than searching or moving back through the main navigation. Having a site with quality content that’s well organized and easy to navigate will increase the amount of time users spend on your site and reduce your bounce rate.

4. Improves conversion

You can guide users through your sales or conversion funnel using internal links. Most users won’t go searching for a way to sign up for your email list or purchase something from you. However, well-placed internal links, along with good content, can guide users towards targeted conversions, which is an easy way to increase your signups and sales.

5. SEO

Using quality internal links to improve the user experience can also improve your site’s SEO. In addition to improving metrics like pageviews and bounce rate, a good internal linking strategy can help search engines highlight the most important content on your site and improve your SERP rankings. It can also help new content gain traction by using some of the power behind established and highly trafficked pages to get newer pages in front of users.

Best practices for internal linking

Internal links are important to your SEO strategy, as well as your site’s user experience. But what’s the most effective way to incorporate them into your site’s content? Here are some best practices to adopt.

1. Anchor text

Anchor text is the highlighted words used to create a hyperlink to another page. It can help search engines navigate your site and can benefit SEO when used properly. It’s also helpful when highlighting suggested content for users on the site. You should use keywords in anchor text relevant to the page being linked, but in a way that’s useful to users. Spammy or repetitive anchor text has the potential to hurt your SEO, so it’s important to be strategic in your anchor text usage throughout your site. Try to use different text variations on different pages of your site to break up repetition and highlight various targeted keyword combinations.

2. Important pages

A good internal linking strategy should use high authority pages to increase the visibility of new or important content on your site. One mistake to avoid is linking to pages from the main navigation within your content. Pages like about, home, contact, and so on will already have a lot of authority and visitors simply by virtue of being in the top-level navigation. You can (and should) link from these pages, but avoid linking to these pages. You want to focus your internal linking strategy on pages that’ll engage users, increase their time spent on your site, and ultimately convert them to customers.

3. Review

Nothing is ever final with SEO and internal link building is no exception. Like any other search optimization plan, internal links must be reviewed and updated regularly. Broken links aren’t only frustrating to users but can hamper site crawlers that are indexing your site. Regular site audits are a great way to review your internal linking strategy and make adjustments. There are a lot of services, like Google’s Search Console, that map your site’s links and provide data about internal and external links. A site audit is also a great time to review and update old posts with relevant links to new and important content. Updating these links can help to keep great content evergreen and ensuring quality posts don’t get lost in the shuffle of new content.

4. Placement

So, you’re convinced of the importance of internal links, but where should you put them? Internal links within the content will give you the most juice for SEO and page authority, so think about what other site content you can link to when creating new content. You can also try adding sections with links at the bottom of pages for “Also Read” or “Recent Posts,” etc. The most useful links will be near the top of the page, where they’ll have the most visibility. Remember not to link to something just for the sake of having a link. Keep it relevant and useful to your users, above all else.

5. Nofollow vs. dofollow links

A nofollow link is tagged with a command that stops search engines from crawling a site. By default, most links are dofollow, which allow the search engines to follow the link while mapping a site. Since a large part of an internal linking strategy helps with SEO, it’s important to use dofollow links. While this should happen automatically, some plugins default to nofollow links, which can harm your SEO efforts. Dofollow and nofollow tags have no effect on the user experience, so you’ll have to check the site code to ensure your site’s tags are correct.

6. Natural links

It can be tempting to go a little overboard in adding new links. After all, you know that your users will find the information useful. However, you do need to show some restraint when building internal links. There’s a fine line between useful and overwhelming, and you don’t want to overwhelm users with links. Before you add any internal links, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Is the link relevant?
2. Is the link natural?
3. Are there too many links on this page already?

These questions will help you refine your internal linking strategy immensely. Using relevant links will help your users find what they’re actually looking for and will help build your site’s authority on specific topics. Using natural links will ensure your site doesn’t appear spammy. And limiting the number of links to only those relevant and useful to your audience will help you guide your users to targeted information, rather than overwhelming them with too many choices. You’ll still have the opportunity to generate many internal links on your site, but carefully managing the number you use will boost your authority with both your users and the search engines.

7. Tracking

Tracking user behavior will be an important part of understanding how users interact with internal links and what effect those links are having on your site’s conversions. Although you probably don’t need to track every single internal link, tracking those when trying a new strategy or tactic can quickly tell you how effective it is and if it’s helping you with your goals. Be sure to set baselines of data before you start making changes. If your setup allows it, you can also try A/B testing to see direct comparisons between how users interact with different link options on your site. Testing and tracking are the best ways to understand how your strategy works and to make adjustments as necessary.

Conclusion

Having a quality internal linking strategy has become an essential part of SEO. Still, it’s also a beneficial way to help your site’s users find and interact with relevant and important content. And finding the right balance for internal links is critical to success in search engines and client conversions. Luckily, it’s an easy strategy to implement and one you can get started with right away.