Understanding Internal Linking Basics
People do throw around the phrase âcontent is kingâ rather often, but in some sense, itâs true. I Expect at least for digital marketers and website owners who want to boost their traffic.
But they often forget that content alone wonât drive significant traffic to your website. Itâs not just about what you say or how you say it, itâs also about how people find your content. Internal linking is one of the best ways to guide people across your website and maximise discoverability.
Itâs a fairly simple concept - you add hyperlinks to certain keywords or anchor text on one page so that your readers can a bit jump to another relevant page. For example, if a blogger writes an article about haircare and wants their readers to know more about hair oils, they can link to a product page where the readers can find a wide range of hair oils. There are different types of internal links and each has its own benefits.
Some are easier to implement than others, but all of them help establish an information hierarchy for your website and help you rank higher in search engines. You should be careful not to use internal linking simply for the sake of it though - Googleâs algorithms can sense when youâre trying too hard or trying to promote something a little too much. In fact, one of the easiest ways to see if your internal linking strategy is working is by checking if theyâre helping your readers learn more or find relevant information faster - whether thatâs through pillar pages, topic clusters or orphaned pages. That said, itâs important to remember that internal linking alone will not ensure website discoverability and higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Sort of.
Benefits of a Strategic Internal Linking Structure
It can be a little awkward hearing someone wax lyrical about how important links are. But - well - they are important, for one thing, and for another, to get people to find your content and get interested in it, you need to make it easy for them to do so. Itâs not just about helping users discover your content either. A clear internal linking structure helps search engines find new pages on your website and tie together pages that cover related topics.
This can be a bit of a hit or miss when you donât really have any internal linking structure. Thereâs also the question of establishing authority on a topic by creating âtopic clustersâ within your website that show the reader that you have more than a passing knowledge of whatever youâre talking about. Hereâs the thing about websites that have strong internal linking structures - they can basically create their own anchor text as part of how they link related pages together.
This helps search engines categorise each page properly because they know which parts of the page or even the website are most closely linked to the search intent of a given query. But itâs also important to remember that building this sort of linking system requires some level of understanding into how people use your website, as well as what sorts of things they want to see in order to make their experience with your site feel seamless and enjoyable. Also thereâs almost always more than one correct answer to building an internal linking system - sometimes there isnât even a right way but instead several ones that could work out, depending on factors like industry and audience segments.
Types of Internal Linking Strategies
There are so many ways to do something and everyone seems to want to have a tick, tick, tick system. The ABCâs of this and the 123âs of that. Itâs all a bit boring.
But algorithms like that kind of thing so if you want to be seen, well, you need to give a little tic-tac-toe. And with internal linking it seems there are some experts who say (they say a lot), that there are seven types of linking structures. They are, in no particular order (actually theyâre in exactly the right order), links in blog posts, links in taxonomies, content links in directories and resource pages, links on your homepage, navigational links, footer links and contextually relevant links.
See how I snuck that information in without a heading. It made it sound less important than it is but you still read it. I think what is likely probably important in all this is every part of your website should have an internal linking structure that assists the user experience.
Do not get hung up on numbers or magic formulas as long as these structural linking strategies reflect the journey you want your customer to have on your site then job done. You might have three or four strategies in play as long as they feel and look seamless then you are maximising discoverability. What is also cool about this list is you might have omitted one or two when creating your first website but once you know this exists you can see how home page navigation can benefit from internal linking structures as can blogs since so much information can be missed by customers, whereas now thanks to internal linking structures we can stand out more.
Best Practices for Effective Internal Links
Iâve got this theory that sometimes we worry a bit too much about SEO and then end up with a bunch of internal links that just donât make sense for readers. But internal linking can absolutely help people find what they need, and if you care about discoverability (who doesnât. ), itâs worth putting some thought into your linking structures.
Iâd say the first order of business is context - itâs one thing to link to every vaguely relevant page you can think of, but your links should always sit naturally in their sentences. The way I see it, anchor text, especially, is one of those slightly boring yet crucial details that you might not really think about until someone points it out.
I tend to prefer anchor text that isnât too generic - âClick hereâ doesnât tell anyone what theyâre clicking on. At the same time, neither does âour websiteâ. You want something clear but still natural in conversation: âthe best black boots in Australiaâ or âour favourite neutral palettes for autumnâ both work quite well.
A best practice I almost always recommend is link moderation. That means not using a million links all over your post just because you can. Every link should be there for a reason, whether to provide more background context or add depth to the readerâs understanding of the subject.
If you havenât written anything relevant to what youâre talking about, donât force it - no need to throw in irrelevant links simply because it might bring more eyes onto other posts. You do want people reading as many pages on your site as possible, so internal linking is fairly important for discoverability. But if your content isnât helpful or engaging enough, it wonât matter how many internal links you add.
Start with engaging content and contextual linking and the rest will follow - as long as people have something interesting enough to stick around for, they probably will.
Tools and Resources for Optimizing Internal Links
It seems like everyoneâs talking about internal linking these days. Itâs a wonder the entire internet doesnât resemble a gigantic spider web - especially when it comes to those seven internal linking structures people seem to love. Thereâs a tool for everything, but some are definitely better than others. Some basic ones to get started with are Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Screaming Frog.
Theyâre good for getting an overview and crawling data. But my personal favourite is nearly always Ahrefs. Itâs pretty great at identifying orphan pages, which can be a huge help in plugging gaps and ensuring every page is linked appropriately. If youâre looking for something that will give you a more technical picture of your site, SEMrush and Moz are worth checking out too.
Sort of. Theyâre fantastic if you want to learn about how the structures work in practice. The only thing is that these tools can get rather expensive, so they might not be right for every budget.
Sometimes the best resources are good old Google and YouTube. With all the whitepapers, webinars, free courses, and seminars available online today, thereâs an endless supply of knowledge out there waiting to be explored. And for what itâs worth, WordPress has tonnes of plugins available for people who donât want to get too hands-on with their linking journey.
Measuring the Impact of Internal Linking on SEO
Iâve noticed that looking at website analytics, rather obsessively, can feel a little like watching grass grow. It can be frustrating to get a clear idea of what is and isnât working in your SEO, especially when you consider that the majority of impressions, engagement and conversions comes from organic searches. I Suspect we canât pretend we donât care about it though - itâs imperative for our brands.
But really, between us - have you ever really thought about your internal linking structures. I mean, it seems like such a silly thing to focus on but there is no denying that they help maximise discoverability.
They donât just signal to the search engine crawlers the relationships between the pieces on our sites - they also impact how long users spend on our site. If we care about bounce rates and time spent on page (which we should), we should care about these links too. How do we know which links are working.
You sort of wonât but as a general rule of thumb, you could observe metrics like organic traffic sources, bounce rates and number of pages visited per user session. If any of those metrics increase (particularly from the right demographics or geography) you can be fairly certain youâre doing something right. Youâll need to have set up analytical dashboards for this though so it might require you spending a bit of time looking at what you can track and measure on your site. Over time, you can see if your posts are kind of ranking higher in Googleâs search engine results pages too.
If they seem to be getting âstuckâ after a certain point, maybe experiment with different link placements or with different anchor text. Doing it periodically is helpful too because websites are like living things - they change every single day.