Most articles on internal linking open with how complicated yet important the practice is for your SEO strategy. Well, I will forego that song and dance and do the opposite. On one side of the coin, internal linking is a simple concept, and everyone should be doing it. Conversely, the theory, process, and application of internal linking are ridiculously complex. So internal linking is both simple and advanced. Everyone agrees that it is of the utmost importance regardless of how basic or complex you think it is.
The strategic application of internal linking is an SEO power technique, especially when it comes to content marketing. In this article, we’ll explore internal linking for content marketing because it’s one of the most straightforward ways to improve your SEO. Furthermore, internal linking between articles and other content is something you can do on an ongoing basis.
Internal Linking 101
Whatever your SEO specialty, it will help to review some internal linking basics.
What is Internal Linking?
Internal links connect one website page to another on the same website, so the source and target domains are the same.
What is the Purpose of Internal Linking?
Internal linking has three primary objectives:
- Improve website navigation
- Define the architecture and hierarchy of a website
- Distribute page authority and ranking power throughout the website
We will focus on the third point – how internal linking can spread authority and rank throughout multiple pages on a website.
The Theory Behind Internal Linking
Most of the “solid information” and “powerful strategies” associated with internal linking are SEO snake oil. However, there’s some value to hypothesizing about how Google ranks and values internal linking.
The general theory is this: Internal linking improves the search-optimized value of a website. Inner linking provides clear paths for crawlers, prolonged sessions for users, and a nicely organized network of pages and posts.
So, how do you do it? Here are the seven pillars!
The Sevan Pillars of Internal Linking for Elite SEO
1.) Create Lots of Content
If you want to create many internal links, you need to have a lot of internal pages. The first step to an excellent internal linking strategy is to have a wicked content marketing strategy. You can’t have one without that other.
If you create a lot of content, you’ll have lots of linkable content. This allows you to create more internal links, which, in turn, results in a better internal linking strategy.
Certain internal linking strategies require complex layers of pages, silos of content, and a balanced formula for the number of links to levels of pages. I think this is total nonsense. Internal linking doesn’t require spreadsheets and a slide rule.
An effective internal linking strategy looks more like a web than an org chart.
There are no “cycles,” “silos,” or “tiers,” and there are no structured flow diagrams. There’s just a plethora of links connecting related content.
2.) Use Anchor Text
Continuing with the theme of internal linking, your internal links should use anchor text, not linked images. Images with links are fine if they’re not the primary source of links and you’ve added effective alt tags.
The correct use of anchor text opens a fresh can of worms. Naturally, you don’t want optimized anchors. Instead, you want natural, unoptimized sentence fragments as anchor text. YOu don’t have to do anything cute or fancy here: highlight, link it, and be done!
3.) Link Deep
The deeper your links, the better.
There are two types of links that you should avoid at all costs:
Homepage
Most websites link to their homepage way too often. It’s better to focus on strengthening internal pages to boost the overall SEO of your site instead of pointing more links toward your homepage.
Contact Us
This is a common mistake among content marketing rookies. As part of the standard CTA at the end of a post, many write something like, “give us a call to learn more!” Then they link to the “contact us” page using the anchor “give us a call.” In short, don’t link to the contact us page unless it is essential.
In general, you want to avoid links to your site’s top-level pages—the pages the main navigation bar already features.
The best and most natural links are those well below the surface of a site.
4.) Develop Links that are Natural for the Reader
Internal linking demands a reader-focused approach to adding value and information. The link value distributed throughout the site is secondary to this crucial point — providing value to the reader.
One of the benefits of internal linking is that it encourages and typically improves reader engagement on your site. When a user encounters a helpful link that aligns with the context of the content, they will usually click on that link. In some cases, it can be an external link, just so long as it’s something that the reader will find meaningful. If the link takes the reader to an internal page, the site visitor will likely stay longer and engage with your site more.
When you link to your content, you’re telling the search engine that the target of your link is so on point and vital that you want your visitor to click the link and go straight there. You’re essentially saying that the content you’re linking is potentially so relevant that the visitor should stop reading and go to the linked content.
Content links are a strong signal to search engines and users that the content you’re linking to is incredible. Readers want that, so internal linking helps the reader. Furthermore, you’re also helping your SEO.
5.) Incorporate Relevant Links
As we’ve already mentioned, internal linking is less intense and scientific than most think. However, you still have to be intentional. You can’t link for the sake of linking. Instead, you want to link to content relevant to the source context.
In other words, let’s say you have a page on your site about kitty litter and another page about bird food.
Should you link the two pages?
Seeing how there isn’t a strong connection between kitty litter and bird food, the answer is no. These two pages fail to enhance one another via internal linking.
However, posting about cat toys might be a great internal link opportunity for your kitty litter article. It is likely that information about “cats” is present on both pages. Since the content overlaps, the link is relevant.
Whenever you have the opportunity, link to relevant content when you link internally.
6.) Use Follow Links
Follow links are the ideal way to develop the internal link structure of your content marketing.
An older internal linking strategy encouraged nofollow links to increase the link juice to a single page. This method of PageRank sculpting doesn’t work as an SEO strategy.
In 2005, Google developed the nofollow, known by the attribute rel=nofollow. The idea behind nofollow was that the link “shouldn’t influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine’s index.”
Despite the chaos and confusion following the nofollow link, most people agree that it’s a good idea. Nofollow links can help sites avoid issues with search engines thinking that you’re selling influence or are involved in black hat SEO.
While valuable, using nofollow links is not a method you should use as part of your internal linking strategy. The link value needs to flow freely to and from internal pages.
7.) Use a Moderate Number of Internal Links
You don’t need to go overboard with internal links. Google clearly states, “there’s no magical ideal number of links a given page should contain. However, if you think it’s too much, then it probably is.”
So, what is a reasonable number of links? In all honesty, nobody knows.
Many have tried to tackle this question, but none have found a definitive answer.
When it comes to internal linking, I typically aim for three to four. If you’re writing a longer article, then you can include more. I typically write articles over 1,500 words, and my navigation bar is relatively light. With that in mind, I’m comfortable adding ten to twenty internal links if they make sense.
Again, there’s no magic number. However, you need to keep your audience in mind. That being said, you should only incorporate links that provide value to the reader.
Do Not Create Massive Blocks of Site-Wide Footer Links
This was common on real estate and travel sites a few years back. These sites would include their top keyword-rich internal links near the footer. Some sites would include upwards of 50 of these links sometimes. The problem is that a website with thousands of pages quickly develops into tens of thousands of spammy links that the search engines will quickly penalize.
Closing Thoughts
Internal linking is a total breeze if you follow these seven tips. It’s not complicated. You’ll develop a more robust link profile and better SEO if you maintain a steady internal linking strategy. It’s even worth it to go back and update older content to ensure it has adequate internal links!
