Internal Links

Please read the following websites to learn about internal links.

What is Internal Linking?

An internal link connects one page of your website to another page of your website.

What is the Purpose of Internal Linking?

Internal linking has three main purposes:

Aids in website navigation.
Defines the architecture and hierarchy of a website.
Distributes page authority and ranking power throughout the site.

Internal linking strengthens the overall search-optimized value of a website by providing clear paths for spiders, prolonged sessions for users, and a tight-knit network of pages and posts.

SEO Best Practices

Internal links are the most useful for establishing site architecture and spreading link equity (URLs are also essential). For this reason, this section is about building an SEO-friendly site architecture with internal links.

On an individual page, search engines need to see content to list pages in their massive keyword–based indices and need to have access to a crawlable link structure (a structure that lets spiders browse the pathways of a website) to find website pages.

To get a peek into what your site's link structure looks like, try running your site through Link Explorer.

Hundreds of thousands of sites make the critical mistake of hiding or burying their main link navigation in ways that search engines cannot access. This mistake hinders their ability to get pages listed in the search engines' indices.

The Best Structure

The optimal structure for a website would look similar to a pyramid (where the big dot on the top is homepage):

This structure has the minimum amount of links possible between the homepage and any given page. This is helpful because it allows link equity (ranking power) to flow throughout the entire site, thus increasing the ranking potential for each page. This structure is common on many high-performing websites (e.g., Amazon.com) in the form of category and subcategory systems.

The Silo Method

A common SEO technique was to organize content into silos in an attempt to improve keyword presence for a particular keyword category.

The 7 Commandments of Internal Linking for Top-Notch SEO

Create Lots of Content

To create lots of internal links requires you to have lots of internal pages. The first step to a killer internal linking strategy is to have a killer content marketing strategy. You can’t have one without the other.

When you create lots of content, you’ll have lots of linkable content. The more links to the more places, the better your internal linking strategy.

Use Anchor Text

Your internal links should use anchor text as opposed to linked images. Image links are fine, provided that images are not the main source of links and images are properly alt-tagged. A good reminder is to write your alt tags as if you had to describe them to someone who is blind.

Link Deep

The deeper your links go, the better.

There are 2 types of links you should avoid using in your content:

Homepage. Most sites have too many links to their homepage. It’s a better strategy to strengthen internal pages to boost the overall SEO of your site than to point more links to your homepage.

Contact Us. This is a common mistake for people starting out in content marketing. As part of their obligatory call to action at the end of a post, they may write something like, “Give us a call to find out more about our awesome services!” Then, they link to the “contact us” page using the anchor “give us a call.” Do not link to the contact us page unless absolutely necessary.

Easy to Read Links

Internal linking requires a user-focused approach to adding value and information. The link value that gets distributed throughout the site is secondary to this key point — providing value to the reader.

One of the benefits of internal linking is that it improves user engagement on your site. When a user sees an informative link that truly matches the context of the content, they are likely to click on the link.

When you link your content, you’re telling the search engine that the target of your link is relevant and important. You want your visitor to click and go directly to the link’s content.

Use Relevant Links

Do not link for the sake of linking. Instead, link to content that is relevant to the source context.

For example, I have a page on my website about dog food and another page about the nesting habits of parakeets.

Should I link the two pages?

There is not a strong connection between dog food and parakeet nests, especially on a superficial level. These two pages likely won’t provide mutual enhancement from internal crosslinking.

But, if I have a page on parakeet food, then it would be a great internal link for my parakeet nest article. Information about parakeets is likely going to be on both pages, making the link relevant. Thus, it’s important to link to relevant content in your internal linking.

Use Follow Links

Follow links are the best way to build an internal link architecture of your content marketing.

Back in 2005, the search engines came up with the term nofollow, known by the attribute rel=nofollow. The idea behind nofollow was that the link should not influence the link targets ranking in the search engine’s index. As Wikipedia stated, such links would “reduce the effectiveness of certain types of internet advertising because their search algorithm depends heavily on the number of links to a website.”

Despite the uproar and confusion in the wake of the nofollow link, most people now agree that it’s a good idea. As Danny Sullivan explained, nofollow links can help sites “avoid problems with search engines believing they are selling influence or are somehow involved in schemes deemed as unacceptable SEO practices.”

In spite of its value, however, using nofollow links is not a strategy you should be using as part of your internal content links. The link value needs to flow freely to and from internal pages, rather than get stopped up by a nofollow. Keep things free and fluid.

Use a Reasonable Number of Internal Links

You don’t require tons of links in your internal content. Google’s instructions are simple: “Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.”

But, what the heck is a reasonable number?

When it comes to internal linking, approximately three to four as a maximum (don’t aim for this if there’s not enough related pages), depending on the length of your post.

For example, if you write articles that exceed 1,500 words without a link-heavy navigation bar, it is safe to throw in 10 or 20 internal links.

However, there is no magic number. So, add as many links as would be helpful for the user.