Creating a successful website is both an art and a science. For instance, you’ll need to flex your creative muscles to create engaging content for your audience. At the same time, technical know-how is necessary to keep your site up and running smoothly. For many business owners, managing the technical side of your website can feel confusing and time consuming. While there are many technical aspects best handled by a professional, there are also plenty of simple techniques you can implement yourself.
Internal linking isn’t the most exciting aspect of creating a website. But internal linking can be implemented by anyone, even a business owner with limited website experience. Plus, internal linking can have a big impact. It’s an easy way to improve your ranking in the search results. Internal linking also strengthens your entire brand online.
Here’s everything you need to know about internal linking – and the simple strategies you can use to boost your business online.
What Is Internal Linking?
Internal linking is when you link to content within your own website. Linking within your content is pretty easy. The hard part is having the right content to link to.
Internal linking is about enhancing the experience for your readers. If they like what you have to say on one topic, they’ll likely to be at least somewhat interested in your other content. Internal linking helps establish your authority, too.
Internal Linking Done Right
You don’t need a lot of technical skill to add an internal link. You’re simply adding a hyperlink to content already online. But there are a variety of little details that can help you make the most out of each one. Here are eight simple but effective tips:
Create Plenty of Content
You need content to link to. Even just one piece of content will do, but obviously the more, the better. Keep your past content in mind when crafting future pieces, too, to create the nifty little internally linked web.
Link Content-heavy Pages
Linking content-heavy pages to one another helps develop a strong internal linking structure. Don’t worry too much about linking to main pages such as your “home” page, “about us” page and so on. Those pages will be covered with the general linking structure of your site navigation. An exception here is anything like a sales page.
Link with Anchor Text
Anchor text is simply the word or words that contain the link. You want to be as descriptive as possible.
For instance:
- Enhance your content with images, which you can easily find for free online.
- Understanding the fundamentals of SEO is the key to e-commerce success.
Both times, the subject of the linked article is clear. Notice there’s no exact match between anchor text and linked article title. That’s called “Exact Match Anchor Text.” It’s generally penalized by search engines and should be avoided.
Don’t use the phrase “click here.” Always be more specific. Also, don’t span the anchor text across multiple sentences. Keep the link to a descriptive sentence or, even better, a shorter phrase within a sentence.
Link to Multiple Older Articles in Each New Post
Google ranks sites based partially on freshness. New content that contains links to older posts helps “freshen” those older posts and brings them out of storage. Linking your old and new content in this way helps increase your site’s overall ranking in the search results.
Update Old Content with New Info
Old content doesn’t have to remain stagnant. That’s the beauty of the web. You can breathe new life into an older post by adding additional paragraphs, updated examples and other new info.
When updating your older content, don’t forget to also add new internal links. Search engines will connect an established page to a newer one.
Insert Links Naturally
You want to weave your internal links throughout the body of your content. Use the links as a way to provide additional information about a subject you’re mentioning briefly but isn’t the main focus of the current article.
Link to Popular Pages
Once you’ve created a piece of content that is popular within your audience, you want to promote that content as much as you can. Link to your highest performing pages whenever possible.
Internal Linking Is Easy for Everyone
SEO techniques can get complicated and technical but not internal linking. The tips above are basically all you need to know to help boost your ranking in the search results. So even if you’re not super comfortable with SEO, you should still take the time to add internal links in every new piece of content you publish.
Good luck with your internal linking! Please leave a comment if you have any questions or need any help.