In today’s digital landscape, internal linking is a crucial component of your website’s overall SEO strategy. By creating a well-structured and optimised internal linking structure, you can improve user experience, increase engagement, and enhance your website’s search engine rankings.Â
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the best practices for internal interlinking, providing you with the knowledge and tools you need to boost your website’s performance.
What is Internal Interlinking?
Before we dive into the best practices, let’s explore what interlinking is and how an effective strategy can benefit your website. Internal linking is the process of linking one page on your website to another page on your website. This helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website, making it easier for them to crawl and index your content. Internal linking also helps users navigate your website by providing clear pathways between related pages.
Internal linking is important for several reasons:
- Improves User Experience: Internal linking helps users navigate your website by providing clear pathways between related pages.
- Enhances Search Engine Rankings: Search engines use internal linking to understand the structure and hierarchy of your website, making it easier for them to crawl and index your content.
- Increases Engagement: Internal linking can increase engagement by providing users with related content and encouraging them to explore more of your website.
Optimising Anchor Text
When it comes to anchor text, quality is far more important than quantity. To optimise your anchor text, follow these best practices:
- Use Descriptive, Keyword-Rich Anchor Text: Anchor text should provide users and search engines with context about the linked page’s content. A great way to do this is by including the keyword of the linked page in the anchor text. Avoid generic phrases like “click here” and instead use descriptive keywords relevant to the linked page.
- Balance Anchor Text Diversity: Maintain a balance between exact-match anchor text, partial-match anchor text, and branded anchor text. Over-optimisation of anchor text can trigger search engine penalties, so aim for natural and diverse linking patterns.
- Avoid Keyword Stuffing: While internal links can help with SEO, avoid overloading your content with excessive internal links or keyword-rich anchor text. Focus on providing value to users rather than solely optimising for search engines. Quality over quantity!
Know What Content to Link
- Link from High-Authority Pages: Prioritise internal links from high-authority pages, such as your homepage, product/service pages or top-performing blog posts.
- Create Relevant Content Clusters: Group related content together by creating content clusters. Link between blog articles that cover similar topics and link back to pillar pages or product/service pages to establish topical authority.
- Optimise Product/Service Page Linking: Link product/service pages to relevant blog articles that provide additional information about the product, usage tips, or customer reviews. Conversely, include internal links from blog articles to related product/service pages.
- Utilise Site Navigation Links: Ensure all key pages are linked through the main site navigation (top menu & footers where applicable). This provides crawl pathways between sections and lets authority flow throughout the site naturally.
Regular Monitoring
- Regularly Audit and Update Links: Conduct periodic audits of your internal links to identify broken links, outdated content, or opportunities for optimisation. Update anchor text, add new internal links, and remove irrelevant or redundant ones.
- Fix Broken Links: Broken links do impact your SEO, so make sure to identify and fix them as soon as possible.
Enhance Your Internal Linking Strategy for Digital Marketing Results
In this article, we’ve explored the importance of internal linking in boosting your website’s SEO performance. By implementing these best practices, you’ll be able to create a robust internal linking structure that drives traffic and conversions to your website.
At Due North, we’re dedicated to helping you achieve your SEO goals. Our team of experts is committed to providing you with the knowledge and tools you need to succeed in today’s competitive digital landscape. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you boost your SEO performance.
