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You might have observed that most of the times, though you have a mind-blowing article, you find it difficult to rank on the first page of Google search results. The quality and quantity of your content might be extraordinary, yet Google hesitates to rank you on top. One sure shot solution for your confusion- Linking. Internal Links and SEO go hand in hand.
This blog covers various factors of Internal Links. Here’s a sneak peek of the complete blog-
- What is Internal Linking?
- Why is Internal Linking Important
- 7 Important Tips and Tricks to enhance your SEO by internal linking
What is Internal Linking?
The definition is as simple as it sounds. When you link from a webpage to another resource on the same domain, it is called internal linking. The link can be to another page, media files, downloads and more.
Internal Linking might sound too simple and insignificant, but the fact is, it’s just the opposite. It’s pretty much complex than it seems to be, and far-reaching for your website to rank on Google. Don’t believe me? According to a survey conducted by Ascend2 during October 2017 on Search Engine Optimisation Tactics, Link Building is the third most effective SEO tactic use to achieve the important objective.
The survey also reports that Link Building is the most difficult tactic to implement by the marketing influencers.
Why is Internal Linking Important?
To begin with, Internal Linking not just links various resources within the same domain, but also it provides a structure to your website. When Google crawls through your website following the links which are connected to content, it clearly understands the structure and value of the content, and eventually, the chances of page ranking for your website is increased.
Here are top 4 benefits of Internal Links to enhance your SEO-
1. The value of your Website increases
When you are linking contents, it means you are giving more to read for your readers. More content, more information for your readers, low bounce rate and higher session duration.
2. Your website gets indexed
If your website has strong linking, and if everytime you add a new content with proper linking, it becomes easier for Google Crawler to understand the context of your content and indexation process becomes faster. When Google crawls through your website, each page should have enough linking so that it comes around often enough to get your site saved in the index.
3. Good Ranking for your Website
When the links are embedded in a meaningful context, it will help your website in better ranking.
4. Helps with Website Navigation
Readers are always curious to know more but are usually not willing to search for it. With internal links, your readers explore your website and tend to stay longer on it.
6 Important Tips and Tricks to enhance your SEO by internal linking-
1. Understand the Internal Link Structure
Every good website has a good structure. You don’t want your users to be lost when they are on your website. They need to navigate around your site, visit from one page to another, the more they stay, the better.
Not just your users, even Google uses your website structure to determine the value of your content.
Remember, your website has a structure. Usually, your homepage content, also known as the cornerstone content has the most link value. You can also add categories to your website. But ensure that these categories are linked to the main page. When you upload new contents or posts, link them to the homepage as well, and not just on the category page they belong to.
When you have too many categories, let all of them be of similar size.
When there are more links to a page, it becomes easier for Google to understand the value of content and you have a higher chance of page ranking.
There is a reason why I chose to put Internal Link Structure on the top because it has a direct impact on your site and it’s ranking.
2. Use Internal Link Checker
Link Checker is a tool that is used for checking broken hyperlinks in a website. With internal link checker, you can easily identify broken links. There are various Link checkers available, some are free while some are commercial, some are offline while some are online.
Internal Link Checkers is very beneficial for it ensures that the SEO of your website is not affected. You can save your time, also the efficiency of your website remains unaltered.
3. Have a Good SEO Internal Linking Strategy
An SEO strategy is not a one time process, but an ongoing one. Evaluate your SEO Internal Linking Strategy quite often and keep updating your website based on your evaluation.
Remember, a good SEO Internal Linking Strategy helps Google to remember you. The more you work on it and update it, you are moving towards the higher ranking in Google.
4. Use a lot of content, a little more and still more
A good internal linking structure comes from a right internal linking strategy. A right internal linking strategy means a lot of internal links in a page. In order to give a lot of internal links, you need a lot of content. The quality and quantity of your content play an important role in SEO.
Try to give as much information as possible within your website, so that your reader does not have to go to an external source to know more. The longer the reader stays on your website, the better for you.
5. Use Anchor Text
This may not be an utmost important internal linking strategy for your SEO, yet it does make a difference. An anchor text is the linked text on which you click on to go the linked resource. The anchor text needs to be natural and a part of the context.
You don’t have to optimize it and try using keywords there. We don’t want to annoy Google, do we?
6. Use an adequate number of links
Another important question to consider is, how many links is too many links? The adequate number varies from page to page. You don’t want your whole page filled with links. The total number of internal links on a webpage depends on the number of words on a particular page, and also the number of topics discussed on it.
Conclusion
Finally, yet not conclusively use only those links which are relevant to the context. Your website might discuss hundreds and thousands of different topics, but that doesn’t mean you can link two unrelated topics.
For example, as a content marketer, I write numerous blogs. One of my blogs speaks about the advertising strategy of various brands and the other speaks of types of Email Marketing. Both are unrelated, and it doesn’t make much sense to link them, does it?
Internal linking is one of the most integral parts of SEO tactics which should not be ignored. It not just enhances the SEO and helps in ranking, but also provides a structure to your website. A good SEO Internal Linking strategy means a good website which is taking a walk towards a rank in Google.
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