Internal linking is an integral part of any website's SEO strategy, as it helps search engines understand how your website is structured and the hierarchy of its content. 

Here are the five things to consider when creating a great internal linking plan for your website.

Create a logical site structure.

Before linking your pages, make sure your site is logically structured. This means organizing your content into categories or sections that make sense for your business and your users.

Define your website's goals and objectives

Before you start creating your site structure, you need to define the goals and objectives of your website. This should help you determine how to structure your website and what content to include.

Conduct keyword research

Conducting keyword research can help you understand what your target audience is searching for and what topics you should cover on your website. Use keyword research tools like SEMrush, Moz or Google’s Keyword Planner to identify high-performing keywords with relevant issues to your business.

Group your content into categories

Once you have a list of topics and keywords, group your content into categories based on their subject and relevance, this will help you create a logical structure for your site that makes sense for your users and search engines.

Create an information architecture site map

An IA site map is a visual representation of your site structure that shows the hierarchy of pages and how they relate to each other. You can create a site map using a tool like Canva or Figma or drawing it out on paper.

Use clear and descriptive URLs

Make sure your URLs are clear and descriptive of the content they contain. For example, use "domain. com/services" instead of "businessname. com/business-name-our-services-1"

Only link to relevant and related content

Keeping your links to strictly related content is vital to internal link-building because it helps search engines understand the context and relevance of your content. When you link to related content on your website, you show search engines that your content is valuable.

It can help search engines crawl your website

When you link to related content, search engines can more easily crawl your site and understand the relationships between your pages. This can help them determine your website's overall structure and hierarchy, improving your rankings in search results.

Provides additional signals to search engines

By linking to related content, you are providing additional signals to search engines about the relevance and importance of your content. This can help improve your website's authority and rankings in search results.

Improves user experience

Linking to related content can also improve your website's user experience, indirectly improving your website's SEO. When users can easily find related content and navigate your website, they are more likely to stay on your site longer and engage with your content, which can improve your website's metrics, such as bounce rate and time on site.

Use descriptive anchor text

When you create internal links, make sure the anchor text (the linked text) is descriptive and relevant to the page you're linking to. This helps search engines understand the context of the link and can improve the relevance of the linked page.

Be specific

When creating anchor text, use specific words that accurately describe the page content you're linking. For example, instead of using "click here" or "read more," use descriptive text like "learn more about our services" or "our product catalogue."

Use keywords

Incorporate relevant keywords into your anchor text, but don’t stuff it with useless keywords, which can be seen as spammy. Instead, use a few keywords relevant to the content of the linked page that users are likely to search for.

Use natural language

Anchor text should read naturally and flow seamlessly within the context of the sentence. Avoid using unnatural or forced language just to include your target keyword.

Keep it concise

Use concise anchor text that doesn't span multiple sentences or lines. Keep it short and to the point, ideally 2-5 words.

Use different variations

Avoid using the exact anchor text repeatedly across multiple pages. Instead, use variations of the same keyword or phrase to create a natural and diverse linking profile.

Link from high-authority pages

When possible, link from high-authority pages on your site (such as your homepage or popular blog posts) to lower-authority pages (such as product pages). This can help boost the visibility and authority of the linked page.

Identify your high authority pages

Identify pages on your website with high authority levels, such as your homepage, popular blog posts, or landing pages with high traffic or engagement rates.

Determine relevant low-authority page links.

Determine which pages on your site would benefit most from a link from a high-authority page. Then, look for pages related to the high-authority page that would benefit from the additional visibility.

Consider reciprocal linking

Consider reciprocating the link by linking back to the high-authority page from the linked page. This can help establish a two-way relationship between the pages and boost their authority.

Use internal links sparingly

Don't go overboard with internal links - only link when it makes sense. Too many internal links can make your content look spammy and may hurt your search engine rankings.

Prioritize the most critical links

Identify and focus on the most important links on your website, such as links to your main products or services. These links should be easy for users to find and should be placed prominently on your website.

Link only to relevant content

Only link to content that is relevant and valuable to your users. Avoid connecting two irrelevant pages or overusing internal links to pages that provide little value to your users.

Limit the number of links per page

Limit the number of internal links per page to avoid overwhelming your users. Limiting the number of links to 2-3 per 500 words of content is best.

Review and update your links regularly

Regularly review and update your internal links to ensure they are relevant and valuable to your users. Remove any outdated or irrelevant links.

Internal linking is an essential strategy for improving the user experience on your website, increasing pageviews, and time on the site, improving SEO, and encouraging social sharing.

A good internal linking strategy involves linking to your most important pages, using descriptive anchor text, linking to related content, and linking from high-authority pages. Of course, using internal links sparingly and prioritizing the user experience is also important. 

By implementing these best practices, you can improve your website's performance by helping to drive traffic and boost engagement.

Filed in // Websites, Strategy, Search Engine Optimization