Internal Linking: Yes! It’s Very Important

Internal Links Are Very Important for Search Engine Spiders and Your Visitors

Internal links – hyperlinks that direct your visitor to another page within your website – are a component of search engine optimization. Are lots of them on every page a “good thing”? Do they produce more or less weight ranking wise, as compared to external links coming in from other sites? What words should be included in the internal links?

These are just a few of the internal linking questions I’m asked quite often by my internet marketing clients. So, let me give you some very important SEO information to keep in mind when you’re writing and constructing your web pages.

Internal Links Are an Often Overlooked Aspect of Search Engine Optimization

They should be integrated into the content WHEN and WHERE it is appropriate and if it makes sense within the content. Don’t just add links pointing to other pages within your website thinking the search engine spiders are going to report back to headquarters, stating you should rank higher now because you’ve peppered hyperlinks all over the place!

No! That is not how it works. What those hungry little spiders AND your information hungry visitors are looking for are well written, content-rich pages. If an internal link (or links) is needed and is relevant, then those internal links are an asset to your site.

So again, yes you should definitely maximize the internal linking on all your pages, but ONLY if it is appropriate to do so. If it helps the search engines to index your site, and also helps people easily navigate their way around … then you’re good to go!

Strong Internal Linking With Targeted Keyword Anchor Text Will Help an Interior Page Rank Better for the Chosen Target Phrase(s)

A page with no other pages linking to it doesn’t carry much ranking weight. This is plain and simple SEO fact. Another issue concerning indexing and ranking issues pertaining to internal links is this: it really depends on the search engine. They are all very secretive about exactly how much internal link text assists in their ranking algorithms.

In general, it seems to be safe to assume that an internal link will be closely associated with the page it links to in one or more ways, unless the search engine decides not to trust the link. It’s also safe to assume that every time you compose a new web page, you ought to do your best to place at least one internal link pointing to another one of your web pages.

Don’t Waste the Ranking Power of Your Internal Links! Use Your Targeted Keywords for the Anchor Text … NOT The Words “Click Here”

When it comes to these important hyperlinks, probably the biggest mistake I continually come across when doing my research to compile an SEO Website Analysis Report for a client, is that they use the words “click here” in the anchor text for the links.

What a waste of valuable ranking-real-estate! Use the targeted keyword(s) that pertain to the content in the page that the internal hyperlink points to! Just look back up to the hyperlink I’ve provided for my SEO Analysis Report … I didn’t use “click here” in that hyperlink did I? No … I used the keywords specific to that web page of content. I made sure to include the keyword “SEO” along with “Website Analysis Report” in the anchor text which certainly let’s you know what information I am pointing you to.

Effective search engine optimization has many facets, and a solid internal linking structure is one important component. Remember: link naturally – which means to link to a page when you refer to it in the web page content and because you wish to direct your visitor in that direction.