Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
Hello Friends! We always strive to keep you updated with relevant content that suits your requirements. Today, I'll discuss Internal linking Best Practices to Improve SEO. This is the seventh article of complete SEO series. You can check my previous article on Alt Tag which is necessary for making images optimized for SEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays a vital role to rank your content on the top of search results, ultimately helps in bringing more traffic to your blog. This acts like a boat that is essential to help you flow in the competitive world where thousands of article are posted on the daily basis. SEO, as the word suggests, is the list of tips and techniques required to optimize your content for search engines, so you come with a higher chance to unlock your skills to relevant visitors. It is true, content is the king but writing a content for yourself only, all the while ignoring SEO is enough to ruin all of your hard work. There are many factors required to develop an outstanding SEO strategy, where Internal Linking is one of them. Internal linking is defined as a link on the page that points to another page in the same domain. It is used to provide as much relevant data as possible pertaining to the post visitors are reading. This helps visitors see other pages containing similar data that resonates with their interest. In today's tutorial, I'll discuss each and everything related to Internal Linking and what are the best practices, things to avoid and benefits of internal linking. Let's dive in.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate

Internal Linking: Best Practices to Improve SEO

Internal links are different than inbound and external links. Before we move on, let's define each of them and how they are different from each other. Internal Link. It is a link on the page that connects to another page of the same domain. Inbound Link. also known as a backlink is a link from another website that links back to your domain. External Link. It is a link you post in the article that points to other domain. What external link is for your domain is a backlink for other domain. Every link comes with its own benefits and used in the domain for different reasons. We need to pay equal attention to every type of link, so your content is equally distributed over the web. If you are creating content from the ground up, then you need to work your butt off for having proper SEO strategy in place and way up the ladder. You can check complete guide of SEO tutorials where you can find a complete list post related to On Page and Off Page SEO.
Placement of Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text that comes with a clickable option and houses a link in it. The anchor text used linking to other posts must flow with the sentence supporting the anchor text. It is not compulsory to add the exact title of the post in the anchor text. Add text that conveys the clear idea about a post you are linking to.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
Avoid adding text that contains more than one sentence for anchor text. This will make your text awkward and difficult to digest. And the link you share must be relevant to the post. Adding a link that is entirely different from the main topic will bring no value. Anchor text that comes with keyword pertaining to the article you are linking to, brings more value as compared to putting random text in the post.
Written Content In Place
Before you intend to link your page to other web pages on the blog, make sure you have enough written content on your website. Even one article is enough at the start, however, keep your website updating with fresh content in order to make interlinking work effectively.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
Long articles can house a number of links as compared to shorter ones. When you write a long article, you have a better chance to put and spread links naturally across the whole article.
Link to Older Post
Old content gets ignored most of the time if it doesn't get a pathway to appear frequently in front of the visitors.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
  • You must do internal linking with older post quite often so they get a better chance to appear in the SERP.
  • Keep modifying your older posts every now and then, and give them a new look. Add some paragraphs where due and make them adaptable to the recent development on the main topic.
  • When you create a fresh content, link it back to the older post. Create a strategy where both older and new posts are interlinked with each other and bring more value to the visitors.
  • Linking to older post will help increase the page ranking of the older post and establish the link between a well established older post with new one.
Link to Authority Pages
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
Not all blog posts are created equal. Some are better than others. You can analyze your pages that are getting a decent amount of traffic. Linking to more authority pages will help you rank the pages that come with low value. If you are running a business you prefer linking to your money making page. This is a good practice to boost your earning but avoid adding money making page to every other blog post; this will make your content artificial and convey the idea you prefer financial gains more than the visitors' interest.
Distribution of Links
The links you consider most important must be placed at the start or in the middle of the post when a visitor is reading your post with interest. The visitors are not likely to click the links at the end of the post because once they succeed for getting the value for which they come over to the post, they are less interested in links at the end of the article.

Benefits of InterLinking

There are many benefits for generating a proper interlinking across your domain. Let's discuss them one by one.
Ease the Google Crawling
Internal linking a best tool to develop the relationship between other pages of the same domain. It helps google crawl to older posts that are deeply rooted and mostly overlooked by the search bots.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
When bots crawl to other pages of the same domain, they give value and help them appear on the top of search results.
Reduce Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is defined as when visitors come over to a certain webpage and close it after spending some time. If your webpage is interlinked to other pages pertaining to the same data on the blog post, it will help reduce the bounce rate and increase the retention of the visitors.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
When someone comes over to a certain webpage, they are going to click the other interlinked pages that contain relevant information or have even a remote connection with the information visitors are looking for. Of course, you want visitors stay on your site for a maximum period of time without getting bored or deviating from the main subject.
Authority Redistribution
Google gives value to those pages that are frequently visited by the visitors. Interlinking doesn't increase the authority of overall website but it does help in the redistribution of the authority of certain webpage. When some page comes with high ranking and is interlinked to other pages of the same domain, it will transfer the link juice to that page and help it rank faster in the search engine results. No need to worry about the link juice transfer, as it will transfer to other pages of the same domain.

Points of Consideration

You must be vigilant while doing the internal linking to give it a natural look. Following points, you must avoid before internal linking to your post.
Avoid Adding No-Follow Link
Links are divided into two types i.e. no-follow and do-follow. The do-follow link is better than a no-follow link and brings more value to the page. Avoid adding a no-follow link as it won't help in page ranking and doesn't pass any link juice from the source page. No-follow links are mostly used for comment posting and forum posting but not preferred for interlinking.
Avoid Stuffing the Post with a number of Internal Links
Stuffing the article with a number of links is not a good practice. You can add 3 to 5 internal links to other posts and they must be put with some gap among them. Adding all links in the same sentence or same paragraph can affect the reading process for a visitor. And the total number of links including do-follow or no-follow links must not exceed from 150, otherwise, your post will be enough to scare the hell out of the visitors.
Don't Repeat Same Link
Once you put a link in the article, avoid repeating it again in the same post. If you do, it indicates you are more interested to boost the same page instead of fulfilling the demands of the visitors. Keep that in mind, once you plan to write a content, you need to satisfy both i.e. search engines as well as the visitors. Interlinking is for the visitors to provide them better user experience so they feel no difficulty finding the relevant content on your domain.
Avoid Anchor Text "Click Here"
When you write an anchor text for the link to be placed, make sure, it indicates and highlights the main subject of the linking post. Writing "Click Here" is not enough for conveying the clear idea about the post. This brings no value and visitors won't be sure if they are going to click the linking page.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate
Avoid Adding Home Page Quite Often
You can put the homepage link on multiple blog posts, but, don't add it in every post you produce. Whenever you create a new post, focus more on addressing the main problems of the visitors instead of doing marketing for your product every time. The majority of internal links must connect to the deep-rooted web pages that are hidden from the eyes of potential visitors.
Internal linking best practices to improve seo, internal linking for seo, internal linking advantages, internal linking for page ranking, internal linking to reduce bounce rate

Final Thought

  • Interlinking is very useful to help visitors spend more time on your blog. If it is done a right way, it brings more value to your blog and helps in ranking the pages that remain ignored for plenty of time.
  • Connect old posts with the new ones and build a chain between them so they help each other for appearing on the top of search results.
  • If you are running a business then it is a good practice linking to your money making page, make sure, you won't be mentioning your homepage or landing page link in every post you create.
  • Anchor text plays a vital role in internal linking. The text must be clear and resonate with the linking article.
  • Don't repeat the same link more than once in the same post. And all links must be spread over the post quite naturally. Don't try to fit the link anyway just for the sake of interlinking.
That's all for today. I hope you have got a clear idea about internal linking and how it can be used in an effective way. Our next article will be related to Backlinks which falls under Off Page SEO. If you are unsure or feeling skeptical, you can approach me in the comment section below. I'd love to help you in any way I can. You are most welcome to keep us updated with your valuable suggestions, they help us provide you quality work that aligns with your field of interest. Thanks for reading the article.