Internal linking- Best Practice for SEO

What is Internal Link?

An internal link is basically a web hyperlink that connects two pages of a single website. By linking the pages together, users can easily navigate through the website by clicking the hyperlink on the anchor text.

How’s it Different from External Link?

While both internal and external links are similar in function, their end-objective differ. An internal link is a mechanism that is used to facilitate intra-domain communication and navigation. An external link, on the other hand, is used to optimize the inter-domain relationships of the website. It connects pages from various domains in order to improve the authority and credibility of the page that they are linked to.

Benefits of Internal Linking

It helps in developing a site architecture and offers various benefits that include:-

1. Optimizes the UsabilityInternal linking through anchor texts helps users navigate throughout the website. Ensure that your anchor texts are relevant and direct the users to content that they are likely to be interested in reading. By using user-friendly links, you can facilitate ease of navigation for the users.
2. Generate Better TrafficAs mentioned above, qualitative anchor texts can help visitors navigate through your website easily. If the content you are providing through internal links is relevant, your audience is more likely to read further articles. Evidently, this would help in increasing the site conversion rate.
3. Higher Organic RankingLinks add the necessary authority to the on-page content, providing visitors with a more holistic understanding of your web page. It also allows you to create pillar content by including multiple other pages into it, thereby channelling a lot of traffic within a single page. Additionally, that page stands a stronger chance of ranking in SERPs because it contains a significant amount of data that can rank for more number of primary and secondary keywords.
4. Decrease Bounce RateLinking a web page to related posts can significantly increase the time users spent on a website and lower the bounce rate. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who visit your site and then leave without visiting other pages. You can retain visitors to your site by providing relevant internal links and enhancing their experience.

How to Create Valuable Internal Links?

There are a lot of facets that must be considered while building internal links. Following are some of the ways through which you can generate relevant and valuable internal links to optimize the SEO of your page:-

1. Spend some time identifying the page that you want to rank the highest in the search results. Subsequently, place the links on the highest-authority pages leading to the targeted pages.
2. If your website WordPress, there are various plugins that can automatically hyperlink certain keywords to specific URLs of the site.
3. While links with keyword-laden anchor texts are helpful, avoid keyword stuffing as it may raise red flags.
4. Linking at the beginning of the page and within the body of the article holds more significance, than links at the end of a web page.

The Bottom Line

From boosting the usability to improving link juice, internal linking when done right can significantly optimize your overall SEO performance. Evidently, it is a highly valuable strategy to increase the value and visibility of your website.