Posted on June 3, 2022 / by Webmaster / in IT knowledge base

Why are Internal Links Important for SEO?

The worldwide web is a network of connected websites and webpages. External links connect pages between different websites (or domains). Whereas an internal link is any link that points one page to another from within the same website. Very often when implementing SEO, clients become so obsessed in creating contents, getting ranks and building (external) backlinks; that they might fail to tend to internal website improvements. That’s understandable. But we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of developing an optimized internal linking structure.

Unlike backlinks, internal links do not increase your website’s authority. Then why should you care? Everything we do in SEO has a purpose. There is no exception to implementing internal links in your website. Here’s are the top 5 reasons.

1. Helping search engines index your website

Internal links connect your content from within your own website. Google follows internal links to discover content and rank them in the search results. They won’t see a page if there are no links to it. Using internal links is a definitive way of allowing Google to regularly discover new pages and posts on your site.

2. Helping search engines understand your website’s structure

When we use internal links advisedly to group and organize related pages and sections together. Internal links give Google an idea of the URL/ information structure of your website.

2.1 Telling Google which articles are your Cornerstone Contents

Also called Pillar Page or Flagship Contents, Cornerstone Contents are written to be authoritative and link-worthy.

Generally you would need to write a lot of pages on the same subjects to cover different angles. Then you need to tell Google which page is the cornerstone page that you want to rank for. Linking each one of the related page back to your cornerstone article will do just that. If you don’t, these pages or posts might probably be competing with each other for rankings. If a piece of content got a lot of links, its importance is clear from your site structure.

2.2 Shifting to the Topic Clusters model

Another benefit here is that internal links can help demonstrate the contextual relationship between pages and create broader search engine authority.

SEO websites used to create individual article that targets to rank for specific keywords. The resulted problem is you have a nearly flat structure and difficult-to-navigate website. What’s worse, as explained above, your own pages might be competing with each other for rankings. The topic clusters model has rearranged the website architecture for the better.

Topic clusters are a group of content that are centered around a single topic. By weaving a wealth of authoritative articles together, Google can easily scan all the pages and posts and understand that there is a semantic relationship between them.

3. Passing Page Authority

When you link to another page on your site, you send Page Authority (PA) to that page. These internal links aren’t nearly as powerful as backlinks from other websites. It is still, however, a very important element of the ranking algorithm. So understanding how it works will help you to map out a solid internal linking strategy.

It is rather simple. If a page has built up a PA, some of its authority will be passed to the page that it links to. Identifying these high PA pages and posts can help you make the most of the authority coming into your site to improve rankings.

4. Moving potential customers deeper into your conversion funnel

Internal link building is an excellent way to deliver a premium user experience. When you learn more about visitor behavior on your website, you will then be able to use internal links strategically to guide their thought process and make sure visitors aren’t getting nowhere during their journey.

5. Increasing average dwell time on site

Internal links do not just improve the navigation on your website. They provide opportunities to keep visitors on your website longer.

As visitors view your content, they’ll have more questions. If you anticipate those questions and serve visitors what they want, they’re more likely to remain on your website than returning to Google for some other answers.

Pitfalls and mistakes to avoid

There are some pitfalls and mistakes that you need to avoid though.

Use Relevant Links

One of the main goals of building internal links is to create topic clusters. We are not merely linking for the sake of linking. We have to do it thoughtfully. Make sure you are linking to contents that are relevant to the source.

Use Keyword-Rich Anchor Text

Google needs context to understand what a page is about. Primarily context came from page titles, URLs, H1, H2, H3 tags and meta description. And so do internal links. Paying more attention to the anchor text used for internal links can help Google and users navigate and understand your site better.

Don’t Use The Same Anchor Text For Two Different Pages

Using the same anchor text for two different pages will confuse Google. For example, let’s say you have two different ‘Coffee beans’ pages on your website. One is about coffee beans grown in Brazil, and the other is about African coffee beans. You do not link both pages using ‘coffee beans’ as the anchor text. When Google sees that, it might think that both pages are on the exact same topic. Instead use more representative and descriptive anchor texts like ‘Brazilian coffee beans’ and ‘African coffee beans’ for each page respectively.

No Orphan Page

An orphaned page is one that is not linked to at all from any other page on your site, which means it can’t be accessed in a crawl and can’t be indexed.

Don’t Go Overboard

Don’t flush your content with tons of internal links. Google’s instructions are simple: ‘Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.’ But sadly, no one can provide a definitive number.

Depending on the length of your post, many people suggest to keep the number of internal links under 100. As the number continues past this point, the benefits of having more internal links diminishes progressively. For a 1,500 word post, it wouldn’t hurt to throw in ten or twenty internal links if you need to.

Use Follow Links

Using nofollow links is not something you should be using as part of your internal links building. Despite nofollow links can help sites ‘avoid problems with search engines believing they are somehow involved in schemes deemed as unacceptable SEO practices.’ The link value needs to flow freely to and from internal pages.

Use Permanent Redirects

Passing internal links through permanent redirects can reduce your crawl budget, especially for larger sites. Update internal links to send users and search engines directly to the destination page.

Could Try To Put Links High Up On Your Page

It is about placement. Sometimes putting internal links towards the top of your page, it gives people something to click on right away. It could be be used as a trick that reduces your bounce rate and improve Dwell Time further.

Wrapping Up

Internal linking is entirely in your own control. It’s not extremely difficult to implement. By consistently working on it, you will be rewarded with a stronger link profile, better SEO and having an added benefit of going back and updating your old content.