Thought of checking out the latest collections by Nike?
Remember how you ended up having a look at their latest Symphony collections, or that classy Luka series straight from their landing page?
That’s exactly how internal linking SEO works.
They connect related webpages with one another within your site domain & guide you to relevant webpages.
Hello everyone, & welcome to this new blog where we’ll be talking about internal linking, its importance in terms of SEO, its advantages, strategies to do it the right way, best practices & mistakes, and more.
What is Internal Linking: How It Works?
Internal links are hyperlinks (clickable texts/images) that connect one webpage with others on the same domain to make site structure identification & navigation easier for the search engine and users, respectively.
Internal links for SEO work as a roadmap for Google to identify the link between different webpages within your domain and how the child pages are thematically or topically connected with the parent pages.
This clear site structure helps the search engine organize your webpages that results in faster crawling, indexing, and ranking on the web.
Also, SEO internal linking, when performed correctly, helps in seamless website browsing, better engagement, & increased user retention due to a better user experience. `
Do Internal Links Help SEO?
Internal linking for SEO is crucial because it distributes “link equity” (page authority) to the other relevant & related webpages within your domain.
This way, SEO internal links signal page importance to the search engine, leading to higher online rankings, improved page visibility, & better website performance.
Internal Link Building:
✔️Establishes structural hierarchy
✔️Links up webpages based on contextual relevance
✔️Boosts page relevance
So, internal links and SEO are closely connected to each other because a website with well-organized pages not only builds trust with the search engine but also positively impacts its overall SEO health.
Types of Internal Links
Now that you know what internal links are, it’s time to learn about the most common types.
| Depending on the tag used, internal links can be categorized into two groups. Dofollow internal links are default links with no special tag that pass link equity from authority pages to others and help the search engine crawl/index your site faster, leading to improved rankings. Internal nofollow links use the rel=”nofollow” tag that prevents authority transfer and are used only when you don’t want specific webpages to get indexed, such as “login”/”signup”, etc. |
Key Types of Internal Links
Navigational
These are clickable text/images on a website that guide the users to other pages/sections (e.g., “About”, “Services”, “Blogs”, etc.)
Contextual
These are links within the webpage content that directly relate to the surrounding text.
Footer
These links are located at the bottom of a webpage that navigates the users to essential information pages. (e.g., “Privacy Policy”, “Contact Details”)
Sidebar
These are hyperlinked texts located at the left or right of the webpage. (e.g., “Dashboard”, “Reports”, etc.)
Breadcrumb
These hyperlinks appear as a horizontal trail of links that reveal users’ location on a website (e.g., Home>Category>Page)
Call-to-Action
These are clickable, action-oriented hyperlinked texts that guide users to a specific action (e.g., “Sign Up”, “Download Now”)
Anchor
These are internal links in HTML that allow users to directly land on a specific section, either on the same page or on a different one (e.g.,<a href=”#top”>Back to top</a>)
These are all about the internal links.
But do you know how they differ from “external links”?
Internal Vs. External Links
| Internal Links | External Links |
| These link to another page on your domain | These link to a different website/domain |
| Help users find related content on the same domain | Help users to check out relevant resources |
| Distribute link authority across your site | Show that your content is well-researched and supported by other trusted industry sources |
| Reduce bounce rate and increase site engagement | Improve your site’s niche authority |
| E.g., href=”/about-us” | E.g., href=”https://www.abc.com” (another site) |
As you can see, internal and external links differ from each other in terms of their purpose & function.
The Benefits of Internal Linking
Before we move ahead with how to build internal links, it’s important to learn about Benefits of Internal Linking
✅Results in better site navigation for your site visitors
✅Effectively passes on authority from the parent pages/top-performing ones to the low-performing ones/child pages
✅Establishes your site hierarchy
✅Results in faster webpage crawling/indexing
✅Boosts page views & retains your site visitors for longer
✅Drives engagement and lowers bounce rates on the site
✅Helps the search engine understand the site structure
✅Strengthens your site’s authority
So, internal links help your site’s SEO in multiple ways.
But, only if you know how to internally link your webpages.
Start with Auditing Your Site’s Internal Link Profile
Before you start to link your webpages randomly, it’s crucial that you identify the broken links and orphan pages first, and have a deeper look into the overall site structure.
A thorough link profile audit of your website can help you improve your site’s authority, user navigation experience, & will result in faster webpage crawling.
The Steps to Perform An Internal Link Audit
☑️Crawl your site with Screaming Frog/SEMRush
☑️Get a comprehensive list of all URLs
☑️Identify the “pillar” pages that need to establish authority
☑️Look for pages with too few (orphan pages)/too many links
☑️Identify the dead/ broken links
☑️Optimize the anchor texts
Make sure that the anchor texts you use for internal linking are descriptive and relevant to the target page.
Also, by removing the broken links, internally linking your orphaned page, & fixing your site’s overall structure, you can ensure a crawlable website with long-term SEO advantages.
Now coming to the most anticipated section of this entire blog…
How to Build Internal Links for SEO Like A Pro?
Honestly, effective internal linking requires a strategic approach.
But before we talk about the strategy, let’s discuss the steps first.
✔️Audit your existing site structure
✔️Organize your content into a definite structure (pillar pages+relevant cluster pages)
✔️Identify the high-authority pages
✔️Add links within the content to navigate visitors to the most relevant pages
✔️Use optimized and long-tail (preferably) anchor texts for link insertion
✔️Also link up the relevant older pillar page with justly published cluster pages
That’s it!
However, make sure that you regularly monitor your site’s existing link profile and update/redirect the internal links.
Also, refrain from adding too many links to a single webpage to avoid confusing your site visitors and remove the broken links to keep your link profile healthy.
The Right Strategy for Internal Linking
Following the right internal linking strategy will help you boost your site’s SEO score by enhancing crawler efficiency, seamlessly distributing your link equity to key pages, & improving user engagement.
The Strategic Plan Our Experts Suggest
👉Organize your (comprehensive) “pillar page” content into “clusters”
👉Create specific topic clusters & craft relevant content for each webpage
👉Optimize your keywords with relevant, action-oriented texts
👉Make sure the crucial pages are just 3 clicks away from the webpage
👉Add contextual links within high-traffic page content & link up the low-performing one with it
This way, you’ll be able to effectively link up your webpages internally & boost your site’s SEO score.
However, there are more ways to ensure the best site structure and help the search engine better understand it for faster indexing & online visibility.
Best Internal Linking Practices for SEO
☑️Link to and from content-heavy pages
☑️Add only 2-3 internal links per page
☑️Insert links only where it makes sense
☑️Add only do-follow links
☑️Craft high-quality webpage content
☑️Audit your internal links regularly
☑️Link up only relevant & important pages
☑️Add internal links within the page content
☑️Use only descriptive anchor texts
Also, make sure that your internal links are functional even on smaller screens for better user experience.
However, did you know?
Most link-building agencies/experts make some internal linking mistakes that totally ruin their efforts.
Our experts list them down one by one so that you don’t make the same mistakes again.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
These mistakes can cost you a negative user experience, a delayed search engine crawling/indexing, and diluted link equity, leading to a poor online ranking.
So, beware of these:
❎Adding too many links into a single page
❎Linking to HTTP pages
❎Keyword stuffing in anchor texts
❎Linking to non-canonical pages
❎Neglecting regular internal link audit
❎Not removing (404) or broken links
❎Using generic anchor texts
❎Linking up irrelevant/orphan webpage content
❎Using no-follow links
Now here’s the thing!
Does internal linking seem easy to you?
Well, apparently, it might seem to be easier but not when you don’t have a dedicated in-house team to manage it.
Fix Your Site’s Internal Link Profile with FastLinky
We don’t just build links…
We develop tailored internal linking strategies that establish your site as an industry authority.
At FastLinky, we’ve been working with 750+ global brands for the past 7+ years.
By building “topic clusters”, performing regular link profile audits, & optimizing your site’s structure by internally linking your most authoritative pages, we will help Google find and rank your site faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Are internal links good for SEO?
Ans: Yes, internal links are crucial for your site’s SEO score. They not only distribute authority across your site but also help the search engine understand your site structure, resulting in faster crawlability and indexing of webpages.
Q2. How many internal links per page?
Ans: There is no strict number of internal links that you must add per page. If you focus on linking relevant webpages internally that improve user experience, you’re good to go!
However, as per the experts’ recommendation, adding one link per 300 words of webpage content is a good thing.
Q3. What is internal linking with example?
Ans: Adding internal links on a website is the practice of creating hyperlinks that point to other webpages within the same domain. A good example of an internal link is the clickable button that says “Read more” below a website article.
Q4. How many internal links is too many?
Ans: Adding too many internal links on a single webpage might overwhelm the visitors, confuse them, & dilute link authority, resulting in a poor user experience.
Link-building specialists suggest to keep the total number of links on a page under 100 (including the navigation, contextual, sidebar, header, footer, CTA links) to avoid look spammy.
Q5. How to add internal links in WordPress?
Ans: Navigate to the webpage where you want to add the link, identify the best anchor text, select that phrase, right click on it, and click the “Insert link” option. Paste the webpage link/URL you want to link up and you’re done.
Q6. Where do you add anchor link?
Ans: Anchor links have two parts, anchor point (the destination) and the hyperlink (clickable link), which are added to website builders, text editors (HTML/link icon), and documents to guide visitors to a specific section of a webpage.
Q7. How to add internal links in article?
Ans: Simply identify the long-tail anchor text within your article, click on the hyperlink icon in your CMS editor, paste the URL of another webpage.
Q8. What are the two ways to classify internal links?
Ans: The two ways to classify internal links are navigational and contextual links, found in menus, sidebars, footers to guide users through the website & within the content to provide users with relevant information, respectively.
