We all know that link building is one of the key aspects of bringing the page to the top in search results and lending it enough credibility to beat other competitors. But what if we tell you that internal links – the links you can fully control – also contribute towards this boost in reputation?
Yes, if you do internal link building right, you can automatically get the half of the link reputation score that Google requires to push your page higher. This task is not that complicated, but it requires a bit of knowledge and regular work. Read our guide to internal links planning and creation and make your site more appealing to search engines and users alike.
What Are Internal Links?
Internal links are clickable links that connect pages of your site to each other internally, without reaching out to any external third-party page. Internal links make your site usable for visitors, visible and understandable for search engines, and in general make a site a functional web resource. Proper internal linking system makes a site healthy and valuable in the eyes of the algorithms, and that’s what good SEO optimization is about.
How Google uses internal links for rankings
Alongside being convenient to users, internal links play an important role in ranking of pages. Google and other search engines use links as a measure of value of the site. They also use links with properly crafted anchors as a map for semantic search that significantly improves the user’s experience.
In general terms, every searchable entity on the page will have something in common with another entity, thus forming a kind of a semantic triangle. The network of meanings that can be built through these connections is immense. And to make sense of it all and to deliver to users the information they actually need, Google and other search engines look at the specific attributes assigned to these entities in the given context. Furthermore, what is an entity with an attribute in one context can switch to being an attribute to another entity in a different context. In such a way, semantic connections enable finding and processing information in a structured and logical way. And it is these changes and switches of attributes that create specific contexts that enable Google to be accurate and useful in providing relevant search results.
It may sound complex, but examples show that it is a logical way to structure everything: beds, nightstands, sofas, clothing racks, and shelves are furniture, but they can be connected to each other in many ways.
They can be used on the page in the context of material, finishes, styles, size, which will indicate that the manufacturing details are described. These pieces of furniture can also be described as for kids, for adults, for boys, for girls, for toddlers, etc. This attribute implies the end users of the furniture.
So when Google encounters such context attributes on the page, it retrieves the information related to this specific context – manufacturing, target users, you name it. So here’s how linking works – you establish connections between entities with shared attributes, and from there you can build a whole map of the site that weaves all products together, leading a user from an item to an item smoothly.
Beds, nightstands and shelves can be connected in many ways:
- beds and nightstands as belonging to the bedroom solutions;
- nightstands and shelves are storage solutions that can also connect to wardrobes and clothing racks;
- beds, cribs and transformer sofas are sleeping places;
- transformer sophas and shelves belong to the living room or living area, and so on.
Depending on the specific attributes used across the page, Google will show the page to users who have the query matching this attribute, like furniture for boys, or beds for boys, or storage solutions for bedrooms, or large wooden shelves. The larger number of mutual attributes are connected to entities listed on the page (wooden beds, wooden shelves, wooden nightstands), the more consolidated signals from the page will come to Google, and users will get the most suitable search result that really meets their needs. Such a page gets the highest weight in PageRank and is shown to users on the top of the list. So the internal linking approach should follow the same logic – how entities are connected semantically and how you can set links from one entity to another across the whole website.
Technical side of the internal linking is also of importance. Easy navigation through links helps algorithms see all pages of your site and direct users to them. If there is a link on the landing page that leads to another page with related content, a search engine bot (for example, Googlebot) will follow this link and recommend a discovered page to users. More links branching to various pages – more chances a user will explore your site in depth (and take an action you want them to take, like buying or subscribing).
A high count of links leading to a given page indicates exceptional usefulness of the page, which leads to higher ranking. The good news is that both internal and external link building contributes towards the useful links count.
Plus, links can pass high value from one page to other pages. Namely, if one page has an authoritative backlink, linking this page internally to other segments of your website will transfer this authority to these other segments, at least partially, thus making them more prominent to Google. This advantage is called link value sharing.
Finally, when you set up a site, there are only so many pages and you know their count and include them into the category tree. As the site grows, more and more content comes in and some pages can get lost to indexing. These pages are called orphaned pages, and your effort goes down the drain. To avoid this, make a habit of adding an internal link leading from a more authoritative page to a newly minted page immediately.
The best part is that unlike external links, internal links are fully under your control, because you decide how and what to interlink on your website.
How To Do Internal Link Building Right
To score all these advantages and to make your site easy to navigate for people and algorithms alike, you need a strategy of internal link building. Here, we provide a blueprint of how to approach the process and account for all important elements. However, you can tweak and change this approach to match your specific goals and vision.
1. Come up with the general idea of your site structure
When you have the internal linking strategy laid out, it’s much easier to map the internal links running to and from pages and tie the site into a clean and convenient system. Start with a landing page, envision how it branches into categories and then subcategories, and how all content fits into slots.
When you have the scheme, draw the arrows to mark links: navigational, then contextual, and possibly breadcrumb links. Now you should see all content connect top-down smoothly. In such a way, navigation for users – and search engines- becomes easy and the site tagged as more useful.
2. Determine what content is the most important across the whole site
This content (article, overwide, manual) should become the cornerstone that users see when they get to your site. It explains your business, your mission, or the core feature of what you do. From this page (or pages), users can jump to the section they need because this page lists these content opportunities. Set a reasonable amount of internal links leading to this core page (or pages) to add weight, so Google will know this page is important.
The best part is that you can already link back from this core page to other pages with related content, sharing the link value and making other pages visible.
3. Begin with adding contextual links
When you’ve established the structure of the website and decided upon the core article(s), you can start filling the categories with posts and pieces of content. That’s when contextual links come into play. You put internal links between these individual pieces of content to create a contextual area. For example, bedroom furniture, bedroom lamps, and types of wooden beds are all tied together into the bedroom furnishing topic.
You can place links between thematically related pages as anchored into the text or offered as related posts at the bottom of the page. And don’t forget to link to the core content (sustainable and safe furniture). Algorithms will find it easier to crawl the site and find related content and users will spend more time on the site by following the related links.
4. See where hierarchical pages can be linked together
Similarly to thematically related pages, always put internal links between hierarchical pages, i.e. parent and child pages. They are similar to category pages and can be found in WordPress site structures. A parent page can have several child pages, but a child page can have only one parent page. Child pages under one parent page are called sibling pages, and they should be interlinked with each other and with a parent page.
For example, the parent page ‘Bedroom furniture’ will have child pages Beds, Vanities, Storage, Night Stands, you name it.
5. Related post section is a highly recommended addition to the site structure
This link is disguised as a recommendation and lures readers to open a new article. There are dedicated tools and plugins that create neat ‘related post’ sections at the bottom of the page or sidewise. This link is clickable and leads to a new post. Just check if the link is working and leads to a designated piece of content. If a plugin does not work on your site, create the related post links manually.
6. Don’t skip navigation links
If your site structure allows (or if you are choosing one and considering the features), use the option to add internal links from the landing page or the navigation menu at the top. These links should be reserved for the most important, core content, and from this content, the link-based authority will be passed to other pages linked to it.
7. Add links to your ‘trees of categories’ and tags
Categories, subcategories and tags on the main page can all be interlinked to core content or important posts that explain what the category is about. These categories may be placed in different areas of the site, but once a user stumbles upon them, the obvious move is to click on them. So add links for users to find more useful content with ease and for Google to navigate and promote your site more efficiently. That’s how internal link building in SEO works, after all.
8. Always provide links to the freshest content
New content needs an initial boost with search engines to start attracting users. Linking this new post to already existing posts (preferably with high link authority) will make it more visible. Users will be able to track the new post from some previous page, and Google will discover it through an embedded link and through the transferred link value.
Adding links to new posts requires finding older posts with related content. But by doing this bit of work, you’ll reduce the risk of orphaned pages and all content will be searchable and interconnected into a smooth flow.
9. Links to popular posts are also useful
Popular posts are popular for some valid reasons. So all new visitors will benefit from reading them. Build a sidebar or a footer into your site to float on all pages. This section will display titles of a few popular posts (all with clickable links) that will lead to the content with even more links. Since popular posts have links reaching to them from multiple pages, their link value is high, plus they are easy to find and read, thus boosting traffic.
Benefits Of Internal Links For Your Site
Summing up on what is internal link building in SEO we can say that internal links do quite an impressive job:
- They count towards the total amount of links on the site (which is great)
- They make navigation and content discovery much easier
- They help Google ‘see’ the internal structure and logic of your site, and this clear picture adds to the positive reputation of your site (and to its ranking as well)
- You can pass link value from page to page, thus putting forward the most important pages
- Overall, proper internal linking provides additional SEO benefits and helps your page move up in search results.
So when you set up your link building strategy, look at these positions and decide what stage of your strategy corresponds to any of these benefits. In such a way, you’ll build a much more efficient and targeted strategy, because you’ll know what links you are placing where and why.
How To Choose Anchors For Internal Links
Anchor is a clickable text that hides a link and provides information about content hidden under that link. It’s enough to click on the anchor and a new page with information will appear, and that’s how organic user engagement works. The testament rule for anchor text is as follows: use keywords wisely and provide context in your anchors.
There are different types of anchors, and the tested strategy is use them interchangeably on the page:
- Exact match (basically, just the keywords used as an anchor)
- Partial match (not all words from the initial query are included into the anchor)
- Phrase match (a wider phrase with more context includes the keyword)
- Naked URL (literally the URL of new recommended content)
- Brand names (business brand name used as an anchor)
- Generic or neutral anchor (‘read more, click here, discover it,’ etc.)
- Anchors attached to images and inserted into alt tags, image descriptions, etc.)
This strategy works for several reasons:
- If you need to link to several pages from a given one, using the same anchor for all links will confuse Google what page to offer to users first;
- If there are many links leading from one page (100 to 150 are considered OK), it’s physically impossible to stuff all anchors with keywords. Google will see it as spamming. So mixing and matching various anchor types will prevent it.
- Diversified anchors provide more context to users about what information is there under the link. The more info you provide, the higher chances they will click the link.
Additionally, to increase the impact of a link, place the most important link at the top of the page or at the beginning of the text. The links below will play a role in Google page assessment, but the top link will carry the major load. Plus, if you set several links to the same page, only the frost link will pass the joyce to that target page.
Probably, you know it pretty well, but we’ll say it anyway: the context always matters. Links placed in the text that paints a negative picture of your business or service will not bring you value, they will bring you down.
The takeaway? Use both keyword and context-based anchors and to make them all look different and organic in the text. Google appreciates this balanced approach, while obvious keyword stuffing is frowned upon.
Examples Of Good Internal Links
In an HTML editor, the internal link will look like this:
<a href=”https://examplepage.com/”>Beds for Kids</a>, where Beds for Kids is an actual anchor.
In your published content, the internal link will be a clickable part of a sentence, hopefully looking organic and focused:
‘As the trend for natural looks and materials gains momentum, wooden beds for kids become more and more popular.’
Is it a good link? If it’s your exact keyword used only once in the link anchor, then it’s OK. If you need to scatter several links on the same – or similar – topic across the text, the anchors need to be varied and descriptive:
- ‘If your space is limited, choose bunker beds for kids made of safe materials and finishes’
- ‘Parents want beds for children to be safe and convenient for parents because they will get the kid in and out of it regularly’
- ‘Wooden transformer beds for kids and toddlers are becoming more popular because they convert to additional seating places and storage facilities once they are not used as beds’
- ‘It’s better to order furniture from manufacturers who you trust and who can provide proof of the quality and safety of their products. HappybedsTM is one such company’.
- ‘Click here to learn more about what beds are best for a growing teen and are Instagram-friendly (yes, that’s important)’.
Anchors are diverse and provide specific information about what users can learn from the link – and how this information matches their intent.
Best Practices Of Internal Link Building
There’s a checklist of things to do that make your linking strategy a hit. Save it to use later and make internal links work really hard for the benefit of your site.
Audit Your Internal Links Regularly and Fix Problems
Adding links (and checking their workability) is not a one-off task. You need to audit your internal links regularly and fix the problems – broken links, orphaned pages, repeated anchors, keyword stuffing, etc. There are some cool internal link building tools out there designed specifically for this job, like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog or Semrush Site Audit. Use whichever is convenient to you for site auditing and fix problems with internal links ASAP.
Links Have To Sit Close To The Top Of The Page
That’s a really simple but efficient thing to do: place links close to the top. So once users start scrolling, even if the article is not interesting to them, they are enticed to click a link and explore what’s next. If you create a well-contextualized anchor for it, it will be a powerful combo.
And anything that makes users stay longer on your site – including more links to click – works for the authority and higher ranking of your site. Just make sure that links are relevant to the content they are put into.
Besides, mind that informally, it’s considered that the first link on the page has the most importance. So choose carefully what link should go to the top of the page, preferably in the first section of the main text, not in the introduction.
Don’t Overdo Links
Technically, there are no limits on how many links to put on the page. If you want to have 200+, it’s up to you, but this move won’t necessarily add more value to the page with links. So use discretion as to how many links to use. Quantity does not always mean quality.
But if you consider that the page is very useful and important, provide as many links to it as you need. In this case, it’s not about mechanical value transfer, it’s about showing users the most relevant content.
Use “Dofollow” Links
Although it seems obvious, we just want to remind you to always check if the link is ‘dofollow.’ Sometimes, a plugin used for link setting automatically tags useful links as ‘nofollow,’ and their value for the site evaporates. So whether you perform external or internal link building, your links should always be ‘dofollow.’
Don’t Use Automation Without Discretion
Tools are useful when they are strategically used by professionals. Plugins that operate automatically create links that work for SEO purposes only (if work at all). These plugins often cannot determine what page is the most relevant and how to tweak the anchor text to make it reflect the content of the article they lead to. So whichever tool you prefer, always use it thoughtfully and don’t let it run amok without supervision – and this rule applies to all internal linking best practices we listed.
Internal Link Building Tools
Many SEO software developers offer tools and modules for internal link building and each product has its particular features and advantages. You need to test them in action and see what tools work best for you and your site.
- Ahrefs Internal Linking Tool is a multifaceted assistant that will detect broken links and suggest opportunities for placing links into new content. Plus, it will offer a list of the most searched keywords for each page to use in anchors.
- Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider works similarly: it spots broken links and points you to content where links may be added safely.
- Google Search Console is familiar to anyone who’s ever dealt with SEO. In its report, you can see a list of pages with a total number of links on them and then work on each page conveniently.
- Semrush Backlink Analytics tool helps you track the most important and link-rich pages and pass their value to other pages. In the “Indexed Pages” section find pages with the largest count of links (internal and external) and set internal links from this page to other pages on your site – with similar relevant content, of course.
WordPress Plugins
Plugins are convenient for internal link building SEO in that they start working automatically once you start using your WordPress console. Yet they can create chaos if left unsupervised. You’ll need to control use of keywords, accuracy of anchors and number of links per page to avoid problems in the future.
- Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress and Shopify can help you with finding problematic pages with the goal of fixing broken or lacking links and with building new internal links.
- WILO is WordPress’ own plugin that provides one kind of service: it suggests new opportunities for linking once you’ve posted something.
- Link Whisper is a plugin designed by WordPress. It relies on artificial intelligence to find new opportunities for linking across the whole site. So once you start creating a new post, Whisper will immediately point you to older posts you can link the new content to.
The Final Bit of Advice
Everything is good in moderation, so decide carefully where you’ll attach more links on a page and where fewer links will be enough. Sites extensively spammed with links do not sit well with Google, so apply common sense in your link building strategy. We provided all necessary information to get you started, and with a bit of practice and fine-tuning, you’ll equip your website with a reasonable number of good internal links to float it close to the top on the SERP.
