Optimizing your site for Google can seem complex, but with a few internal linking tips you can quickly see a difference. It’s about making the right choices to guide both users and search engines.
Key takeaways:
- Poor internal linking hinders Google's discovery of your pages; spend time on it.
- Not all internal links are equal; prefer links in the content itself rather than in the header or footer.
- For internal links: exact and varied anchor texts are the key to your success.
- For outbound links: they demonstrate credibility—carefully choose sources to link to reputable, trustworthy sites.
Links between your pages: master the art of relationships
But why are links so strategic? Imagine taking the London Underground but all the line maps have been removed. Hard to reach Big Ben, right? Internal links guide your visitors and search engines through your site, helping them find your pages.
Descriptive anchor text: the key to success
Google recommends using clear anchor text in its internal linking. Forget the classic “click here”. Prefer something more evocative, like “discover our latest SEO tips”. This not only helps your readers know where they’re going, but also helps Google understand the page: anchor text = page topic for the search engine!
Associate a primary keyword with your page and use it as link anchor text. Tip: vary your anchor texts with synonyms and different wordings (“dog insurance”, “insurance for dogs”, “canine insurance”, “pet health plan for dogs”).
Link placement: not all links are equal!
Links within the main content of the page carry more value than links in the header, footer, or navigation. Use your copy to include links to pages with closely related topics.
Tip: link to a page from a paragraph that discusses its topic. You contextualize the anchor text.
Avoid link overload
A page overloaded with links dilutes the power of each link. If a page makes 10 links, each target page receives 10% of its power. So adding too many links to your pages won’t have a multiplying effect — it’s a matter of balance.
Tip: link the 5 to 10 most strategic pages from your homepage and make sure they, in turn, link to their child pages.
<a href> the correct link format
Mind the formats! Google doesn't treat everything the same:
- Use the tag
<a>with an attributehref. - Avoid non-standard elements like
<span>and<div>for your links. - Avoid using JavaScript to generate your links.
As explained in the Google video below, if an element behaves like a link, it should look like a link:
Outgoing links: a matter of reputation
Outgoing links are links from your site to external sites. Seen as recommendations, they can boost your credibility, but they can also undermine it if mismanaged. You wouldn't recommend a sketchy restaurant to a friend, would you?
Good sources Make sure to link to sites that have strong authorityA link to a reliable source makes a difference, for search engines as well as for users.
Nofollow Sometimes you'll want to tell search engines not to pass authority to a link. That's where nofollow comes in. It can be useful for sponsored links or blog comments. But don't use only nofollow links — that would be counterproductive!
Avoid common pitfalls
Some mistakes can be costly:
- Remember to check your broken links! Nothing is more frustrating for a user than landing on a 404 page.
- Make sure that every important page is accessible in under three clicks from the homepage.
- Consider adding links to a page you've just published, at the risk of Google not discovering it.
The article “SEO: why your internal links can make or break your ranking” was published on the site Abondance.
