Strategic Internal Linking for SEO Success: Tips to Increase Page Views and Revenue

Links are the currency of the internet and for SEO specialists, there’s little that’s as valuable as a backlink. When you think of a backlink, you probably think of links coming from another website but internal links have value as well in telling Google what the most valuable parts of your website are.

So what are internal links? Internal links are hyperlinks on a website that point to other pages or resources — such as an image, video, or document — on the same website or domain. These types of links allow users to navigate a website easily. Following internal linking best practices can help supercharge returns from your website’s content marketing efforts.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the importance of internal linking, the benefits it provides, and tips for creating an effective internal linking strategy that can help raise the profile of existing content and reduce bounce rates on websites.

Importance of Internal Linking Practice

When Google crawls a website, it does so by following internal and external links using Googlebot. The bot reaches its landing page on a website and starts following the first link it comes across on the site. By following such links, it can understand the relationships between different web pages within a website.

Although the landing page might be your homepage, it can be any page even one that’s focused on a long-tail keyword. That’s why it’s important that your internal linking is in place throughout your site.

Having relevant internal links to a page or blog post for user benefits will help in SEO ranking. That’s how you tell Google what’s important. For example, if you’re doing SEO for an e-commerce store, you want to link to your top products on popular landing pages. If you’re Content Geniuses, you might include a note about the importance of regularly posting fresh, quality content along with a plug for one of our plans to put your blog on autopilot and reap the SEO benefits.

As Google deems web pages with more links to be more important than others, you’ll also increase the number of pages ranked with a proper internal linking strategy.

What is Link Juice?

Link juice refers to the value being passed on from one site to another through hyperlinks. The more sites that link to your website, the more link juice you’ll receive, and the higher your pages will likely rank in search engine results.

Another factor to consider is determining the percentage of link juice received. So, if Site 1 gets a link from a website that links to other sites as well, whereas Site 2 receives a link from a site that links exclusively to Site 2, then the percentage of link juice that Site 2 receives will be more than Site 1. Math.

What Google Says About Internal Links

Google has confirmed that internal links are supercritical for SEO. According to one of Google’s Webmaster Trends Analysts, internal links help a website owner mark those essential pages that are the backbone of a website so that users and Google are guided in the right direction. He also advised webmasters to adopt a strategic internal linking strategy and not just add a few basic links within the content.

What is Crawl Depth?

Crawl Depth, also known as website depth indexing, is a fundamental concept in the realm of search engine optimization (SEO). It encompasses the extent to which search engines explore and index the content of a website. When search engine crawlers encounter a website, they follow links from one page to another, traversing the site’s architecture in a process commonly known as crawling.

Websites with a high crawl depth are more likely to have their pages thoroughly indexed by search engines, leading to better visibility and potentially higher organic traffic. On the other hand, websites with a low crawl depth may experience limitations in the number of pages that search engines discover and include in their index.

What is Internal Linking Structure?

Internal Linking Structure refers to the arrangement of links within a website’s navigation system. While some websites have a straightforward structure, others are more complex. By creating a well-organized navigational area, you can effectively improve the internal linking structure of your website.

An optimized internal linking structure offers several benefits. It enhances user experience by facilitating easy navigation and access to valuable information. Additionally, it provides clear pathways for search engine crawlers to discover and index your content, potentially improving your search engine rankings and visibility. By strategically placing internal links and utilizing drop-down menus, you can create a cohesive network of interconnected pages that enhance navigation and maximize the potential of your website’s content and your marketing efforts.

Importance of Internal Linking Hierarchy

The significance of establishing an effective internal linking hierarchy cannot be overstated. A well-executed internal linking strategy has the potential to direct visitors toward high-converting pages, ultimately generating increased revenue for your business.

As users spend more time on your website and explore multiple pages, this behavior sends positive signals to search engines like Google, indicating that your site is providing valuable and fresh content and delivering a satisfying user experience. Consequently, Google may reward your site with improved rankings, further amplifying its visibility and attracting a larger audience. If you’re targeting a local area, you’ll see results even more quickly by following local SEO best practices including internal linking.

By leveraging the power of internal linking, you can optimize user engagement and enhance your website’s performance metrics. If your business is focused on content marketing, this will boost your business’s overall success.

Best Internal Linking Practices You Can Follow in 2023

• Create new pages with high-quality, engaging content and link them to relevant internal pages that are already ranking.
• Build contextual internal backlinks using the right anchor and drive your visitors to relevant pages to ensure a great user experience.
• Place internal links high up on your page to get users hooked on the topic so that they spend more time on your website.
• Avoid using the same anchor text on multiple pages to stop Google from assuming that all these pages contain the same information on a particular topic.

Want Users to Stick Around? Give ’em More, More, More!

If you want to captivate and retain users on your website, one effective approach is to provide them with abundant content through inline linking. Unlike navigation links and breadcrumbs, inline links have the power to entice users to explore deeper into your site.

By strategically placing inline links within your content, you tap into visitors’ curiosity, encouraging them to click and discover more. These links create a sense of predictability, assuring users that they will find valuable information by following them. If your goal is to reduce bounce rates and increase page views, embracing inline links is the way to go – and the more you incorporate, the better!

Don’t believe us? Try it and keep an eye on your Google Analytics dashboard.

By leveraging the potential of inline linking, you can engage users, motivate them to delve further into your website, and ultimately enhance their overall experience. So, give your users the opportunity to explore a wealth of content through well-placed inline links and reap the rewards of increased user engagement and page views.

Successful and assertive linking relies on clever keyword mapping which you can do using Google Keyword Planner. While keyword research isn’t everything, it’s important. By establishing an intuitive navigation and route for your users to follow, you can allocate all your website keywords to relevant pages and commence vigorous interlinking throughout your website to maximize your returns.

Bottom Line

Internal linking is a vital element of SEO that can enhance the visibility of existing content and decrease website bounce rates. By recognizing its significance, implementing recommended techniques, and offering users more captivating content through embedded links, you’ll make significant progress in enhancing your site’s performance and search engine rankings.