3 Reasons Why Internal Links Are Important
3 Reasons Why Internal Links Are Important
- For Website Navigation: Internal Links can help users use and view a website with ease. By linking to information in the text you are helping the visitor find related information quickly. This in turn keeps people on your site. Both are good for SEO.
- For Website Structure: Linking to relevant content also shows the search engines how your site connects. It shows the inner structure of your site.
- Order Of Importance: By linking to a specific page on your site you are telling Google which pages hold more importance. A hierarchy of sorts weighted by links. This is also good for SEO.
How Many Internal Links Are Too Many?
There is no true guide on how many links are too many and there are no rules on them. Google has stated that the number of links does not matter, it is quality and relevance that matter. So based on that in theory there is no cap. However, there are penalties for having too many links
1. Bad Links
2. Link Farms
3. Link Schemes
All those things are bad and if the search engines find out penalties abound.
So we leave you with a recommended guideline of our own. 20 internal links would probably be the max we would ever use on one page for most websites especially beginner sites but either way this will depend greatly on the use of the links on said website, the niche, how old the site is, and how many words are on the page.
Too many links can make for a poor user experience so the absolute max should be around 100.
You will also have external links so it can get messy fast.
How Do You Find Internal Linking Opportunities?
One way is to use a plugin. Right now we are test-driving the free version of link whisper. It has really upped our internal linking game! Enough said for now. Link Whisper Review is coming soon.
Manually adding links is another way. You should manually add links if you need to link something important that the plugin does not catch. Although Link Whisper is doing a pretty good job for us at the moment. If you are just starting out, adding manually is the best way to go, especially for free. You don’t need a plugin to manage anything when you don’t have a lot of content.
Use the site search bar (WordPress).
How Is An Internal Link Different To An External Link?
An internal link is a link created on your site by highlighting the text that then links to other posts/pages (etc) on the same website.
An external link connects text on your site to other websites. For example, The YouTube video we have embedded in this post. It is an external link because it connects with another site. In this case YouTube.
How To Create An Internal Link In WordPress
First, highlight the text you wish to link to with the cursor. Then click the linking chain symbol. Now paste the URL of the link in the box and press submit. The highlighted text will now become another color (based on your theme color choices). It will look like this
Affiliate Marketing —> Affiliate Marketing
Wealthy Affiliate —> Wealthy Affiliate
Internal Linking Tips
Internal Linking Do’s
- Use Keywords As The Anchor Text. It is more than ok to use keywords as anchor text and Google even recommends it.
- Link To Important Pages: This sends a message to Google that that page is important on your site. You can add “less” important pages too but you don’t want to give up any “link juice” to other URLs
- Only Add Do-Follow Links. When practicing internal linking you want the search engines to follow the link so this is important to remember.
- Link out to other websites that are relevant to your content BUT NOT on exactly the same subject. (Don’t tell Google, “here’s a better-written article on this subject than mine”, what do you think Google will do then?)
- Do An Internal Linking Audit. Use Google search console and explore the “Links” section.
Internal Linking Don’ts
- Don’t Use The Same Anchor Text For Two Different Pages. For example, you have one page titled “SEO” and one called “SEO Tips”. They are both important but you can’t use “SEO” anchor text for both articles. Keep that in mind as you build your links.
- Don’t Go Crazy with links everywhere madness. Too many links look messy and make it a poor user experience.
- Don’t Hyperlink A Whole Paragraph. You want to link to matching keywords to important and relevant posts on your site. It looks bad as well.
How to Use Internal Links to Rank Higher in Google
Conclusion
Internal links are easy to create with or without a plugin. A plugin is not necessary but can be helpful so don’t hesitate to try one, especially for free. (Just don’t rely solely on it)
Internal linking is important to SEO because it shows page importance and internal site structure. When done correctly can make food a great user experience.
Create lots of content around the same subcategories so that you have material to link to on your site. You can research and write in batches if that helps. A bunch of random content usually doesn’t have any connections that can be made so it would not be worth the time.
Now get to work! Happy Internal Linking!
