A Guide to improving your websites Internal Linking
Introduction
Greetings, fellow SEO enthusiasts! Have you ever wondered how to improve your website’s SEO, helping your shoppers to find more products and services that you sell. Well, you’re in luck because today, we’re diving into the world of internal linking, SEO, and usability – all while keeping it light and humorous, so you don’t get bored reading this. So, grab your favourite beverage- ours is an espresso with oat milk-please! So sit back, and prepare to be educated about how internal linking can help your business. Ready? Let’s dive in!
Internal Linking for SEO
Essentially, internal linking is the art of connecting one page, or blog post on your website to another page or blog post on the same site. It’s like connecting the dots, but instead your connecting pages, and blog posts, that are related, so one page may be talking about e-bikes, and the other page, sells a replacement battery then you can link the pages, with an internal link.
In the world of organic SEO, internal linking is the Robin to your Batman. It may not always get the limelight, not often mentioned, instead seo companies often talk more about content marketing and backlinks, rather than internal linking. But it’s an essential sidekick in your journey to improving your businesses search engine Want to learn more about this? Check out this comprehensive guide on SEO Basics.
So, what exactly is Internal Linking?
Well, Internal linking can help to improve your businesses seo.. In simple terms, internal links are clickable words or phrases (these are often called “anchor text”) that lead users from one page of your website to another.
Picture this: You’re reading an article on a website about the best dog food,, and suddenly, you see a link to “50% off organic dog food.” Of course, you can’t resist clicking it! And just like that, you’ve experienced the magic of internal linking. It can help the business, to generate more sales, because simply put, somebody is reading an article, and then at the end of the article you might put click here for a discount off your first order, and they might then be more encouraged to make a purchase from you.
Why is Internal Linking Important for SEO and Usability?
Internal linking is like the salsa to your tortilla chips or the peanut butter to your jelly. It’s the perfect combination that makes everything better! Without it, your website might have a skyhigh bounce rate. Here’s why internal linking is essential for organic SEO and usability:
- SEO Benefits: Internal linking helps search engines like Google and also Bing to understand the structure of your site, making it easier for them to crawl and index your pages. Plus, it can help distribute link equity, (the value passed from one page to another) throughout your site. The result? Better rankings in search results.
Usability Benefits
Internal links help shoppers navigate your website easily and discover different products they may wish to purchase.
So, this can improve user engagement, such as helping to keep shoppers on your website for longer, and decrease bounce rates, which is good for both your organic SEO and also, may possibly help you to sell more products sometimes.
For more reasons to use internal linking, check out the rest of this article on why Internal linking matters.
Helps Search Engines Understand Site Architecture
Your website’s architecture is like a labyrinth, that’s if sell a lot of different products, for example some companies may sell well excess of 1,000 different products. But without proper internal linking, it’s more like a confusing maze that leaves users (and search engines) lost and frustrated.
Internal linking helps Googlebot, to index and crawl all the different pages / blog posts on your website. It helps them understand how your pages are related, and how important they are- for example, your business may sell bikes, but also over 1000 different accessories for bikes, but if the page “electric bikes” is the page that’s linked to the most with internal links, then this is a very clear indicator, that the main product on your website, what business concentrates on selling is electric bikes . So, the more you link internally, the more you’re helping search engines grasp your site’s structure.
To learn more about site architecture, check out the rest of this guide:
Now, we’re going to talk about two topics that are crucial to on-page website optimisation, that is having good site architecture and well written, white hat anchor text. Are you ready to learn more about this? Let’s go!
Now, first things first, let’s talk about “site architecture”- it’s a really important part of improving a business’s organic seo. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Wow, that sounds like the most boring SEO topic to talk about.” But hear us out!
Having good site architecture is like the blueprint of your website, and its also a bit like designing a building, it’s super important to get it right, to make sure its well-designed.
Why, you ask? Well, for one, having a clear and organised site architecture helps search engines, such as Google, and also Bing to understand how your site is structured. This means they can easily find and index your pages and blog posts, which can sometimes lead to better search engine rankings. Plus, it makes your site easier to navigate for your human visitors, which can lead to more engagement, and conversions. It’s a win-win!
So, how can you improve your websites architecture?
Well, there are a few key things that you should keep in mind. First, you want to make sure your websites pages are well organised into clear categories and subcategories. This helps both search engines and users understand the hierarchy of your site. You also want to make sure your URLs are descriptive, so that users can easily tell what each page is about just by looking at the URL. And finally, you want to make sure your site has a clear and easy-to-use navigation menu (main menu), so that users can quickly find what they’re looking for.
If you want to learn more about site architecture, we would highly recommend checking out Moz for more information.
Moz is chock-full of great tips and advice!
Now, onto our next topic
Anchor text. And no, I’m not talking about that thing you use to weigh down your boat, its not an anchor. In the world of organic SEO, anchor text simply refers to the clickable text that appears as a hyperlink on a web page. For example, in this sentence, “this article from Moz” is the anchor text for the hyperlink to the Moz, article I mentioned earlier.
So, why is anchor text so important?
Well, for one, it can help search engines, such as Google, and other search engines, like Bing to understand linked page or the blog post is about. If a page is frequently linked to using specific anchor text, such as “electric bikes” it can be a signal to the search engines that that page is all about electric bikes. Plus, having descriptive and relevant anchor text can make it more likely that users will click on the link, for example, if the blog post has anchor text, which say “our best selling electric bikes of 2023” well, the reader knows, that page is going to list, a list of electric bikes, which that business sells a lot of.
But, as with most things in organic SEO, there’s a catch. If you overdo it, so keep writing the same anchor text excessively, across your website, and with exact-match anchor text (i.e. using the exact same keyword every time you link to a page or blog post), it can actually be seen as spammy, and hurt your rankings, which means dropping down Google’s or Bings ranks, and not moving up them. So, it’s important to use a variety of different anchor text, and to make sure it’s natural and relevant to the page you’re linking to.
If you want to learn more about anchor text, check out this guide from Ahrefs. It’s a great resource for understanding the ins and outs of this important organic SEO factor.
So, there you have it, folks! We have now covered two important topics that can help your company to improve your onsite SEO.
But before we sign off, I want to leave you with some few final tips for optimising your companies web site architecture and also the anchor text. First, always put the user experience first, so what we by that, is make it easy for your customers to find the products or services that they want- for example make the main menu, super simple to use.
Second, stay up-to-date on the latest best practices and algorithm updates, as SEO is constantly evolving. SEO is all about testing and iterating to find what works best for your specific site and audience.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found this article informative.