Total SEO Tips Part 9: Internal Linking

Internal Linking for SEO: A Guide for Best Practices

Internal links are one of the most overlooked and underrated strategies of an SEO campaign. Not only do they help users & search engine crawlers navigate through your website, but when done effectively can make a huge difference in your ranking. In its most basic terms, internal linking is a link from one page to another page on the same domain. While your website navigation is one form of internal linking, it is more commonly referring to links within your content on the same page. In this segment of Total SEO Tips, we’ll explain different types of internal links, their importance and how they positively impact rankings.

3 Internal Linking Strategies for SEO & Conversions

Links that Affect Search Engine Rankings: Gather a list of your top 10 authoritative pages. Links from these pages to other, often newer pages & blogs will pass more authority and SEO value.

Links that Guide Visitors to High Converting Pages: Pages that rank high or get shared a lot attract a lot of visitors. Use these pages to direct visitors to high-converting pages (subscriptions, calls, email submissions). This method will help to grow your subscriptions so make sure to use a compelling call to action.

Links that Prompt Users to Act (Call to Action): Internal links that serve as a call to action should direct the user to act. It should offer help, start a conversation or prompt them to contact you.

Benefits of Internal Linking Structure

Internal links are important for three main reasons and strengthen all three parts of the sales funnel: Awareness, Consideration, Action.

• Pass authority from one internal page to another (Search Engine Optimization)
• Guide visitors from high traffic pages to valuable, relevant content (User Experience)
• Internal Links prompt visitors to act (Call to Action, Conversion Optimization)

Onsite Links vs. External Links

An internal link is text with hyperlinks from one page to another within your website. The text can either be keyword-driven or call to action based, depending on the page you’re directing internal traffic to. On the other hand, external links are directed from a different website to your domain. When done properly, they help search engines & visitors find your content. Internal links are easy to control, easy to manage and easy to create.

If you’re ready to start adding internal links to your website, we hope we’ve given you a better understanding of where and how to start. Check out our Total Web SEO tips for more information, helpful tips and SEO resources.