The Importance of Internal Links
“Internal links are the superhero of SEO.”
At a recent virtual conference called WooSesh, SEO consultant and WordPress expert, Rebecca Gill, shared that insight during her presentation on SEO, impressing upon attendees the importance of internal links and the boost they can give a small business website. But, first and foremost what is an internal link?
An internal link (aka interlinking) is simply a hyperlink that you place within some content of your website that leads your visitor to another page on your same website. While an external link will take your website user to a different website, an internal link keeps your visitor on your site, but just takes them to a different point than where they originally entered.
For example, the two links in the first paragraph of this blog post takes you, the reader, to other websites, which causes you to leave this one. However, this link to the eWebscapes portfolio page takes you away from this article, but keeps you here at the same website. Go ahead and click on it, then click your browser’s back button to return to this blog post.
Now that you’re back, let’s address the importance of internal links:
- Internal links keep your visitors on your website. Why send your potential customers away from your website to discover more information? If you provide that information on your site, lead your visitors to it while keeping them on your website. The longer you can keep a user clicking on your website, the better chance you have at converting that visitor into a customer.
- Internal links improve user experience. Again, your website visitor may want even more information, and when you provide them with that, they’re grateful. Internal links have a way of making website users feel satisfied with your website experience.
- Internal links enhance your SEO efforts. They inform search engines what type of content will be found at your site, what related content will be found at your website, and the value of that content. So long as you are intentional and strategic about your internal link placement and do not over stuff links, an internal link strategy could significantly impact your search engine results. In other words, make sure the anchor text you use for an internal link directly relates to that link. Do not insert an internal link for scheduling an appointment at your dental office website to random words. Very often at this blog, you’ll see the words ‘contact us’ directly linked to our Contact page. That makes sense to a search engine. Additionally, do not place so many internal links onto a web page or within a blog post that it looks littered. Be mindful. A web page or blog post that has many internal links may appear spammy to a search engine, which will have a negative effect on your SEO.
Bonus tip: try to avoid the typical “click here” copy as your anchor text. Instead of inviting your readers to “click here,” invite them to “learn more about your services” and link your services page to the word ‘services.’ Or, invite them to “contact us,” and link to your contact page. Find another way to say click here without directly saying it. Doing so just creates a more pleasant reader experience.
Hopefully, you’re convinced and plotting where to place internal links on your small business website. It’s simple really:
- Place internal links within the text of your blog posts. The topics of your small business blog should be related to your business, therefore, within the content of your blog posts, exists opportunities to internally link back to your Contact, About, Products, Services, and any other web page on your site that has the potential to convert your reader into a client.
- Place internal links on your product and/or service page(s). Products are an easy win. Recommend other products that complement the one they are browsing. For a service web page, you will definitely want to link to your About page so the user can learn more about you, as well as any blog posts that perhaps expand on your services, giving the user a deeper understanding of what you can do for them.
- Place internal links on your Home and About pages. The content of these pages are usually brief, requiring internal links that provide the visitor with more detailed information should that person want it. For example, a restaurant website with no other text on their Home page other than the words “Best Asian-Mexican Fusion” will probably want to add an internal link that leads to the About page so that a curious diner can learn more about what Asian-Mexican fusion is.
Take a look at your website content—not just your blog, but all of it. Where could you strategically and thoughtfully place some internal links? Review this blog post you just read. How many internal links did we include? (Feel free to answer that in the comments below.)
It’s true. Internal links are the superhero of SEO. We hope you take advantage of benefiting from their power.