Once your website is up and running, there will be lots of different people and programs perusing it. Internal links are crucial whether helping human users understand what your website is talking about or helping search engine spiders or bots crawl and index your site. While it can be challenging, it is possible to build internal links that will satisfy robots as well as your human users. If you are unsure of just how you can build those critical internal links, here are some tips which can help.
Contextual Link Building
A contextual link is one in which clickable text is made up of one of your primary keyword phrases—a phrase you are using in hopes of obtaining a page one Google listing. Keep in mind that a contextual link won’t be effective unless it links to a page which is primarily about your keywords. Contextual links which are content based and theme-related are especially valuable in boosting SEO. When you are creating contextual links in your keyword-rich articles, keep the links high on the page. Contextual links which show up toward the top of the page are given more weight and influence by search engines than those which trail in at the end of the article. The goal of a contextual link is to encourage your visitors to find out more information, and using anchor text which is very descriptive is always better than simply having a “click here” button for internal and external links.
Using Breadcrumbs in Building Internal Links
Aside from the kind used in making meatloaf, bread crumbs are a navigational tool on many websites which you can see at the top of the browser window. Bread crumbs are essentially links to the pages you have already viewed—a map, if you will, of how you got to where you are. The benefit of using breadcrumbs, aside from helping your visitors navigate and stay oriented on your site, is that breadcrumbs can direct links back to more general categories. As a bonus, breadcrumbs are useful in helping spiders stay on track as well. Breadcrumbs may look something like this: Home>Support>FAQ>General FAQ.
Navigation is Key
Your users should be able to easily navigate your website. If it is difficult to get from A to B, they will likely become frustrated and go somewhere else to find what they need. For this reason you will want to internally link to the top pages from your navigation menu. Internal linking structure on your website is fundamental, and the more logical and intuitive it is, the easier your user and search engine spiders will find their way around your site. Equally important, this effortless navigation will increase your overall response rate exponentially.
Using Hypertext Links for Effective SEO
Hypertext links may actually be the simplest navigational element involved in building internal links. Hypertext is simply text which contains links to other text. The components of a hypertext link include a URL as well as a set of words generally known as anchor text. A simple hypertext link looks something like this: anchor text and is basic code that directs where your visitor is sent when they click on the highlighted anchor text. Search spiders actually prefer hypertext link to almost any other type of linking structures, and anchor text is given much more weight in Google’s algorithms than ordinary content text. The logic behind this is that search engines believe you would normally only link to a page you considered highly important, and if you consider it important then Google may also. The downside of hypertext links include the fact that hypertext links create blue underlined text and if used in excess can make a page messy and hard to read, so don’t overuse. Choose your hypertext links carefully, use specific keywords, and link to your most important pages, and the Google sun will shine on you!
