The Importance of Internal Linking for SEO

This is a guest post by Charles Dearing.

Almost every single webmaster needs to think about how to optimize everything in order to get the perfect SEO results. The most basic methods are well-known and it certainly seems that most webmasters have already managed to understand them. However, things can always be improved and one method, internal linking, isn't getting as much attention as it should when it comes to SEO optimization. The thing is, internal linking is not complicated by any means – it just seems to be a bit overlooked. Hopefully, this article will be able to push those knowledge horizons a bit further. SEO importance


The Fundamentals

The essence of internal linking is simple – what you want to do is to give your domain a clear and concise structure. At first glance, that might look like a very natural goal – however, there would be no need to spend any time on it without the existence of search engines. Yes, that is right – getting internal linking right will make your website better and visitors will be able to find their way around more easily, but the main goal is to allow the various search engines index your webpage in a better way and to give your domain a better “ranking”. Basically, having your domain linked internally will allow the indexing machine to see a clear way through your entire domain – and, if it is clear enough, it will be able to see that your site is indeed very valuable and that it indeed deserves to be at the top of the search results.


Moving On...

However, internal linking is not actually that simple as it might seem, especially if you want to get the best possible results. The number one thing that you should know is that the actual structure can make a difference – and the ideal structure looks like a pyramid (and it is most easily made by dividing everything into categories and subcategories). The point is to have the smallest possible amount of links between the homepage and the individual lesser pages. That way, the link power will be distributed throughout the entire domain, improving the rankings of the individual pages in the process.

Apart from that, every webmaster needs to remember that internal linking brings the best results when it comes in the most simple form, HTML. Although today's search engines can indeed dive much deeper into the structure of your domain than even before, it is nevertheless not a good idea to think that internal links in JavaScript or Flash animations are going to bring as much value as the standard ones.


The Subtleties of Internal Linking

With all of that out of the way, it's time to take a look at some of the subtleties of internal linking. First of all, take care to stay away from the footer area of your websites. Don’t get this wrong –  you can use it, but you most certainly should not try to abuse it with unnecessary internal links. Not only will that bring zero value to your readers, it is also quite likely that the crawler is going to discover your intentions. And, on top of that, you are also going to decrease the value of your legitimate internal links.

Secondly, choose the keywords for your anchor texts carefully and keep the basic rules of SEO in mind. Yes, what applies to the most basic and simple SEO techniques applies in the case of internal linking as well. However, try to implement everything in a way that is as organic as possible – do not scare your readers away by choosing clumsy keywords.

Finally, don’t think that you will be able to trick the search engines into giving you a high rank by forcing the issue and trying to put an internal link with your main keywords wherever possible. Not only will the visitors of your webpages think that you’ve gone completely mad, the search engines might also easily discover your intentions and even penalize you for using such measures.


Make Your Work Count!

As you can see, internal linking is not a mysterious topic by any means. And, once you manage to get into it, you will be able to see how straightforward everything is. For now, internal linking is one of those less known strategies that can give you a nice edge over the rest of the competition – and that is certainly a very good reason for doing it. And even if you believe that there is no need for it just yet, we can guarantee that it will soon become a regular weapon in everyone’s arsenal and you will have to implement it in order to keep up with everything. The bottom line is that internal linking is here to stay – and you should start using it as soon as possible!

About the author
Charles Dearing has worked extensively in the web development and SEO industry and writes for SEO Positive ltd. He is also an avid blogger and he enjoys sharing his insights on various online publications.

26 comments to "The Importance of Internal Linking for SEO"

Kevin Fernandez December 24, 2012 at 2:35 PM    

SEO plays an essential role in many online businesses. These tips makes us in achieving the best results of an SEO.

Rani December 25, 2012 at 7:51 AM    

Hey charlies good post.
Awesome Man! Really Cool!

agen obat herbal alami December 26, 2012 at 9:47 AM    

nice info good job

Darryl Fedrick December 26, 2012 at 4:33 PM    

When you are well versed with SEO concept in your company, then no need to worry about it anymore. The tips mentioned here are very helpful, thank you.

seo Hampshire December 28, 2012 at 9:20 PM    

Hello blogger, the information you have provided in your post is really informative and there are so many business owners who need these information.

Today news December 29, 2012 at 6:20 AM    

Nice and informative article. This is really correct and precise as well as insightful. Thanks

Conor December 29, 2012 at 9:44 PM    

Great information friend. Link building is an important factor to rank high within the search engine!!

berita bisnis December 30, 2012 at 10:35 PM    

Agree with you Charles, internal linking is more benefit to bring visitor to selected post and also make robot easier to crawl our contents.

Gist Land January 1, 2013 at 12:05 AM    

Great post. keep it up Guys

angelina January 4, 2013 at 3:17 PM    

Great and informative post this is ... internal links are great help for the link building process.

Learn SEO January 4, 2013 at 3:52 PM    

Thank's for the information, that very helping me

Unknown January 5, 2013 at 4:47 PM    

Thanks for the posting!

Steve January 6, 2013 at 12:53 PM    

Great post, internal link building is great when done right, but if you overdo it your SEO will be penalized.

LanaJoseph @ Garden Offices UK January 7, 2013 at 6:15 PM    

But with these updates such as Panda and Google I'm not sure whether internal linking will be having an effect.

Jasmine January 21, 2013 at 11:38 AM    

Hey Charles, I admit I have to read your post twice, from top to bottom. This is because it's packed with so much information on internal linking. I agree with you that internal linking is very important especially to bring the search engines back to update their index on some of our older posts.

Durai sankar January 25, 2013 at 3:17 PM    

Will interlinking post increases page rank?How much?

point of sale solution February 2, 2013 at 4:12 PM    

I too agree with you internal ranking increases page ranking, thanks for sharing.

TRILINQ February 17, 2013 at 2:40 AM    

internal links have to be useful to readers. they should not be placed on e page jus for seo purposes.

Self SEO Advisor February 17, 2013 at 7:36 AM    

Since Google Panda and Google Penguin updated it's more important to internal linking or on-page SEO rather anything else. I also use this method very carefully. Thanks for sharing such a nice informative article. I believe new bloggers should read this carefully to avoid misuse.

very good explanation of the techniques. thanks...

Millionth Monkey March 10, 2013 at 9:11 AM    

Thanks. This was informative and helpful.

Yevonne March 19, 2013 at 9:16 PM    

No doubt about that. Interlinking posts is a good way to generate traffic. However, it is also important to know which posts are the popular ones and which posts are getting the least amount of traffic so that the latter can be interlinked with the former. Analyzing the traffic details of a site is easy with various analytic tools, but be sure to try the free ones first with the most available features. Such tools include the ColibriTool, Google analytics, keyword checker, etc...

Best SEO Tips March 25, 2013 at 6:05 PM    

Nice and informative article. This is really correct and precise as well as insightful. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Seo Service April 8, 2013 at 7:04 PM    

Nice article to read thank you for sharing with us!!

366seo April 17, 2013 at 3:05 PM    

what a very very useful information.thax a lot

Online PhD April 23, 2013 at 3:15 AM    

SEO is very crucial in online marketing primarily because of its impact on web links. This is the main reason why internal linking is significant to bring your site to the top-most rank in major search engines. I agree with your contention that everything will be just in the right position if the link is properly managed.

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