Internal Linking Quick Guide

As an SEO professional I’ve found internal linking is underused, but it’s a powerful tool for navigation and user experience. It’s not just about linking pages randomly, though. A thought out strategy, like the pillar and cluster model, can help with content organization and reduce bounce rates. And with tools like Yoast SEO or Ahrefs it’s much easier. But how do you balance internal and external links? Stay with me.

Internal Links

Let’s get into what internal links are and why they’re important for your website.

Internal links are simply hyperlinks that link one page of your website to another. They’re like bridges, allowing users and search engine bots to move from one piece of content to another.

But they’re not just for navigation; they also do two other important jobs. Firstly, they can improve the user experience. By providing relevant, easily accessible extra content you can keep visitors on your site longer, reduce bounce rates.

Secondly, they help search engines understand the structure of your site and find new content. This is key for SEO as it helps with indexing and can improve your site’s visibility in search results.

Also, internal links have the power of link equity. This is the ‘juice’ or authority that links can pass from one page to another, potentially ranking the linked pages. Unlike external links you have full control over these internal ones, so they are a valuable tool in your SEO toolbox.

Internal Linking Strategy

Building an internal linking strategy is a key part of unlocking this powerful SEO tool. It’s not about scattering links randomly throughout your site. It is about a calculated approach that maximizes the benefits of those links.

Firstly I identify the most important pages on my site. This isn’t just about popularity; it’s about what’s most valuable to my audience. Once I’ve done that I can start to distribute my link equity. I link my stronger pages to my weaker ones. It’s like lending a helping hand to lift them up in the eyes of search engines.

Then I cluster related content together. This isn’t just about making navigation easier for users; it’s also about showing authority. I’m essentially saying to search engines, ‘I’ve got a lot of content on this topic here.’

Lastly I never forget about the balance between internal and external links. Yes external links are important but I don’t want my site to look spammy. Moderation is key and I keep this balance tight.

Clustered Topics

Let’s get into topic clustering. It’s basically a way of grouping related content around a central pillar page. This is great for SEO as it helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of your website’s content.

To cluster a topic:

Start with a broad topic you want to rank for.
Then create a pillar page. This page should be a broad overview of the topic and link to related but more in-depth blog posts.
Next develop cluster content. These are the in-depth blog posts your pillar page links to. Each one should be focused on a specific keyword related to the main topic.
Finally link all the cluster content pages to each other and back to the pillar page. This interlinking tells search engines the relationship between the pages.

Internal Linking Tools

Now that we have our topic clusters set up it’s time to think about how we can use tools to make internal linking more efficient and effective. As our site grows managing internal links manually becomes a nightmare. That’s where tools come in.

There are many SEO tools that can speed up and simplify this process such as Yoast SEO, Ahrefs and SEMrush. They can help you identify internal linking opportunities, see which pages need more links and even automate the linking process to some extent.

In particular I’ve found Yoast SEO to be a great tool for WordPress sites. It suggests content pieces to link to while you’re writing a new post. This saves time and makes sure you’re linking to the most relevant pages and therefore the user and SEO.

Ahrefs site audit tool can also help you identify orphan pages – pages with no internal links. This allows me to fix any gaps in my internal linking structure.

Internal and External Links

Balancing internal and external links is a key part of any SEO strategy. It’s about finding the sweet spot where your pages are interconnected but still pointing to high quality external resources.

Here’s a 4 step approach to achieve that:

Internal Links: These should be your top priority as they distribute link equity across your site and improve user navigation.
Be choosy with External Links: While these add credibility to your content, too many can distract users and send them away from your site.
Link to high quality external resources: When you do link out, make sure they’re to reputable sites. This adds credibility and value to your readers.
Monitor and adjust: Review your linking strategy regularly. Use analytics to see how users are interacting with your content and adjust accordingly.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the quick and easy internal linking guide.

By having a plan, using topic clusters and tools like Yoast SEO and Ahrefs you can improve your site’s user experience and SEO.

Don’t forget to balance your internal links with external links to keep users engaged and your site credible.

It’s easy and will give you big results, try it!