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Internal linking effects on SEO
What are internal links?
We speak of internal links when within the same domain we create hyperlinks that link pages to each other. The most common are usually present in the main navigation, creating a hierarchy of information through the menu that spreads the authority or link juice by the different pages of the website.
However, when we talk about internal links we are not only referring to the main information architecture; we also have the different links between articles and contents within the same domain. This type of hyperlinks are fundamental for navigation and reinforce the SEO value of the contents, helping to create a network of related pages useful for both users and Google.
The use of Internal Links is specially useful to connect topics in your website, as it helps to "link" different aspects around the same topic, giving you more authority and relevance.
Why is it so important? Because it is basically one of the few ways that web managers have to tell Google that "X" page or content is important. The hyperlink is synonymous with authority, and those contents that collect more links, whether internal or external, increase their level of quality. From a strategic point of view, internal links help the site to bridge the authority gap between the content that is most worth linking and the most profitable or productive content.
1. They improve the user experience, and Google likes it too.
Internal links provide more reading options for users. They have access to more content, which improves their context and allows them to get more information about a topic they are interested in.
2. They help to improve the positioning for certain keywords.
Although anchor texts do not position as such, to a certain extent they help Google to understand that the page we are linking to is relevant for searches related to anchor terms.
3. Boost efficiency in website indexing.
Internal hyperlinks help Google and other search engines crawl the website, improving indexing efficiency.
Through Screaming Frog we can discover pages that may provide us with different opportunities in relation to internal links. Thanks to the tool we can identify both pages that need a greater number of links and the detection of pages with excessive attention. In addition, the latest version of the tool allows its integration with Google Analytics and Search Console (here you have a tutorial to do it).
Specifically, SF provides us with two very useful data related to internal linking: "level" and "inlinks". Through the level, the tool analyzes the number of clicks from the home page (which should not exceed three sub-levels), and through the inlinks tab we detect the number of internal links to the URI.
The objective is to identify both the most popular pages and those with the worst performance in order to establish possible links from the first to the second.
In Google Search Console we must study both external and internal links to find the most popular pages (usually the most linked and better ranked).
The main difference with Screaming Frog is that Search Console shows exactly how the Google spider has crawled your page. Using this tool we look for atypical cases, pages that simply shouldn't be where they are at the level of popularity (good or bad) and/or relevance.
Once found the pages in which we want to add a link, go to Google Analytics to expand the information on the terms in Google: Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries. Through an advanced filter we include the average position of the terms.
Once applied the filter we see a list of terms and phrases for which your content competes from the second page of Google. The objective of this third step is to identify the pages of our website that occupy the first positions of the second page of Google, and that with a push of authority could improve their visibility and upload to the first page.
We speak of internal links when within the same domain we create hyperlinks that link pages to each other. The most common are usually present in the main navigation, creating a hierarchy of information through the menu that spreads the authority or link juice by the different pages of the website.
However, when we talk about internal links we are not only referring to the main information architecture; we also have the different links between articles and contents within the same domain. This type of hyperlinks are fundamental for navigation and reinforce the SEO value of the contents, helping to create a network of related pages useful for both users and Google.
The use of Internal Links is specially useful to connect topics in your website, as it helps to "link" different aspects around the same topic, giving you more authority and relevance.
Why is it so important? Because it is basically one of the few ways that web managers have to tell Google that "X" page or content is important. The hyperlink is synonymous with authority, and those contents that collect more links, whether internal or external, increase their level of quality. From a strategic point of view, internal links help the site to bridge the authority gap between the content that is most worth linking and the most profitable or productive content.
Why it's important to create a good internal link structure
1. They improve the user experience, and Google likes it too.
Internal links provide more reading options for users. They have access to more content, which improves their context and allows them to get more information about a topic they are interested in.
2. They help to improve the positioning for certain keywords.
Although anchor texts do not position as such, to a certain extent they help Google to understand that the page we are linking to is relevant for searches related to anchor terms.
3. Boost efficiency in website indexing.
Internal hyperlinks help Google and other search engines crawl the website, improving indexing efficiency.
1. Screaming Frog
Through Screaming Frog we can discover pages that may provide us with different opportunities in relation to internal links. Thanks to the tool we can identify both pages that need a greater number of links and the detection of pages with excessive attention. In addition, the latest version of the tool allows its integration with Google Analytics and Search Console (here you have a tutorial to do it).
Specifically, SF provides us with two very useful data related to internal linking: "level" and "inlinks". Through the level, the tool analyzes the number of clicks from the home page (which should not exceed three sub-levels), and through the inlinks tab we detect the number of internal links to the URI.
The objective is to identify both the most popular pages and those with the worst performance in order to establish possible links from the first to the second.
2. Search Console
In Google Search Console we must study both external and internal links to find the most popular pages (usually the most linked and better ranked).
The main difference with Screaming Frog is that Search Console shows exactly how the Google spider has crawled your page. Using this tool we look for atypical cases, pages that simply shouldn't be where they are at the level of popularity (good or bad) and/or relevance.
3. Google Analytics
Once found the pages in which we want to add a link, go to Google Analytics to expand the information on the terms in Google: Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries. Through an advanced filter we include the average position of the terms.
Once applied the filter we see a list of terms and phrases for which your content competes from the second page of Google. The objective of this third step is to identify the pages of our website that occupy the first positions of the second page of Google, and that with a push of authority could improve their visibility and upload to the first page.
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