Situation-Based Question
Sarah, who runs an online store selling unique pet accessories, is looking to improve her website’s SEO. After reviewing some competitor sites, she notices they seem to have a lot of links within their content. She wonders aloud to her team, “I keep seeing a lot of internal links on other websites. What exactly is internal linking, and why is it so important for my SEO?”
Exact Answer
Internal linking is the practice of linking one page of your website to another page on the same site. It’s important because it helps search engines crawl your website more effectively, improves user experience, and boosts the SEO value of linked pages.
Explanation
Sarah’s curiosity is totally on point. Internal linking might seem simple, but it plays a significant role in SEO. Here’s how it works:
- Improves Crawlability:
- Search engines use links to discover and index pages. Internal links help search engines navigate your site, ensuring that more of your content gets discovered and ranked. If your pages are not linked properly, they may remain hidden from search engines.
- Example: Let’s say Sarah writes a blog post on “How to Choose the Right Collar for Your Dog”. If she links this post to her product pages, like
www.sarahspets.com/custom-dog-collars, Google will follow the link, discover the product page, and potentially rank it higher.
- Enhances User Experience:
- Internal links guide users to related content, encouraging them to stay longer on your site. This reduces bounce rates and increases time spent on the page, both of which are positive signals for SEO.
- Example: If Sarah’s product page for “Custom Dog Collars” includes a link to a related blog post about dog grooming tips, users might click and explore more, which improves the experience and engagement on her site.
- Distributes Link Equity (SEO Juice):
- Internal links help spread link equity (the value passed through links) across your website. Pages that are linked more frequently or that have more internal links pointing to them often get more ranking power.
- Example: Sarah’s homepage, being a high-authority page with many backlinks, can pass some of its authority to other pages through internal links. For instance, linking from her homepage to a specific product category page, like
www.sarahspets.com/handmade-dog-beds, helps that page gain authority.
- Helps with Keyword Relevance:
- Using keyword-rich anchor text for your internal links helps search engines understand the relevance of the linked pages. It also boosts the ranking potential of those pages for the target keywords.
- Example: If Sarah links the text “custom dog collars” in her blog posts or other product pages, it signals to Google that the linked page is relevant for that keyword, potentially improving its ranking.
- Creates a Logical Site Structure:
- A well-planned internal linking structure ensures that your site’s hierarchy is easy to follow. Search engines can better understand which pages are the most important, which helps in overall site ranking.
- Example: If Sarah has several categories, like “Dog Collars,” “Dog Beds,” and “Pet Toys,” linking between category pages and individual product pages helps create a clear and organized site structure, making it easier for search engines to index and rank her pages.
Example
Here’s how Sarah could set up internal linking on her site:
- Sarah writes a blog post titled “5 Tips for Keeping Your Dog Comfortable in Winter”. Within the post, she can link to her product page on
www.sarahspets.com/insulated-dog-coats. This not only helps users find a relevant product but also signals to Google that these pages are connected. - She also links to other blog posts, like “Best Dog Toys for Active Pets” within her “Winter Dog Care” blog, creating a network of related content on her site. This keeps users engaged and helps spread link equity across her site.