Story Based Question
Imagine you’re the owner of an online store that sells a variety of products, from trendy sneakers to accessories. Despite having great products and a well-designed website, you’re not seeing as much organic traffic as you’d hoped. You begin to wonder: “How can I make sure my products get more visibility on search engines? Is there something I’m missing in terms of how my pages are linked together?” After some thought, you realize you might be overlooking a simple yet powerful SEO strategy: internal linking.
Exact Answer
Internal linking helps improve the SEO of your e-commerce site by guiding both search engines and users to relevant pages. It boosts page authority, distributes link equity, and improves crawlability, ultimately leading to better rankings and user engagement.
Explanation
Internal linking refers to linking one page of your website to another page on the same domain. In e-commerce SEO, this strategy is crucial because it helps both search engines and users discover and navigate through your product pages, category pages, blog posts, and more. Here’s how internal linking benefits your e-commerce site:
- Improved Crawlability:
- Search engine bots need to crawl your site to index it, but they can only follow the links on your pages. By strategically placing internal links throughout your site, you guide bots to discover all your pages, especially product pages that might otherwise get overlooked.
- Example: If you have a product page for a leather handbag, linking from your “Accessories” category page will help search engines find and index that specific product page more quickly.
- Distributes Link Equity:
- Link equity refers to the value passed from one page to another through links. By linking to your high-performing pages (like bestsellers or popular products), you pass link equity to other pages, helping them rank better.
- Example: If a blog post about fashion trends links to specific products like jackets or shoes, those product pages can receive a boost in rankings due to the link equity passed from the blog post.
- Improves User Experience:
- Internal linking helps users easily navigate your site and discover related products or content. For instance, linking from a product page to related products (like accessories for a handbag) improves the shopping experience and increases time spent on your site, which indirectly helps with SEO.
- Example: On a sneaker product page, you can include links to other sneaker styles or matching accessories. This keeps users engaged longer and makes it easier for them to find products they might like.
- Increases Page Authority:
- Internal links can help establish the authority of a page. Pages with more internal links pointing to them are often seen as more important by search engines, leading to better rankings.
- Example: If your homepage links to a specific category page (like “Men’s Shoes”), that category page is likely to gain more authority, which can help individual product pages in that category rank higher.
- Helps With Site Structure and Hierarchy:
- A well-structured site with clear internal links makes it easier for both search engines and users to understand the relationship between pages. This helps organize content by importance, guiding search engines on how to prioritize content.
- Example: Having a clear internal linking structure that connects category pages to subcategories and product pages helps search engines understand which pages are more important for a given topic, improving SEO.
Example
Let’s go back to the online store owner who’s selling products like leather handbags, shoes, and belts. Here’s how they can use internal linking to improve SEO:
- Linking to Related Products: On the product page for a leather handbag, the owner adds links to related accessories like belts or wallets. This not only keeps users on the site longer but also helps search engines find other relevant pages.
- Category Page Linking: On the homepage, the store owner links directly to important category pages like “Handbags” and “Men’s Shoes.” This gives these category pages more authority and makes it easier for users to find them.
- Blog Content: The store has a blog about fashion trends, and each blog post links to specific product pages. For example, an article titled “Top 5 Must-Have Accessories for 2024” links to specific handbags and belts available in the store. This helps distribute link equity from the blog post to the product pages.
- Optimizing Product Descriptions: On each product page, the owner includes links to related products in the description, like recommending a matching belt to go with a leather handbag. This encourages cross-selling while boosting SEO by adding more internal links.
As a result, the store owner’s product pages receive more visibility from search engines, users stay on the site longer, and sales start to increase.