What Is Internal Linking & Why Is It Important for SEO?

What is an Internal Link?

An internal link sends users to a different page on the same website. The source domain and target domain are the same.

Not sure what that means? The same domain basically means the same website.

Internal links can make navigating your site easier, and they let visitors know that a particular page is important. The right links increase your rankings in Google search results for better SEO or search engine optimization.

For example, a restaurant’s website may have pages such as Menu, Locations, Hours, Contact, Services, etc.

On the Services Page, it would be lucrative to link the Catering section to the Menu page – that way it saves a step for the user to access the menu. This is the 21st century and consumers have a small attention span and want things to be as easy as possible. By designing your website as easily navigable as possible, you are getting your customers that much closer to a lead conversion.

Here’s a more interactive example for you. You are currently reading a blog on the Exults website and we are learning about Search Engine Optimization. If someone doesn’t know what that is, or how its helpful for a company’s web presence, by ‘internally linking’ the Search Engine Optimization text above, a user can click that to learn about it while still staying on the website – you’ll notice that they have the same domains.

Here are some of the ways internal linking can help website owners.

More Views for Older Content

When you add a new post to your blog, include two or three links to related articles or product pages on your site. That way people will look at your website longer and even posts you made months or years ago will get regular views. This increases your site’s overall ranking as well as the rankings of individual pages that get lots of exposure.

Better Organization

On your homepage, you can add links to your latest blog posts or the most popular pages on your site. You can also categorize service pages, product pages, and the primary topics on your blog. Internal links provide clear paths and a tight-knit network of pages and posts for your website.

Added Emphasis for Keywords

Most of the time, internal links should use anchor text instead of linked images. When internal links use keywords, they give users extra encouragement to click and stay on your page longer. The highlighted keywords also stand out and give readers an idea of the topic when they look over the page before they start reading. However, you should avoid keyword stuffing and use sentence fragments that sound natural as anchor text.

Exults is short for Excellent and Results. Our company was founded in 2005 as Search Engine Operator, and we changed our name to reflect the quality service that customers receive. We can help your business improve its SEO and increase sales. Check out our website or call us at 866-999-4736 for help with internal linking, social media, and more.