Hyperlinks are really important — they are what makes the Web a web.Mozilla Developer Network
Hyperlinks have been integral to the Web since its inception. As mentioned in my post about broken links, there are two main types of links—internal and external—each defined by their target destination. Generally, a link to a page outside the same domain or website is considered external, whereas one that points to another section of the same web page or another page within the same website or domain is considered internal. Continuing with my blog posts housekeeping journey, it’s time to focus on properly managing my internal links 1.
Why internal linking is important
The existence of internal links are used in websites in order to navigate to multiple pages under a domain, making them a requirement if a website were to have more than one page (unless that page is meant to be inaccessible to the average visitor). Internal Links are also commonly used by web crawlers (e.g. for indexing a website for a search engine).Wikipedia
Improved site navigation
Internal linking helps users and search engines navigate your website more efficiently. While the navigation menu, footer links, and tag/category pages guide users to essential areas, contextual links—i.e., those in-text links placed within the main body of page content—go beyond this functionality. They should point users to interesting and related content.
By providing clear and relevant links within the content, you help users find their way around your site, locate information they’re interested in, and move from one topic or section to another seamlessly. This reduces frustration and encourages visitors to explore more of your content, ultimately improving user satisfaction and retention.Hike SEO
When users can quickly access the information they’re interested in, they are more likely to stay on your site and appreciate the value it offers. Guiding visitors to relevant content ensures they spend more time exploring your site, allowing them to discover valuable information they might have otherwise missed.
They might not see a page if there are no links to it.
Enhanced user experience
Effective internal links create a seamless browsing experience, allowing your audience to dig deeper and learn more about specific topics of interest. Beyond finding related content, internal links can expand on ideas, refer to resources, or define terms. Providing additional information or insights on similar subjects helps your visitors understand complex topics better and increases their satisfaction, encouraging deeper engagement with your content.
Internal links lead to people spending more time on your site and decreasing your bounce rate. The more time your readers spend reading old blog posts, learning new information, and becoming more familiar with your brand, the better.Kali Bizzul
SEO advantages
Search engines like Google use internal links to crawl and index the pages on your site. Similar to your users, they might not see a page if there are no links to it—or it may take them longer to reach these pages. By strategically linking to important content, you can improve your site’s visibility in search engine results.
Internal links help search engines like Google find your most important pages. Search engines use internal linking as an indicator of a page’s importance on a website. If a post or page gets many links, it signals to search engines that it’s an essential or high-value article. A website with good interlinking between related content can convince ranking algorithms that the website has extensive, authoritative information—a positive signal of a website’s quality.
Internal links also help distribute page authority across your site, ensuring even less prominent pages get their share of link equity, enhancing your overall SEO performance. Ultimately, internal linking allows you to account for two of the most important ranking factors: page authority and relevance. It also reduces bounce rate and increases time on page—two very important user experience metrics.
Using the right internal linking strategy can boost your SEO!
Internal linking strategy — Mea culpa; I had it all wrong!
Internal linking is something you control as a site owner. You’ll guide visitors and Google to your most important pages with the correct internal links.Edwin Toonen
Let me repeat: internal links should point users to interesting and related content and help search engines like Google find your most important pages. I came to understand this—and how wrong I was with my handling of internal links—while working on this post. Initially, I intended to focus on adding new links (to future posts) to my old blog posts 2. This is a crucial aspect of a good internal linking strategy (see below). However, it appears that my blog’s internal linking needs much more than this.
Blinded by the sirens of SEO, I erroneously thought that I should link to all my posts as much as possible. Whenever I had the opportunity to link to a previous post, I took it—regardless of the old post’s value or its relevance to my readers. Any keyword barely related to the content of a previous post ended up as a link. If you follow this blog, you may have noticed this was particularly evident in my introductions, which were overloaded with links to previous posts. Linking just for the sake of linking is wrong! Instead, I should have linked with intent and purpose, focusing on relevance and utility for the reader.
It’s always important to keep these internal links relevant and not just link everything to each other. However tempting that may be.Marieke van de Rakt
Following this misguided approach, I linked to all my posts indiscriminately, no matter their importance. To be honest, since that fateful summer of 2020, not all my posts offer helpful, engaging, and informative content. Linking to posts that don’t add value (or are off-topic) must have frustrated my readers more than once. This not only diluted the value of my links but also likely harmed my credibility with both readers and search engines. Linking to low-value or irrelevant content is wrong! I should ensure that each link genuinely enhances the reader’s understanding or provides valuable additional information.
Of course, in my quest to insert links at every opportunity, I didn’t pay much attention to anchor texts. Any keyword would do, right? Needless to say, not using descriptive anchor text is wrong! This applies not only to the readers but also to SEO.
To sum up, prioritizing SEO (and doing it poorly) over user experience was probably the biggest mistake I made. Overwhelming my readers with excessive links must have appeared spammy and been distracting. Moreover, I suspect this poor SEO strategy backfired. From now on 3, I will consider whether the links improve the reading experience and help users navigate my content effortlessly. By focusing on my readers and linking only when it adds clear value, I am confident it will also pay off in terms of ranking.
To be continued…
1 There are several types of internal links, including menu links, footer links, and contextual links within content. This post will focus solely on contextual links, as it is part of my blog posts housekeeping journey. ^
2 This was indeed the third item on my to-do list (see blog posts housekeeping) and I thought that this post would just be about this implementation. Oh naïve! ^
3 This statement reflects my commitment to gradually updating all my old posts as part of my ongoing blog housekeeping, albeit at a slow pace whenever I find the time. Additionally, I will apply these best practices to all new posts, but only once this mini-series is complete. Therefore, this post may not yet fully adhere to these guidelines. ^