One of the key ways many people try to optimise their rankings in the eyes of Google is through increasing the amount of external links that point to their site. This is all well and good – but very often brands completely overlook the huge benefits that come with a solid internal link structure. Here’s a few ways to get the most out of your internal links:
Let’s start with the basics – if you the navigation of your site is a mess, solid internal link structures aren’t going to make much difference. You need to make everything as simple and obvious as possible so your users have no problem getting around your site. At the end of the day, your site should be made for users to visit. If you’re sacrificing this for the sake of SEO, you’re doing things wrong. Google would prefer a small number of people using your site with high engagement rather than a large number who leave immediately. This in itself will help your search rankings.
Internal links themselves will really contribute to the overall authority of your site. If you’ve got a web of links interconnecting within your site, Google will see that you have a lot of important content which is all relevant. Just to re-emphasise – pleasing Google should be your main aim here.
Let’s say you have a blog that has similar themes to other pieces of content you’ve posted. Linking them all up not only keeps people on your site for longer – it puts the authority of your site right in front of Google’s eyes. This will make your blog posts much more relevant in search engine results and will place them above other posts that only have external posts.
Bear in mind that, when you search for something on Google you’re not surfing the entire internet – you’re actually seeing Google’s index of the internet. The main aim of the site is to push up the most relevant pages it can find to your search. When Google takes a look at your site, it doesn’t just search for internal links – it tries to find a wide variety too. The best way to get around this is dropping various anchor phrases that are linked to different pages on your site. The same anchor phrase that links to different areas of your domain won’t do your search engine results any good. As they say, variety is the spice of life.
Will some of this may sound complicated, it really is very simple at its core. Completing these basic tasks can really shoot you up the SERPs and push you that bit closer to your competitors. If you’re looking for an agency to help you out, we’d recommend Bark Social – a friendly agency with experience in all matters SEO.
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