Building a Network for Higher Page Rank – Good SEO Internal Linking
Using relevant and useful anchor text and having a good internal link structure are important to achieving high search engine rankings because they both carry a lot of weight with search engine algorithms. Web designers and SEO managers have used this knowledge to manipulate the system for higher search engine rankings in the past. However, in 2007, Google updated its algorithm to minimize keyword and anchor text manipulations, forcing web designers to use legitimate linking processes.
Let’s start with the most obvious internal linking practice: the use of keywords. Does the anchor text of your internal links include a keyword that you want to improve your rankings for? This is an important strategy that is often overlooked. The usual SEO precautions apply: don’t stuff links with multiple keywords, and always use keywords that naturally fit your content.
Then use your most recent content to optimize your older pages. Don’t be too quick to delete pages that don’t attract traffic and you think don’t contribute to your SEO performance. Revive them with links to your new articles. This will potentially increase clicks and send more traffic to your underserved pages and improve rankings on both the old page and the new link page.
Resist the urge to fill older pages with links from every other page on your site. One incoming link is enough for maximum effect. A page with multiple inbound links that was treated as a navigation hub (like a home page) rather than single content. To get the desired search engine ranking results, make sure the majority of your pages are considered unique content and not a navigation hub.
Out of habit, you may tend to place your internal links at the bottom of your page. This is a mistake! It’s best to place your links as high up on the page as possible. You don’t have to separate your links from the body text of a page. Try to place your links directly into your content, preferably within the first few paragraphs, if you can do that naturally.
Also limit the number of links pointing away from a page. The same “nav center” risk exists with outgoing links, though not as much. In general, limit outbound links from a new page to other relevant pages on your site to three. This is good SEO practice and also puts pressure on you to judicially choose your links.
Choose your links carefully. Only use links that are relevant to the content on the page. Search engine algorithms are extremely clever at judging the relevance of a page. Don’t try to game the system. Use links that make sense and go a long way to educating your site visitors.
I hope you found this article educational and inspiring. General SEO advice is necessary and helpful when you first start to learn and use search engine optimization strategies, but as your skill and knowledge increase, you need to develop more advanced techniques. Learning to create effective internal links is one of them.
