Internal linking is one of the most important attributes for user friendly sites. It is also a great way to earn points from search engines and seduce readers to browse the site.
So how do we go about internal linking? First, we must find out what our site is on. Then, we look up the keywords and divide them into categories of most important, important, less important, etc. Use subcategories of short keywords (one to three keywords), long keywords (four or more) for each.
So for impNERD, here is a extremely cutoff table:
Most of my keywords are three or less, so I won’t be in need of an additional table that lists the short and long keyword phrases.
With the short keyword phrases I will have a much easier time finding space on my pages for links, even within the navigation without messing with the sites design, but they are generally harder to rank for. Longer keyword phrases are more difficult to link, as it is usually done within the content only and not the navigation, but are generally easier to rank for.
To configure our site navigation we will first decide what type we will use. There are two main types of navigation, site structure and breadcrumb.
Site structure is the most common site navigation used on websites. It is thought of as a list of links to the most important “first layer” pages. This allows visitors to find different locations of the website wherever they are located within the domain.
Breadcrumb navigation lists where the user is located and links the list of layers back to the homepage. e.g. Home > SEO > Linking > Internal
Note: With breadcrumb navigation it is important to have your homepage list the top level pages so the user.
The short most important keyword phrases should be used for the navigation, that is, if possible. Although site navigation links aren’t given extra link juice from search engines (actually a lot less), they help pages get listed quickly and are an important part of a visitors experience. In some cases the short most important keyword phrases are the same meaning or are a subcategory of another, thus not all can be used. In the example only Internet Marketing and Technology will be used since SEO and SEM are a subcategory of Internet Marketing.
The next step in internal linking is “all the rest”. If some keywords couldn’t fit within the site navigation (most likely) the pages will need to be linked from somewhere else.
If your site is a medium-to-large site, you will probably have more than one site layer. If this is the case a second site navigation could be used. For example, when clicking on “Internal Marketing” the user is taken to a page that lists the different types of Internet Marketing.
If your site is small, there isn’t a need for a second layer.
Now onto the content pages. There are a few ways to link internally within content pages. One is to mention other pages within the content and link directly to them. This is a great way to link to the long keyword phrases and to mix it up, e.g. Using the words “Search Engine Marketing” instead of just SEM. Another way is to have a list of ‘related pages’ underneath or to the side of the page.
As a recap:
- Find your keywords.
- Divide them up to find the most important, important and less important.
- Create the site navigation.
- Create a second layer (or third if needed) layer if the site is medium-to-large.
- Link to other pages within the content of each article.
Written: May 26, 2008
Dennis Edell
May 28, 2008 @ 11:15 am
Perfect timing! I’ve been re-combing my blog for days now, seeing what can link to what.
This is quite helpful and will be kept