What Is Internal Links?

Welcome to “what is internal links” and how can they help you?

Congratulations on starting your own blogging website

Internal Links are vital to the success of your webpage, and they are very easy to learn and apply as you will see below.

In this article, we will learn:

• what internal links are
• how to use them
• when to use them
• why we should use them
• how they can really help us

So let’s just get right into it…

What Are Internal Links?

Simply put, an internal link is a hyperlink that links one article to another within the same website.

They are a very important part of your website because of SEO strategy.

Internal links can help your visitors navigate your site more easily, as your articles are organized and linked via categories.

For example, write a post on the main topic, then link out to articles on sub-topics, those sub-topics can link back to the main topic or even to each other.

How To Use Internal Links?

Using internal links effectively will take some planning on your part.

Just having them will help but developing a strategy is best.

As is the example above having your main category link out to sub-categories is a great way to expand on an explanation of your topic.

I will use my own site as an example.

If I write my main topic on Diabetes, sub-topics could be types of diabetes, diabetes treatments, diabetes diet etc.

I could even further sublink.

For example, the Main topic-diabetes, Sub-topic- diabetes diet, and Various articles within that sub-topic could be the keto diet, Mediterranean diet, etc.

As someone reads your article and finds information of interest they can quickly and easily go to that topic to learn further on int.

When Should I Use Them?

Use internal links when it makes sense to further elaborate on the particular topic you are discussing within your article.

Internal links pass page authority and traffic from one web page to another.

Internal links help bring new attention to older articles.

Why Should I Use Them?

Internal links help Google find, index and understand all of the pages on your site.

When used strategically, internal links can send page authority (also known as PageRank) to important pages.

Simply put, internal links are important for any site that wants higher rankings in search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo.

Effective Internal Link Strategies

I have learned that in order to use internal links effectively it is best to have an overall strategy for your website.

As I mentioned above it is a good idea to have the main article on a relatively broad topic then have other articles related to that main article. This allows both the main and sub-articles to link to each other.

This strategy can go several layers deep which is great.

Create Plenty Of Content

If you want to use a lot of internal links you need a lot of content.

It stands to reason that if you have lots of content you are better able to create lots of internal links.

Be careful you don’t overuse them though.

It is also important that they do make sense.

Think of your website as a big spider-web. All the pages are linked or cross-linked in such a way as to make it easy to navigate and find all the information you want or need easily.

My favourite tool for creating keyword-rich content is Jaaxy.

It is easy to use and I find it very effective for finding long-tail keywords that make the internal linking flow more naturally.

Use Anchor Text

This is a great way to use internal links in a natural way.

Just write your article naturally and let the words flow, linking where it makes sense.

Using natural sentence fragments as your link rather than always putting “click here” is a much more effective method.

For example:

“Want more info on Jaaxy, click here.”

This is a more direct way.

or, you can do it this way.

“I love how simple Jaaxy is and user-friendly for keyword research.”

Do you see how the first example is harsh and direct and doesn’t flow naturally?

The second example flows naturally yet you know exactly what to do if you want more info.

I certainly prefer the second method however the more direct method can be effective as well at times.

Link Deep

Don’t just link to your homepage. You want to link to articles deep within your website.

Linking your new content to some of your older articles effectively brings them back to the forefront rather than leaving them buried.

The best links are natural links to content deep within your site.

Use Natural Links

Use links that make sense to the reader whether they are internal or external links.

Put yourself in the shoes of the reader for a moment, and read your article.

• Ask yourself do the links make sense?
• Do the links add value?
• Do the links add additional information?

When the links are natural for the reader they will follow the links and learn more information.

This helps build trust, trust in your site, and trust in you as an authority, while keeping them on your site longer which Google loves.

Using internal content links sends a strong signal to both search engines and users that the content you are linking to is really good.

Readers appreciate and want that, proving that internal linking is beneficial to the reader while simultaneously helping your SEO.

Ensure The Links Are Relevant

Don’t link for the sake of linking.

It has to make sense and what you are linking to has to be relevant to the topic you are discussing in your article.

For example,

• I have an article about “type 1 diabetes complications“

and

• I also have an article about the importance of crafts for the elderly.

Should I link the two?

Absolutely not.

I would be far better off linking to a more relevant article.

For example,

• The “type 1 diabetes complications” article could link to a “symptoms of type 1 diabetes” article.

Do you see how that makes much more sense and would enhance the readers’ experience by offering more relevant content?

Don’t Use No-follow Links

What is a no-follow link?

A no-follow is a setting on a web page hyperlink that tells the search engines not to use the link for page ranking calculations.

I don’t know about you but I would hope search engines would follow my links to find other relevant content that they may have missed.

Do yourself a favour and allow the search engines to follow your links and rank you accordingly.

Use A Reasonable Number Of Internal Links

Google recommends that you use a reasonable number of links within your article.

How many is a reasonable number?

Who knows?

I think that would depend on the length of your article

Final Thoughts

I believe we have a much better understanding of what is internal links and we should now be able to use them effectively.

We have learned that internal links are used to add value and information to our articles.

When used properly they can even assist the search engines in crawling your site discovering all of your posts to better be able to properly rank you.

Internal links can help your readers navigate your site and effectively keeps them on your site longer which Google loves.

It is important to ensure the links are used in a natural, relevant way that enhances the reader’s experience.

Make sure they make sense and don’t overuse them.

If you have not tried Jaaxy Keyword Research tool out yet you must give it a try, I know you will love it as much as I do.

How have you used internal links in your websites?

Have you discovered any tips that may help our readers understand how and when to use internal links?

Leave your answers in the comment section below.