A Content Writer’s Guide to Internal Linking
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As a content writer, familiarity with internal linking is essential. Internal links play a very important role in search engine optimization (SEO). They help Google’s web crawlers understand your website’s structure, meaning your content is more likely to rank and readers can navigate your site more easily.
Put simply, internal links help you reach your target audience…and what’s not to like about that? You’ve invested time, energy, and maybe even a little bit of your soul into producing your content, so of course you want to get it out to as many people as possible!
In this post, we’ll take a look at:
- What internal links are
- How they differ from external links
- How internal links can impact SEO
- Our recommendations for using internal links in your content
Read on to learn more!
What Is Internal Linking?
Internal links are hyperlinks that point from one page on your website to another page on your website.
When you click on an internal link, you stay on the same domain. For example, this is an internal link to the rest of our writing tips (we hope you find them useful!). If you click on this link, you stay on our website but go to a different page (notice that both pages start with the same domain name: knowadays.com). From there, you’ll see a whole range of internal links taking you to other useful and relevant information. Just don’t get carried away and forget to come back here!
Much like external links, internal links can be placed in text, images, or call-to-action buttons. Wherever they’re placed, they serve an important purpose:
- They help your users to navigate your site, keeping them around for longer
- They help your readers find interesting, related content
- They give your site a clear, logical structure (or architecture)
- They enable search engines like Google understand the structure of your website
More on all of the above coming up shortly!
Internal Links vs External Links
Internal and external links are equally important, but they each serve a different function. As we’ve said, internal links help your audience, as well as search engine crawlers, to navigate your website.
External links, on the other hand, point readers to websites other than your own. You probably don’t want to think of your readers wandering off to consume someone else’s content, but it can actually be a good thing – so long as the content you link out to is relevant and from a reputable source. For example, here’s an external link to the word games on Merriam-Webster’s website. After all, everyone needs some playtime!
A good balance between internal and external links, combined with a strong linking strategy that includes both, will set you on the road to high search engine rankings and help get your content out there.
Do Internal Links Help SEO?
They sure do! The most important factor in your content’s success (after your own creative genius, of course) is making sure it’s written with SEO in mind.
Understanding how search engines rank your content can be tricky, even for SEO professionals. But it’s worth getting to grips with internal linking best practices if you want your content to have greater reach and impact.
There are three main benefits of internal links for SEO:
- They provide information about site structure to search engine crawlers.
- They help users navigate your site, increasing dwell time.
- They pass and increase authority.
Let’s look at each of these benefits in more detail.
Reinforce Site Structure
As we mentioned before, internal linking helps to give your site a clear structure, which search engines love! Search engines work by:
- Sending out crawlers (also known as ‘robots’ or ‘spiders’). Crawlers scan websites by following links from one webpage to another and working out how they all fit together.
- Indexing web pages. Once a page has been crawled, it will be indexed. This means it’s stored in the search engine’s database and will show up in search results.
- Ranking web pages. Indexed web pages are then ranked based on factors such as relevance, content quality, and usability.
If you adopt a strong internal linking strategy, the crawlers have a much easier time finding and understanding new content when you add it. Clear link paths show the crawlers the contextual relationships between various pages.
Don’t worry too much if you can’t get your head around the techie details here; just remember that strong internal links in the right places make it easier for search engines to find and rank your content.
Increase Dwell Time
An effective internal linking structure can increase dwell time on your site. Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on your website or blog.
There’s some debate as to whether dwell time is a ranking factor. Either way, a high dwell time can be a good indicator that your content is useful and fully addresses the user’s search intent. By providing links to even more high-quality related content, you provide the user with extra value. This keeps them on your site and means they’re much more likely to take action, such as sharing your content or making a purchase.
Pass Authority
Authority is a confirmed search engine ranking factor. In the context of SEO, authority is about how well a webpage meets the searcher’s expectations.
Authority is crucial for search engines. The more satisfied a user is with their search results, the more likely they are to use that search engine again, thereby increasing their exposure to advertising – an important revenue source for search engines.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine someone Googles, “How to make a red velvet cake.” A blog post written by a professional chef who explains the process step-by-step would provide the searcher with what they were looking for. A blog post that simply lists the ingredients in a red velvet cake, with no instructions, would not. The first blog post would build up more authority (also known as link equity, link juice, or PageRank). Any webpage linked to that blog post would get a share of this authority – effectively giving it a vote of confidence in the eyes of the search engine.
Internal Linking Best Practices
In this section, we’ll examine some techniques that will help you work up a great internal linking strategy.
Link to Pillar Content
Pillar content, or pillar pages, are the mainstays of your site. They’re designed to be the central hub for a set of sub-topics, and they’re also great for establishing your site’s authority.
For instance, say you’re writing a motorcycling blog. Pillar pages might cover things like:
- Buying a bike
- Dealing with maintenance issues
- Essential biker clothing
- Popular routes
These pillar pages would give an overview of each main topic. You’d link to them from your homepage and put other internal links (to more detailed content on each topic) on each pillar page. For example, the ‘popular routes’ pillar page might talk about your top five rides, tips for choosing a great route, and advice on staying safe on your travels. The ‘five top rides’ section of the pillar page could then link to another page showing maps, accommodation, and food stops along each route.
Link to High-Quality, Content-Rich Pages
This is about adding value for your readers, as well as optimizing your content for search engines. In other words, creating people-first content.
When you add internal links to a piece of content, consider what else the reader would find helpful. Try to select your best, most comprehensive content. And of course, make sure it’s contextually relevant! Not only will you make your reader happy but you’ll also achieve all of the things discussed above – help search engine crawlers index your site, increase dwell time, and pass authority between pages.
Link to Popular Content
We’d also recommend including links to your most popular content (i.e., pages with high traffic and high authority) in your newer content. As we mentioned earlier, the popular page will share its link juice with the new page. Google will then see this as a vote of confidence for the new page and likely give it a rankings boost.
Use Descriptive Anchor Text
Anchor text is the clickable part of a sentence that sends you to another webpage.
Take a look at any of the links in this post and you’ll see that they are descriptive, keyword-rich phrases. This means they give you information about the page you’re being directed to, so you know what to expect before you click through. Just using “click here” or “read more” for instance, tells the user nothing helpful about what’s at the other end of the link.
In addition, descriptive anchor text is important for accessibility.
Use an Appropriate Number of Links
According to the Search Engine Journal’s guide to using internal links, Google cautions against using too many links. Too many links on one page can actually dilute their value and confuse the reader – and most likely confuse the search engine crawler, too.
There’s no set number of links you should use, but SEO expert Neil Patel suggests using 5 to 10 links every 2,000 words as a rough guide. You can use more than that, but always prioritize quality over quantity.
Refresh Your Links
Regularly refresh your content and check that any internal links are still up-to-date and working. We recommend doing this once a month or so. Content refreshing and link auditing are important tasks that are easy to overlook in the excitement of getting your content written and out there. Maintenance matters too!
When you update old content and add new links, search engine crawlers will re-index the page. This increases the likelihood of pushing your content higher up the search rankings, so it’s well worth the effort.
It’s also good practice to audit your links, both internal and external. We’ve all clicked on a link that takes us to the dreaded ‘404 error page’ or a redirection to a home page. It’s irritating and reduces the value of your content, so take a few minutes each month and run an audit. You can do that manually or use link audit software, such as Semrush or Ahrefs.
Becoming A Freelance Writer
We hope you’ve found this post useful. Perhaps it’s inspired you to create your own content, or even specialize in SEO content writing. If you’d like to kickstart your career as a content writer, our course, Becoming A Freelance Writer, will teach you all you need to know to succeed! You can even try two lessons out for free.
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