As part of an SEO strategy, internal and external link building is crucial for optimizing a website.
By internal linking, we mean adding links from one page on your website to another. This helps search engines understand the relationships between different pages on your site, and can also help improve your website’s navigation.
External linking, on the other hand, means adding links from your website to other websites. This helps improve your site’s link popularity, which is one of the factors search engine algorithms use to rank websites.
Both internal and external linking are important for SEO. However, before you start adding links willy-nilly, it’s important to understand how to do it right. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on internal and external linking optimization.
Internal Links VS External Links
Let’s start by looking at the difference between internal and external links.
As we mentioned above, internal links are links that go from one page on your website to another. For example, if you have a blog post about SEO and you want to link to a page on your website about PPC, that would be an internal link. Another example, if you have a page about SEO tips for small businesses, it would make sense to link to a page about local SEO or mobile SEO.
External links, on the other hand, are links that go from your website to another website. For example, if you wrote a blog post about SEO and you wanted to link to an article on Moz.com about the same topic, that would be an external link.
Both internal and external link building are important for SEO. However, they serve different purposes.
Internal links help search engines understand the relationships between different pages on your website. They also help improve your website’s navigation. External links help improve your site’s link popularity, which is one of the factors search engine algorithms use to rank websites.
Internal Linking Optimization
When it comes to internal linking, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
1. Use keywords wisely
While internal link building, be sure to use relevant keywords in the anchor text. This will help search engines understand what the page you’re linking to is about, and can also help improve your website’s ranking for that keyword.
2. Don’t overdo it
While it’s important to use keywords in your anchor text, you don’t want to go overboard. Stuffing too many keywords into your anchor text can actually hurt your website’s SEO. So, use keywords judiciously and try to keep your anchor text natural-sounding.
3. Make sure your links work
Broken links are bad for user experience and can also hurt your website’s SEO. So, before you add a link, be sure to check that the page you’re linking to is still live and working properly.
4. Link hierarchical pages
When internal linking, it’s generally best to link to pages that are higher up in your website’s hierarchy. For example, if you have a blog post about SEO, it would make more sense to link to your website’s SEO page than to a specific blog post about SEO.
5. Try adding navigational links
In addition to internal link building to related pages, you can also try adding navigational links. For example, if you have a blog post about SEO, you can add a link to your website’s SEO page in the sidebar or at the bottom of the post. This can help improve your website’s navigation and make it easier for users to find the information they’re looking for.
External Linking Optimization
When it comes to external link building, there are also a few things you need to keep in mind:
1. Link to high-quality websites
When you’re adding links to your website, be sure to link only to high-quality websites. Search engines use the quality of the websites you link to as a signal of the quality of your own website. So, if you link to low-quality websites, it could hurt your website’s ranking.
2. Use relevant keywords
Just like with internal link building, it’s important to use relevant keywords in your anchor text when adding external links. This will help search engines understand what the page you’re linking to is about, and can also help improve your website’s ranking for that keyword.
3. Don’t overdo it
As with internal linking, you don’t want to go overboard with external linking. Adding too many links, or links that are not relevant to your content, can actually hurt your website’s SEO. So, be sure to link only to high-quality websites that are relevant to your content
4. Make sure your links work
Broken links are bad for user experience and can also hurt your website’s SEO. So, before you add a link, be sure to check that the page you’re linking to is still live and working properly.
5. Don’t overdo link adding
While internal and external links are important for SEO, you don’t want to go overboard with link adding. Adding too many links, or links that are not relevant to your content, can actually hurt your website’s SEO. So, be sure to add links only judiciously and carefully.
6. Open In A New Window/Tab
When you’re adding external links, be sure to set them to open in a new window or tab. This way, if someone clicks on a link and leaves your site, they’ll still have your site open in their original browser window or tab.
7. Use Nofollow Links
If you’re linking to a low-quality website or if you don’t want to pass link juice (link equity) to the site you’re linking to, be sure to use a nofollow link.
Nofollow links are links that have the rel= “nofollow” attribute added to them. This tells search engines not to follow the link, and also not to pass link juice.
To add the nofollow attribute to a link, you’ll need to edit the HTML code. For example, if you wanted to add a nofollow link to www.example.com, you would add the following code:
<a href= “http://www.example.com/” rel= “nofollow”>www.example.com</a>
When adding nofollow links, be sure to still add relevant keywords in the anchor text. This will help search engines understand what the page you’re linking to is about.
Conclusion
Internal and external link building are both important for SEO. However, it’s important to do it right in order to avoid hurting your website’s ranking. So, be sure to use relevant keywords in your anchor text, link only to high-quality websites, and don’t overdo it.
Do you have any tips for internal or external linking optimization? Share them in the comments below!