Secrets of Effective Internal Linking for Traffic Growth

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Internal linking, or link interaction, is a way of connecting pages of one site with each other using hyperlinks. It improves navigation on the site, helps distribute link weight and helps the resource get to the top of search results for key queries.

So, to create internal linking, you can place a link to a product card in a blog article, a link to a catalog in a product card, etc. This type of linking of pages can be complex and multi-level.

In this article, we will look at why interlinking is needed, how to do it, and what types of schemes there are.

When you try to link one page to another

*When you try to link one page to another

Why internal linking is necessary
Internal linking is a system of links leading from one page of a site to another. It performs the following functions:

Improves navigation. Links help visitors find the information they need on a topic of interest faster and improve usability.
Increases the time visitors spend on the site. Users who follow links stay on the site longer. This has a positive effect on the resource's behavioral factors.
Speeds up indexing. Search engines crawl and index pages better when they are linked together.
Transfers link weight. When structured correctly, an authoritative page transfers weight to less visited pages, thereby improving their ranking in search engines.
Protects content. When copying articles, all internal links remain in the text. Even if someone canada whatsapp data borrowed the content, users will go to the original site from other resources.
Increases the authority of the page. The more links that point to a page, the more search engines trust it.
Improves usability. If necessary, users can find out more information on a topic by clicking on a link from an article. People do not have to search for additional information on their own. This increases convenience and improves the user experience.
Increases relevance to the request. Crawlers scan not only the main page, but also donor pages.
The effectiveness of linking pages can be seen in the example of the Ninja Outreach study . The company's SEO specialist performed internal linking of the site and, for the sake of the purity of the experiment, did not perform any further work on optimizing the resource.

As a result, the site's organic traffic grew by more than 40% within a couple of months.

It is worth understanding that internal linking can significantly help in website promotion. The main thing is to know the rules. We will talk about them further.

Main types of internal links
Now that we have covered the basic concepts, let's look at what types of internal links exist. Let's clarify right away that there are several classifications based on different criteria.

Based on the location of links, experts distinguish the following types of internal links:

Contextual. Links direct users to pages that expand or complement the information presented in the article. They can be located in any part of the text. This method of interlinking is ideal for blogs, information sites and online stores. You have probably seen the headings “Similar articles”, “People also bought this product” or “View similar products/articles”, etc. on websites. This is contextual interlinking.
End-to-end. In this case, links to the most important sections are present on each page of the site, for example, in the menu, header or footer.
Depending on the method of placing links, internal linking is divided into the following types:

Automatic. This type of interlinking is performed using special plugins, services or CMS tools. This is an effective way to create a site map, menu, footer, breadcrumbs, especially if we are talking about a large resource where the list of sections is constantly updated. Automatic interlinking is performed faster than manual (we will talk about it below). The disadvantages include a high risk of errors. It is advisable to double-check with the service whether the links are placed correctly.
Manual. With this type of interlinking, the site administrator places the links. This is a more labor-intensive method, which is most often used in company blogs. Manual interlinking allows you to place a link in the most appropriate place in terms of meaning, write the anchor and near-link text yourself. This method reduces the risk of making a mistake.
Based on the presence of an anchor, the following types of internal linking can be distinguished:

Anchor. This is a type of interlinking in which links are attached to a specific word or phrase. The anchor is located between the HTML tags <a> and </a>. Here's what it looks like: <a href="link">Link text</a>. It is important that anchors contain keywords, are varied, stand out from the background of the article, and are relevant to the surrounding anchor text.
Anchorless. In this case, links are presented as a website URL, in images or with words that do not contain key queries, such as “read here,” “learn more,” etc. Although such links do not help in determining the relevance of the page, they also convey weight and facilitate navigation on the site.
If you want to learn more about anchor and non-anchor links, check out our article on the topic.