Internal links are hyperlinks that point to different pages on your website.
They are different from external links, which link to pages on other websites.
This is what an internal link looks like on an active page:
And here’s a sample of what the code looks like in the backend of a website:
Next, we’ll look at why internal links special database are important for SEO, how to create an effective internal linking strategy, and how to fix common internal linking problems.
Why Internal Links Are Important for SEO
Internal links are a crucial part of SEO for three main reasons:
- Internal links help search engines understand the structure of your site.
- They transmit authority
- They help users navigate your site
Let’s dig into the details.
1. They help search engines understand the structure of your website
When you use internal links strategically, you surprise them with unconditional points: signal that page A is related to page B. This helps Google understand the context of your pages and how different pages relate to each other.
A strong internal linking structure also helps search engines crawl (discover) and index (store in their database) the pages on your site.
As Google states in its guide to how search works, “Some pages are known because Google has crawled them before. Other pages are discovered when Google follows a link from a known page to a new page.”
Here’s a visual representation of how it works:
Additionally, internal links can help demonstrate the contextual relationship between two pages.
2. They pass authority
Internal links help pass authority (or PageRank ) to other pages on your site. PageRank is an algorithm that Google uses to measure the importance of a web page when ranking it.
Let’s say page A has a lot of external links pointing to it. This means that page A probably has more authority through PageRank. This authority can be passed on to page C and other connected pages via internal links.
So:
Identifying these pages can help you make the most of the authority coming into your site to improve rankings.
3. They help users navigate between relevant pages
Internal links also improve your site’s user experience (UX) by helping visitors find related content.
Let’s say a user lands on an article on your site about “how to build a PC.”
You can include internal links to relevant product pages with PC parts or to related content, such as an article on “how to fix a PC fan.”
Your goal should be to keep users on your site so that they complete the desired action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, purchasing a product, etc.
Showing users relevant and useful content on the right pages is the perfect way to do this.
Understanding the different types of internal links
There are several types of internal links: navigation, footer, contextual and sidebar.
This is how they appear on your site.
Navigation links
Navigation links are the most important sault data internal links, because they live permanently in your main menu. They also make up the main navigation structure of your site.