Jul 06

Internal Link Building for On-Site Search Engine Optimization

An important aspect of your Internet Marketing Strategies is Search Engine Optimization. One of the most important aspects of On-Site Search Engine Optimization is Internal Link Building within the pages of your website.

Internal link building can greatly affect your SERPS for the keywords you are trying to rank for and give a tremendous amount of relevance to Google as to the main keywords of your website AND internal link building can also have a positive affect on your Bounce Rate.

Internal Link Building is when you link back to your own home page within your site’s content with the keywords you are targeting and want to rank for in the anchor text.

Deep Link - Internal Link Building is the same concept except you link back to pages on your website other than the home page (deep pages) with respective keywords as the anchor text.

For example, I want my blog to rank for the keyword search engine optimization and so on every post page of content on my site, where I will have the keyword search engine optimization I will link back to my home page at least once per page.

A deep link example: The keyword for my post 13 Ways to Link Building that also Increase Web Traffic is link building and so I will link back to that content page on other content pages in my site where the word link building appears within the content. Just like I have done in this paragraph.

Now you don’t have to add the link every time that keyword appears on a page, but at least once or twice is good.

By the way, this works best when the links are within content, not links just added to a page, this way they are natural and look better. One exception to this rule is the footer link with your best home page keyword in the anchor, this should be a standard practice.

Here is a screenshot:

Internal Link Building Example Screenshot

The links are underlined in blue and link back to the home page and other content pages within this blog. You can also see the links within this post that link back to the home page and various other posts on my blog.

Bounce Rate and Internal Link Building

Internal link building can have a positive and powerful effect on the the bounce rate of your website.

Bounce Rate is a term used in website traffic analysis. It represents the average percentage of initial visitors to a website who “bounce” away to another site, rather than continue to explore or browse to other pages within the same site.

When you provide rich interlinking of all your website pages this gives visitors more to click on and easier, immediate access to your site’s relevant content and easier navigation, which makes them stay longer on your site and this can greatly improve your bounce rate. Don’t leave it up to the visitors to explore your site, put your content “in their face” enticing them to stay longer and explore more of your site. To view and analyze your bounce rate set-up your sites with Google Analytics.

This may seem like a tedious process but it is one of the best on-site SEO strategies. If you are using Wordpress there are plug-ins that do this on auto pilot for keywords and urls you assign such as the KB Linker.

You can use Google Webmaster Tools (from the Dashboard click on Links Tab and then Pages with Internal Links), to check which of your pages are lacking internal links and go back and add links to the content.

Now, go build Internal Links!

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9 Responses to “Internal Link Building for On-Site Search Engine Optimization”

Beyond Niche Marketing Says:
July 6th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Regarding anchor text, I thought I’d read that Matt Cutts suggests that too much uniformity in the anchor text is “not” desirable. Does that mean you should vary the keyword throughout your content?

Beyond Niche Marketings last blog post..The New Magic Marketing Words: “Green”, “Secret”, “Cure” and “Fat”

[Reply ]
JR Says:
July 6th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Actually that is true for external backlinks to your sites, such as from Articles, Directories, link exchanges, there you want to vary your anchor by adding words to the main keywords, for example, if my main KW is Internet Marketing, then I may use that a few times, then switch to JR’s Internet Marketing, then switch to Internet Marketing Strategies etc…If you don’t vary your anchor on external links and you get thousands per month then it may be viewed as Spam by Google. But in regards to Internal Linking as I mention in the post you don’t link every time the keyword comes up to the same page, only one link per keyword per page.

[Reply ]
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach Says:
July 7th, 2008 at 7:42 am
My technique is to vary which words I use to link….and in what blog posts to place them.

I figure people aren’t 100% uniform in writing blogs, so trying to link EVERY instance would smack of a plugin/machine/etc.

Good information you provided,

Barbra

[Reply ]
Dennis Edell Says:
July 7th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
This is the one boat so many people miss…deep linking is aces above linking to your homepage, ESPECIALLY from outside sources.

Blog comment URL fields are a prime example of this.

Dennis Edells last blog post..Captcha Issue: Why You WILL Lose My Comment - Possibly My Subscription

[Reply ]
JR reply on July 7th, 2008 3:18 pm:
Thank you Dennis for your feedback and for your helpful participation on the blog, I appreciate it.

[Reply ]
Don’t Wait for the Seach Engines - 14 Ways to Increase Website Traffic Now! Says:
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
[...] Search Engine Optimization seems to be foremost on everyone’s mind. And, of course, this is an important aspect of Internet Marketing and should be given its rightful dues. However, you cannot rely solely on Search Engines for your website traffic. [...]
saltwater aquarium advice Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 11:53 am
was never sure what bounce rate meant before, you cleared that u for me

[Reply ]
Time for Another Google Page Rank Update Says:
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[...] Internal Link Building for On-Site Search Engine Optimization [...]
Get Maximum Link Juice - 3 Crucial Types of Backlinks | Articlesbests.com Says:
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
[...] more at this step-by-step and hands on blogs full of techniques for Internet Marketing such as, Internal Link Building for On-Site Search Engine Optimization. [...]

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