Internal linking is important for a number of reasons. It helps Googlebot crawl and index your site more effectively, it can help reduce your bounce rate, and it can even help you rank for certain keywords.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at internal linking and why it’s so important for SEO. We’ll also provide some tips on how to properly internal link on your WordPress site.
Let’s get started!
What is internal linking?
Internal linking is the process of linking to other pages on your own website. So, for example, if I’m writing about “SEO“, I would link that word to my SEO page on my own site. This can be done in a number of ways, but most commonly it is done by inserting a hyperlink with anchor text.
Why internal linking is important for SEO?
Internal linking helps pass link juice (or ranking power) from one page on your website to another. This is important because it helps improve the overall ranking of your website pages.
Internal links also help you keep readers on your website longer. When a reader clicks on a link in your content, they are taken to another page on your website. If that page contains interesting and relevant information, the reader is likely to stick around and explore more of your website. This increases the likelihood that they will eventually convert into a customer or client.
How internal linking works in WordPress
More than half of the web, and at least 80% of our agency clients, are in WordPress, so that’s what we’ll cover here.
There are a few different ways to internal link within WordPress. The most common way is by using the “Link” button in the post editor toolbar.
- When you click on the “Link” button, a new, smaller window will open up that allows you to enter the URL of the page you want to link to. You can also choose to link to a specific section on that page by entering the “Title” of the section into the “Link To” field.
- You can also add internal links by using anchor text. Anchor text is text that you create as a hyperlink. When a reader clicks on the anchor text, they are taken to the page you linked to. To add anchor text, highlight the text you want to use as your hyperlink and click on the “Anchor Text” tab in the post editor toolbar. From there, you can enter the URL of the page you want to link to.
It’s also important to note that internal links should always be used sparingly. Too many internal links can actually hurt your website’s ranking, because Googlebot will interpret it as spam. Only use internal links when it makes sense to do so.
When asked if internal linking is a helpful SEO strategy, Google’s John Meuller recently said: “Yes, absolutely. It’s something where internal linking is super critical for SEO. I think it’s one of the biggest things that you can do on a website to kind of guide Google and guide visitors to the pages that you think are important. And what you think is important is totally up to you.”
If you want to learn more about internal linking and SEO, check out this article from Search Engine Journal: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/internal-linking-critical-for-seo/441381/#close
