The checklist for a perfect website is very long. You need to tick a lot of boxes. The user interface, considered one of the most important parts of a website, would be useless if you don't work on other technical things. Site speed, SEO optimization, responsiveness, internal and external linking, and many more. All these aspects need your attention as well.
Today, we will provide the same to one of them, i.e., internal linking. By the end of this guide, you will be well-equipped with the knowledge of internal linking.
Definition and Types of Internal Links
A single page you see or, in technical terms, being hosted on the internet is known as a webpage. When all these web pages are combined, they form a website. But the question we are concerned with is how these web pages get connected. What links them with each other?
Well, this is where the internal links come into play. The process of linking webpages of the same website or under the same domain is known as internal linking, and the ones that execute these linkings are known as internal links. Overall, through internal links, we can navigate through different pages of a website.
Types of Internal Links
Text Links
The very first type of internal link is a text link. Here, texts act as internal links through which one can navigate from one page to another. Let's simplify this with an example.
Suppose you have a blog website, and in one of your blogs, you have talked about various sports and have mentioned cricket, hockey, and many more. Additionally, you have also written about cricket in a separate blog. Now, with text links, you can connect both these blogs by converting the word cricket of your sports blog into a link. This link will direct users to the cricket blog, known as a text link.
Image Links
Next comes the image links. The concept is very similar to that of text links. The only difference is that images act as internal links instead of text. Users can navigate from one page to another via these images. The best example is an online store where, by clicking on the products' images, you get directed to its description page. Those product images are nothing but image links!
Navigation Menu
In simpler terms, the navigation menu is a collection of links. It is usually found at a web page's top, bottom, or sides. It is one of the most important features of a website, as it lets users easily navigate to different sections or web pages. With this, one doesn't have to go through the website for links. They can find all of those in one place.
For example, in a blog website, a navigation menu would usually consist of text links such as about, contact, and blogs, which would direct users to that respective page of the website.
Benefits of Internal Links
Improves User Experience
User experience improves with internal links. The navigation menu allows one to navigate the website from one place easily. They don't have to scroll through the entire website and look for links. Similarly, you can click on image links to get their information. There is no need to look for its title and then search for it.
Moreover, one of the best experiences a user can get is through text links. Imagine you are reading a blog on a healthy lifestyle, and in between the content, you find a text link on healthy fruits that directs you to a blog about it. So, without any extra effort, you are getting content that can benefit you as it relates to what you are looking at.
The text links provide more than what you have asked for. You came to read about a healthy lifestyle and ended up reading about healthy fruits. In short, you are getting more than what you had expected!
Enhances SEO Rankings
If you're looking to boost your website's SEO rankings, you must understand the technical details we'll discuss in this section. So it works like this: the search engine ranks your website based on relevancy and credibility. Usually, the homepage or most visited or engaged page has higher credibility. When any page gets linked to them, the credibility gets transferred, and because of this, their SEO ranking gets a boost.
Apart from this, when we use keywords for linking, it tells the search engine that the following webpage is related to that particular keyword. It increases the relevancy of that linked page. Overall, these internal link features rank the page well on the search engine results page.
Decreases Bounce Rates
Bounce Rate is the percentage of people who exit your website after visiting only a single page. For example, if someone has visited an organic product website and, for any reason, that user exits it without navigating to any other webpage, then this user will get added to the bounce rate.
With internal links, these rates can decrease! While talking about the types of links, we have pointed out how users can easily navigate through the navigation menu. With images and text links, they can get directed to other information without any extra effort. All these facilities make users stay longer on your website as they get content after content, thus decreasing the bounce rate.
Now, imagine if there are no links, users will have to look for it, and who knows? Instead of looking, they just take an exit from the website. So, it's better to have internal linking on your website. Also, these decreased bounce rates indicate to the search engine that the people are staying on the website; therefore, the content is engaging and relevant, potentially leading to improved search rankings.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Adding Too Many or Too Few Internal Links
The most common mistake people often make while dealing with internal links is that they put too many of them or too few of them! In any of these cases, your content will surely suffer. Too many links will make it look spammy, and only some will limit user engagement. Therefore, finding the balance is very crucial! But at the same time, it is also tough to predict the correct number. So what should we do?
The best possible solution is to remove the number from the picture. Don't keep any numbers in mind, especially the maximum one. You can keep at least one, as links should be there, but always try to focus on the need. If you can find a link to any other relevant content, link it; otherwise, skip it. Do not forcefully add links; make sure they look natural.
Ignoring Mobile Optimization
Whenever a website is developed, the first and foremost requirement is responsiveness, i.e., it should be optimized for all screen sizes. The same should be there for links as well. Whether inserting text links or image links or having a navigation menu, make sure they are clickable on any device, especially the mobile ones.
For example, people often place links very closely or are small in size, and because of this, users find it difficult to navigate through them. This will lead to poor user experience, which may cause you to lose your potential clients. So do not neglect users and create an internal linking structure optimized for any device.
Neglecting Regular Updates
You created a blog, added some internal links, and then moved on to other content. Is that how it works? Absolutely not! You have to track everything.
The reason is that, at some point, you will update your website and might even get rid of some old content. What if the content that has been updated or deleted is internally linked? What will happen then? The user will encounter errors or irrelevant content upon clicking the links, and we are very sure you don't want your visitors to have such an experience, right? So, perform audits and updates regularly to keep your internal links functional and relevant.
Conclusion
So here comes the end! Let's wrap things up one last time. So, internal linking is used to navigate the same website's various sections and web pages. What makes it important is its ability to rank your website up in the SEO rankings and provide users with a smooth experience. Apart from this, there are certain things that you need to be careful of while dealing with them, i.e., regular updation, mobile optimization, and balancing the number of links.
Just keep one thing in mind: internal linking is very crucial, and it should not be avoided at any cost.
