Internal Linking indeed is a very effective link-building strategy, provided it’s done the right way. Apart from its role as a simple link builder, internal linking indeed has a lot of SEO benefits.As the SEO aspects are changing nowadays, we need to step forward and try the next level of effective Search Engine Optimization, which includes internal linking also.
Benefits and Best Practices of Internal Linking for SEO
If you’re thinking, what are the SEO benefits of internal linking, then you should know that there are lots of the SEO benefits of internal linking. Some of which, we have listed below today !
1. Crawlability
Search Engine Spiders need to crawl your webpage in order to get it indexed and ranked by Search Engines like Google. But at some instance, due to human error or file error, your web pages gets un-noticed by these Search Engine spiders.
So an effective way to bring back your web pages to the sight of these spiders, is by interlinking your older webpage onto a newer page. So that when these spiders comes to crawl your newer webpage, they’ll get redirected to the older webpages too, and hence will be indexed and ranked by Google as well !
2. Flow Pagerank
When the Google Page rank is updated, it takes external links as well as internal links into consideration. So if you link your web pages to each other, the Pagerank juice will flow from one page to the other. Thus ensuring a boost in Google Pagerank for your internal links.
In order to effectively flow Pagerank between your internal links, make sure you do not give No-Follow attribute to your internal links, and make sure you use a keyword phrase as anchor-text.
3. Decrease In Bounce Rate
Many bloggers out there, try their best to reduce the bounce rate of their blog. They try their best to make their content more engaging in order to keep readers fleeing out of their blog.
But did you know that internal linking is an effective way to reduce Bounce Rateup to a greater extend?
Well, internal links can really help you reduce the bounce rate. Using interlinks on correct anchor texts, will help readers flow from one page to the other, helping to reduce the bounce rate significantly !
4. Spreads Light To Older Content
Interlinking really helps you to spread the torchlight to your older content. By interlinking, people will flow to your older web pages and hence providing pageviews to your older blog posts. This ultimately helps in keeping the SERP and Google Pagerank of those posts.
5. Increased Keyword Ranking
The main reason of why I told you to interlink using a keyword phrase as anchor-text, is because using a relevant keyword phrase of more than 3 words really helps your content to rank well for those keyword phrases on Search Engines.
6. Increases Your Overall Traffic
When a reader flows from one page to the other on your blog, it directly increases the traffic and pageviews of your blog. Hence, indirectly increasing the overall rankings of your blog too !
7. Creates Big Link Network
The main SEO advantage of interlinking your blog posts with each other is that, you create a very wide linking structure within your blog itself. Hence, you’re creating a wider network of links which helps in increasing the overall ranking each individual post of your blog, and your blog’s homepage as well !
8. Increases Reader Engagement
By interlinking relevant blog posts to each other, readers can research more on the specific topic, within your blog itself. This will increase reader engagement, which will increase social shares, and will ultimately result in higher SERP ranking for your blog posts !
9. Reach The First Page On SERP
If you have lots of internal as well as high authority external links pointing towards a single web page, Search Engines will think it as of a positive signal and therefore will give your web pages a higher ranking in SERP. Probably the first landing page itself !
10. Increases Your Authority
Last but not the least, building effective and strategic internal links can help you to increase the authority of your domain and internal/core page in the eyes of Search Engines, especially Google.
There is no doubt that links still play a major role in SERP and other rankings, and Search Engines do take Internal Links with a really strong view !
Final Words
There are lots of the SEO benefits of interlinking. But all of these benefits, indirectly points towards the only key factor that is, better Search Engine value.
Hence, interlinking your blog posts in the correct way can help you increase the SERP and other Search Engine rankings of both, your blog and your individual blog posts !