Imagine your website as a garden, with each page being a different planting bed.
Internal links are the paths that guide visitors to keep strolling through your garden, leading them on a journey through your landscape to discover new plants and ideas.
Expert gardeners make sure to design lots of clearly marked paths and avoid any dead ends.
Just like with gardens, having lots of paths to all the beautiful content on your site can help improve the user experience while boosting organic search rankings and website engagement.
Best practices for internal linking
Creating an effective internal linking strategy is key to guiding users seamlessly through your site while improving your SEO performance. Below are some guidelines to remember.
Create a logical site structure, including URLs and ecommerce categories or folders.
Build a comprehensive library with the most important content for your users.
Link to the most relevant and valuable content users would want to see next.
Write anchor text that’s concise, effective, specific and relevant.
Optimize link placement. Links in content higher on the page are more valuable – you’re telling users this is the next step.
Optimize navigation in headers, footers, sidebars and breadcrumbs. Include valuable pages customized by topic, intent, category or purpose.
Balance link quantity and distribution.
Use anchor/jump links to link to a specific section on a page.
Understand how/when to nofollow, especially for sponsored links.
Set expectations and a process for everyone involved in your SEO/editorial team.
Make it a habit to update internal links when new content is published.
Audit internal links regularly. Optimize links using info like site searches, multipage sessions, dead clicks from heatmaps and user testing.
Effective copywriting for anchor link text
Internal link anchor text checklist
Good anchor text should meet the basic criteria of being clear, concise and helpful. It should:
Look good on mobile and desktop.
Be easy to click on mobile.
Not compete with the main content.
Make it clear what you can do there.
Not be repetitive or overly optimized.
Include the right keywords.
Avoid ambiguity or cannibalization with other pages.
Be clearly formatted as a link.
Not include generic phrases like “click here” or “read more.”
Fit naturally in the content flow.
Great anchor text can also take it a step further and must:
Compel the user to click with a strong verb, adjective or implied action.
Send the user to the relevant next stage in the learning or buying funnel if they’re ready.
Promise the user the click will be worth it by phrasing it as the answer they’re looking for.
Demonstrate more info is available to prove you’re the expert, even if users don’t click it.
Ask yourself: What would users do?
If you’re unsure if it counts as good anchor text, read the section and click on the link. Ask yourself: What would users do/expect? What would I want if I were this user?
What if the user clicks this link? Would they expect what comes next?
What if the user doesn’t understand this part?
What if the user is ready to move to the next step in the buying funnel?
What if the user is one of the exceptions we mentioned earlier?
What if we can help users self-select into different paths?
What if there’s no logical next step on our site?
Examples of effective internal linking
Consider some link text case studies from a user’s perspective and ideas to optimize it to be clear, specific and helpful.
Instead of: Click here
Try: How to choose, Get your free report
User: “I know this is a link. Why should I click it?”
Instead of: Get help
Try: Chat with support, Talk to an expert
User: “Help from who? I don’t want to talk to a person; that’s why I’m on your site.”
Instead of: Buy now
Try: Add to cart, Claim yours now
User: “Will I go to checkout next if I click this? What if I’m not done shopping?”
Instead of: Learn more
Try: Estimate your cost, Get costs for your state
User: “I don’t want to learn more; I want to buy. Why won’t you just give me the price?”
Instead of: Read reviews
Try: Search 300+ user reviews, Read reviews (4.5 stars)
User: “Whose review is it? Why should I trust it? What can I do with that info?”
Instead of: Contact us
Try: Get a free quote, Email support
User: “How can I get someone to come help with my problem?”
Instead of: See if you qualify
Try: Apply for pre-qualification with 500+ credit, Get your free credit score
User: “Why can’t you tell me if I qualify? If you can’t tell me, I probably don’t qualify.”
Instead of: Find out how
Try: Compare 13+ options, Find your local pro
User: “Why can’t you show me the answer?”
Instead of: Get solutions for your needs
Try: Try the quiz to find your perfect tool, Compare the best picks
User: How do you know what I need?
Instead of: Shop now
Try: Filter by style, Filter by color/size, Filter by occasion
User: “What’s the best way for me to narrow down my options?”
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How to audit your internal links
You can run basic internal link audits with free tools or tools you probably already have access to, like Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
SEO plugins like Detailed SEO and All In One SEO are great when you need to quickly spot-check any page.
Internal link audit tools
Ahrefs
Screaming Frog
Search Console
Google Analytics
Plugins like All In One SEO, Detailed, Yoast, Ahrefs, etc.
Internal link audits to run
For a basic internal link audit, start by finding broken links and orphan pages without any internal links to help improve crawling. After that, you can work on optimizing links and link text.