Internal links are links that point to other pages within the same website or domain. These links connect the content of your site, allowing users and search engines to navigate between related pages.
Internal links are hyperlinks on one page of your site that direct the reader to a target page on your site, Simply speaking, these are links that are used to point to a page on the same website.
- Internal links can build a great user experience and improve engagement because users can easily access all necessary information.
- A good internal link strategy will help you both direct visitors to pages they might find useful, and build authority and relevance in the eyes of search engines.
- The major goal of internal links is to assist users in efficiently navigating your website, finding relevant information, and exploring related topics.
Benefits of Internal Linking:
- Improved Crawlability: Internal links help search engines crawl and index your pages more efficiently.
- You can guarantee that all of your critical pages are easily visible to search engines by properly putting internal links.
- Distributing Link Equity: Internal links help distribute link equity (or “link juice”) across your site, which can help improve the ranking potential of different pages.
- Content Relevance and Structure: Internal links can show the relationship between different pages, highlighting important topics and creating a logical content structure.
External Links
External links, also known as external links, are hyperlinks that direct visitors to other websites on the internet.
External links are links that point from your website to other websites or domains. These can be links to authoritative resources, references, or outbound content.
- You will often come across the terms inbound external links and outbound external links. The former refers to links that have been placed on another website and are pointing to yours. The latter refer to links that you have placed on your website that point to other domains.
- Internal Linking:
- Use descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text that indicates what the linked page is about.
- Ensure that important pages (e.g., cornerstone content) are well-linked from other pages.
- Don’t overdo it. Too many internal links can make a page look spammy or confusing.
- Avoid broken links by regularly auditing your internal linking structure.
- External Linking:
- Link to authoritative, reputable, and relevant websites that add value to your content.
- Open external links in a new tab to prevent users from leaving your site.
- Use “nofollow” tags for external links when you don’t want to pass link equity or you’re linking to untrusted sources.
- Ensure that the external links are not excessive or disruptive to the user experience