If your website is losing to competitors and sales are falling, it's worth thinking about why this is happening and what you can fix. One possible reason is your site's internal linking. It's a very important part of how any website works, even one that doesn't sell anything. So how do you set up internal linking?
Internal linking refers to the links within a website. It's the web of pages that visitors "walk" through: one page links to another so that people can move around the site in a logical, convenient way.
Technically, internal linking simply means having links on a page. It matters because shoppers browsing one product category don't need products from an unrelated one. A website should work in a logical, sensible way. If you run an electronics store, a customer looking for a cell phone won't need refrigerators.
Here is what internal linking is meant to achieve:
- Make the site easy for visitors to use;
- Direct the bulk of link equity to important pages;
- Improve indexing;
- And possibly more.
Why do you need internal linking, and how effective is it?
First and foremost, it affects usability. That's what links are for. Look at Wikipedia: its editors put great emphasis on internal linking. If someone wants detailed information about a topic or phenomenon, links to other pages are a reliable guide. Everyone knows you'll find comprehensive information there, and Wikipedia knows it too. Notice that every link within the site is logical. Here's the main rule: a link must fit logically where it is placed and be valuable to the visitor.
Now let's look at the goals of internal linking:
- Improve website usability.
Conversions will naturally increase, and your search rankings will improve. Users come back to a website that is convenient to use. Search engines closely track how users interact with a site: the more steps a user takes on your website, the more likely it is to rise to the top of search results.
This is an important function of internal linking: you make money, visitors find the site convenient, they buy more, and they come back again and again.
- Define the page hierarchy. Search bots judge how usable a site is based on the logic of its internal links.
- Distribute link equity evenly. If you acquired backlinks only to your homepage, proper internal linking will spread that equity across the whole site, to all of its pages.
How to build internal links
You can find plenty of linking schemes online, shaped like a ring, a star, a tree, and so on. But lately, the focus has shifted to what's convenient for visitors.
Step 1. Collect data for internal linking.
If your website has been up for a while and you can collect data, use a heatmap tool such as Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar. Its click map will show you which links visitors use most often, that is, which ones are most relevant to them.
You won't have this data on a brand-new website. In that case, use Google and Bing autocomplete suggestions, which are based on what people actually search for.
Here's an example. Your online store sells office equipment, and you want to build links to your "Printers" category. Type "buy a printer" into the Google search box, and you'll see a drop-down list of suggestions. People looking for printers want models that are inexpensive and packed with features.
Write down all the suggestions, and you'll have a list of pages to link to. Even if visitors don't buy anything, their engagement can help the site rank higher.
Use Google Keyword Planner to get a list of related queries.
When you enter a query, other queries similar to it will appear below. You can use these for internal linking as well.
We focused on collecting search phrases because they determine which pages will carry the links. If links are placed randomly or in a ring, they won't deliver any results. For internal links to work at all, there has to be a clear logic behind them.
Where to place internal links
There are several ways to set up link placement on a website. Let's look at a few of them.
Main menu
The homepage menu usually links to "Contact," "About Us," and "Payment and Shipping." When a visitor is on a page that the menu links to, that menu item should not be active. In other words, if you're on the "Payment" page, clicking the menu button with the same name should not reload the page. Keep the number of menu links small so you don't overload visitors: no more than seven.
Catalog menu
These links take users to product pages. Link only to the most popular product groups, for example by color, size, or shape. Don't add too many links, or the site will become hard to use.
When naming subcategories, don't repeat the same word in each one. For example, if you list kitchen cabinets in different colors, don't write "red cabinets," "brown cabinets," "white cabinets," and so on. Keep only the key attribute: the color.
It's also a good idea to add images to section titles, since people process visual information better.
Tags
Every product can be described with different attributes. Beds, for example, can be described by material, color, length, width, and so on. That's why pages carry tags that lead to pages of grouped products.
Tags work well on content websites, where they connect related articles. Tags should include only the pages with the highest search demand.
Conclusion
For your website to perform well and deliver high conversions and traffic, you need to distribute internal links correctly. This process is called internal linking. Approach this painstaking work with special care so your website succeeds with users.
