Internal linking can be the most impactful way SEOs can make a difference to a site, but it can also give you a massive amount of frustration if it’s not handled properly. I explore what internal links are, the issues you can encounter with them, how to find internal linking opportunities and how to prove the worth of improving internal linking to clients and other stakeholders

1. The underrated value of
internal links
Natalie Arney | Freelance SEO Consultant
slideshare.net/NatalieArney
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Hi,
I’m Nat.
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I’ve worked agency side, freelance, and in-house,
for big brands and small brands, including...
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What are Internal Links?
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5. In simple terms, internal links are links that go from one
page, to another, on the same domain.
Page
Page
Homepage
Page
Page
Page
Page

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Different Types of Internal
Link Locations
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Navigational Links
● Main navigation
● Top level navigation
● Dropdown navigation
● Faceted
● Breadcrumb
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In Content Links
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Footer Links
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Internal Search Links
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Submission-Required
form links
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Unparseable Javascript
links
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iFrame links
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Plug-in links
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Why are Internal Links
Beneficial?
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For the user
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Internal links are beneficial
to the user as they help
them to progress through
the site
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For site-side (including
SEOs and Developers)
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They establish a hierarchy
of the information on the
website
(including the ability to group/silo
content and indicate page
importance)
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Internal links pass link
equity around the website
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Internal links help content
to be discovered
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For search engines
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Internal links help to
discover new content and
content changes
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Google says:
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“Google must constantly search for new
pages and add them to its list of known
pages. Some pages are known because
Google has already crawled them before.
Other pages are discovered when Google
follows a link from a known page to a new
page.”
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Ideal scenario...
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Link worthy content
External link External link
External link
Page Page
Page
Page Page
Page
Page Page
Page
Page Page

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A Little Insight Into my
Mind...
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What can go wrong with
internal links?
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Where do we start?!
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33. #BrightonSEO @__nca
Broken Internal Links
Links to Redirected Pages
Links to broken pages
Redirect chains
Orphan Pages
Links to Unimportant Pages
Link Depth
Overuse/Spammy use of Internal Links
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Content duplication (through inconsistent interlinking -
eg / vs non-/)
Poor use of anchor text
Onclick= links causing indexation
Broken markup
Nofollow internal links
… and more!
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How can you use internal
links strategically?
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Solve internal linking
issues that already exist
Broken links
Redirect chains
Redirected Links
‘Orphan’ pages
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Supporting link building
activity
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Sensible use of anchor
text
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Tools You Can Use to
Audit Internal Links
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Screaming Frog
Sitebulb
Ahrefs
SEMRush
Deepcrawl
WebSite Auditor
Google Search Console
Botify
Check My Links (Chrome extension)
Site search
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How to find internal linking
opportunities
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Manual Process
Semi Automated Method
Power Pages
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Manual Process
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Make sure to have your
URLs and target keywords
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Use Google site: search to
find mentions of those
keywords on existing
pages
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Add links from those
existing pages to your
target page
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And repeat
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Semi Automated Method
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Make sure to have your
URLs and target keywords
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Find related keywords to
your target keyword set
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Use a crawler to find mentions of
your target keywords and the
related keywords with Custom
Search
Then work through those lists,
adding links
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Power Pages
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Find the most powerful
pages on your site (you
can do this using Ahrefs,
SEMRush and similar)
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Add relevant links (as and
where possible) from those
powerful pages, to your
target pages (using relevant
anchor text, of course!)
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Sometimes this can be difficult as
you might not find any relevant
pages to link from, however,
when you are able to, there is
good opportunity for the page
you’re going to be linking to.
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Plus, this way is great if the
manual and semi-automated
ways have found nothing
relevant for you to link from.
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Ahrefs Internal Linking Tool
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Ahrefs have a tool which can
help you to find internal
linking opportunities.
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You can find it in Site Audit >
Tools > Link Opportunities and
it combines ranking data with
content scraping to offer
opportunities to add valuable
internal links
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Using Wordpress Plugins
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To have as
much impact
from links as
possible you
need to have...
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Good content
to link to
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A crawlable
site which
passes equity
throughout
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Decent links!
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Measuring the Impact of
Internal Links
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With internal links,
sometimes the smallest
changes can make a
massive amount of
difference
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Internal link fixes = great
way to increase
indexation, ranking,
traffic and conversions
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Why is this?
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Internal links pass on
pagerank/equity within a
site
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If you’re removing a
roadblock, this equity can
be passed onto the
places you want it to go
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It’s said that each
redirect in a redirect
chain loses 15-20% of
equity per redirect
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You can see why this can
become an issue,
especially when you’re
linking from power pages or
building links to the origin
page
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How to Prove the Worth
of Internal Linking
Changes
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Being able to quantify
these changes isn’t a
spot on science, but
here’s one way you could
change this!
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If you are able to find an example
of a page where you added an
internal link - grab the data before
the link was added, and again
when a link was added from
another page
(or when it was removed)
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Is there a clear difference
between before and
after?
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What is the difference?
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What is the ranking
change?
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What is the traffic
difference?
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What impact on
£$/conversions?
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Now apply the scenario
to the pages you’re
targeting with internal
links
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Remember to be more
conservative with the data if
you can, especially if you have
a client that holds you to
account for not matching your
expected figures
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However you come to the
conclusion with your
business case, make
sure of the following
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You use the metrics that
matter
(Whether that’s conversions or money, or
anything else that affects the bottom line)
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Focus on the outcome
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Most stakeholders won’t
want to know the intricate
details of the changes
themselves, but will want
to know
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How it impacts the
bottom line
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How much of your time it
will take
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How much of other
people’s time it will take
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How long it will take to
start so see impact (hard
for us!)
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Internal Linking Tips
● Monitor internal link changes by using site crawls
● Make changes as soon as you can
● Do not put all of your navigation links in the footer!
● Ensure your anchor text isn’t spammy
● Use business cases to get client/stakeholder buy in
● Work alongside other teams if needed
● Don’t overdo it with on page links
● Use markup to enrich specific internal links (eg breadcrumb)
● Keyword research and Google Analytics are invaluable resources which
are often neglected with internal linking
● When you acquire new links, make sure that the link sources have internal
links to relevant pages
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Thank You!
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Twitter: @__nca
Linkedin
Email: natalie@nataliearney.com
Read my internal links guide:
https://bit.ly/nat-internal-links