What is linking? How to make competent internal linking Competent linking

Useful tips

Correct linking on a website is one of the important aspects of internal optimization. It is not needed to distribute weight between pages, as some may believe in the old fashioned way. These are the paths through the site that the user takes. And they should be laid out in such a way that he will definitely come to perform the target action. We'll tell you how to do this in a new post.

What is linking and why is it needed?

Interlinking is the “stitching” of website pages using links.

Linking can be internal and external.

Internal linking- this is the arrangement of links within one site.

Internal linking tasks:

improvement (the site becomes convenient and understandable);
pages (search engines better understand the structure of the site - which pages lead where, which of them are more important);
increasing the relevance of pages (through the use of different key queries, search engines better understand for which queries to rank a page in search).

Due to correct internal linking, it is possible to:

improve behavioral indicators (increase time spent on the site, browsing depth, reduce failures) and, therefore, “pull up” positions in search;
increase the level of conversion on the site (purchases, applications, subscriptions, etc.).

External linking- this is the placement of links from your own website to other sites (websites, social network pages, catalogs, etc.). Do not confuse external linking with . When they talk about external linking, they mean outgoing links, and by link building they mean increasing the incoming link mass.

External linking tasks:

providing users with access to useful information posted on external resources;
indication of the original source of data (for example, when quoting or translations);
redirecting traffic to partner and affiliate resources.

External links are useful for visitors because they do not need to make additional manipulations to go to third-party resources. Moreover, search engines increase the ranking of sites that link to reputable sites.

How to do internal linking correctly

You can find many different linking schemes on the Internet - “ring”, “star”, “herringbone”, etc. In 2018, linking is based not on conventional figures, but on the benefits for visitors and, ultimately, the owner of the resource (after all user actions should lead to conversion).

Collection of data for linking

If your site has been running for some time and has collected enough statistics, information about link clicks can be obtained using the “ Link Map ” tool in Yandex.Metrica. You'll see which links are clicked on the most and you'll be able to spot patterns.

Fragment of “Link Maps” of Yandex.Metrica

But if the site is new, the “Link Map” will not provide information. In this case, use Yandex and Google search suggestions, which are formed based on user needs.

Let's look at an example. Let's say you have an online hardware store. You want to place quick links to popular models from the “Smartphones” catalog page. To do this, enter the phrase in Yandex "buy a smartphone" and get a list of tips. Users who want to buy a smartphone will most likely be interested in inexpensive smartphones, Samsung and Xiaomi smartphones, popular models and new products.

We write down all the “wishes” and get, in fact, a list of pages that are worth referring to and to which some users will definitely go. Even if they don’t buy the product, you will receive , which means your site’s position will increase.

Collecting clues manually is labor-intensive. To simplify and speed up your work, you can use the “ ” tool in SeoPult. Specify a list of key phrases, select search engines (Yandex and/or Google), region, rules and collection depth (maximum - up to level 3) and click the “Run scan” button.

The finished result can be downloaded in XLSX format.

The final report looks like this:

The report contains enough information to understand the needs of users and make high-quality linking.

In addition to search suggestions, you can use similar queries for linking, which are displayed under the search results.

The same queries are available in the Yandex.Wordstat service (right column):

To collect similar queries, another SeoPult tool is suitable - “Collection of association phrases”. It works similarly to the tool for collecting search tips discussed above.

Why did we dwell in such detail on collecting phrases? The fact is that without understanding the needs of users, working on interlinking makes no sense. If you place links at random, chaotically, or, conversely, “ring”, there will be no targeted transitions on them.

Internal linking methods

You can set up linking on a website in different ways - below are typical examples of arranging links between pages of a website.

Main menu

These are end-to-end links that are contained on all pages of the site. The horizontal menu usually links to the page “About Us”, “Terms of Payment and Delivery”, etc. It is not recommended to link to the main page, since it is usually linked to from the logo and/or header of the site.

The link to the current page should not be active (for example, if you went to the “Contacts” page, then when you click on the “Contacts” menu item, the page should not reload). In addition, do not use more than 7 links in the menu, otherwise the perception of information may deteriorate.

Product menu (catalogue, category menu)

Two types of menu

When placing links in the product menu, pay attention to the following points:

take into account only the most popular search queries (for example, hallways can be brown, light, orange and whatever, but you have determined that users are most interested in white, black and black and white - these are the colors that should be indicated in the menu. If you specify too there are many links, then the site will be inconvenient to use, which will lead to a deterioration in behavioral factors);
in the names of sub-items, avoid spam (for example, in the item “Hallways” there is no need to name the sub-items “Modular hallways”, “Small hallways”, etc. To understand the essence, it is enough to indicate only a descriptive characteristic - “Modular”, “Small”. Users and so they will understand that we are talking about hallways);
add pictures to the section names (this move will help improve the visual perception of the site. Under no circumstances replace text with pictures - the names of items and sub-items should be in the form of text that is understandable for search engines).

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Typically, recommendation blocks are used in . Here you can display similar products (smartphone 1, smartphone 2, ...), related products (headphones, charger, ...) or popular products from different categories. Do not draw conclusions of complementary positions randomly without any logic - this will not give the desired result.

Products can also be offered taking into account browsing history - in this case, the likelihood of clicks on links increases.

Recommendation links can also be placed on the catalog section page to clarify the user's request. For example, those who are in the “Tables” category can be asked to go to the subcategories “Dinning tables”, “Computer tables”, “Chairs”. Again, this technique will allow you to unload the complex and voluminous catalog menu in the left sidebar.

For informational sites, recommendation blocks look different: here it is important to involve users in viewing new pages with content. Therefore, blocks with interesting posts, the latest news, the most popular pages, the most commented articles, etc. are used.

Tagging

Each product can be described by different parameters that cannot be included in the menu. For example, a cabinet can be brown, made of chipboard, 100 cm wide, 50 cm deep. In order to simplify the search for products and navigate the site, tags are used - links to specially created pages on which products of a given category are grouped.

You might argue that all this can be taken into account in filters. Yes, this can and should be done - put all possible search characteristics into filters. However, the filtering results are not indexed by the search robot, so the most popular queries should be separated into separate ones and referred to using tags.

Example of tags on a category page

Tags are also suitable for information sites - they are used to link similar articles. Tag only those queries that are the most popular (see above on how to determine demand). Otherwise, you risk making the page visually heavier. Maintain balance.

Contextual linking

These links are placed in the descriptive part of the page (for example, in an article) and lead to other pages on the site. Such links are rarely used in product cards because they lead users away from them. But on the main page and in categories they are quite appropriate. For example, in the Laptops category, you could direct users to an article with useful information on how to choose a laptop.

Linking a catalog section with info pages

If your store website has an information section, contextual links included in the text help redirect traffic to commercial pages, for example, product cards, etc.

Contextual linking of the article with catalog sections and product cards

You can also link different articles to each other (we use this technique in the posts of this blog), but it is important that they are related thematically and complement each other.

Breadcrumbs (“breadcrumbs”)

Be sure to use this linking method on all pages so that the visitor understands where he is and can return to the previous stage at any time.

It is better to use detailed chains that show the entire path to the current page, rather than abbreviated ones (when only the first page and the “Back” link are indicated). Read more about creating breadcrumbs in our newsletter.

HTML site map

This is a separate page that contains links to all pages of the site. It helps to understand its structure. This is useful both for users and for improving the indexing of pages by search engines. See instructions for creating a sitemap.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when linking:

use only dofollow links;
do not adjust linking to any rules - use the principle of common sense and benefit for visitors;
It is not recommended to make excessive links from product cards (for example, to pages about delivery and payment), this can lead the user away from the goal; place all the necessary service information immediately on the card in a brief form;
avoid (when the page links to itself);
do not put too many links from one page (only the most relevant);
do not often link from internal pages to the main page;
pages that are linked from the main page are indexed faster;
regularly check the site for broken links (which lead to pages with a code other than 200) and remove them.

How to do external linking correctly

Many webmasters are afraid to link to external resources, citing the fact that the “weight” of pages leaks through external links and this negatively affects rankings. Indeed, this was the case before. But it's 2018 - search engines are powered by artificial intelligence, and user satisfaction comes first.

For example, in the current article, when mentioning Yandex.Wordstat, we included an outgoing external link. As a result, you do not need to go to the search engine, enter “Yandex.Wordstat” and click on the link in the search - you go to this service directly from the article. It's comfortable? Yes. If you are interested in an article, you open Wordstat, move between pages, test the methodology described in the article, and read it further. And nothing “leaks” through this link, but behavioral factors, on the contrary, improve.

Despite the obvious benefits of outgoing external links, they need to be placed correctly. Here are the basic rules:

each external link must be relevant and fit organically into the context (otherwise search engines may consider that the link is posted on a paid basis and apply sanctions);
if you are not sure about the reliability of the site you are linking to, add it to the link - in this case, search engines will not index it, but users will be able to follow it;
do not mask links using scripts;
make links clearly distinguishable from the main text;
use natural anchors (brand names, website URLs, index anchors - “link”, “here”, “instructions”, “site”, “useful resource”);
avoid anchors with obvious commercial overtones (with the words “buy”, “order”, “price”);
Using surrounding text, let users know that after clicking on the link they will go to an external resource;
Be sure to set up external links to open in a new window - otherwise behavioral indicators will suffer.

If you follow these tips, outgoing links from yours will only work as a plus.

Linking on a website is not an easy task

To solve this problem, you will need to analyze requests, study the behavior of site visitors, and determine which pages and how will be connected to each other. If you find it difficult to do it yourself, you can enlist support

Every website needs cross-linking. A guest of your resource, by following a link or through a search engine, receives the necessary information, and also receives an addition to it or finds something interesting for himself by following internal thematic links.

Let's find out how to properly carry out internal linking, what internal website optimization is and analyze the methods of its promotion.

Cross-linking is the linking of pages of several or one site using links.

Linking a website plays a vital role in its SEO optimization, and is also the most effective method of promoting it.

Thanks to a properly organized system, you can significantly increase the site’s position in the main search engines, namely Yandex and Google:

Types of linking

Experts divide linking into:

external;
internal.

External linking

This type of linking involves placing links to another on the pages of one site. And since each link has a certain weight, such redirection to another resource increases the performance of the latter.

It should be remembered that a link with a thematic anchor (a keyword that is perceived by search engines and affects the ranking of the resource) will have a greater advantage.

When placing anchors on your site, you need to remember that the weight of your site depends on the keyword. It is best to use high-frequency (HF) queries on the main page of the site, since it has the maximum static weight:

External linking of website pages is considered the most effective and significantly increases its ranking. However, in order to organize it correctly, you should approach this wisely, namely, post the link in a suitable place that will correspond to the resource data.

In this case, you need to make sure in advance what type of linking this particular site needs.

Why is site linking necessary?

If you follow fairly simple rules for linking pages, you can achieve incredibly high results:

promoted pages should not have external links;
The linking must necessarily go in a circle. Only in this case the weight of links will not depreciate;
the promoted page of the site should have links only from different pages;
keywords, namely anchors, are much more effective than links without anchors.

What is internal linking and why is it needed?

Internal linking is an integral and most important factor in internal website optimization. Its main goal is to increase the statistical weight of the internal pages of the project.

As stated above, when promoting the main page, it is best to use high-frequency queries, and on secondary pages it is appropriate to choose mid-frequency (MF) queries:

Thus, internal website optimization is the connection of its internal pages.

The main advantages of internal linking:

it should be done only once;
Thanks to it, you save significantly on purchasing paid links;
with the help of properly organized internal linking, it is possible to organize website promotion for some mid-frequency and low-frequency queries;
it is a free way to increase the link mass of pages, as well as their statistical weight.

Low-frequency (LF) queries are most often used on third-level pages:

Linking as an element of internal website optimization

Today there are two basic schemes by which internal linking is carried out:

Hierarchical
In this case, each of the resource pages links to the same one. In this case, only one of them receives an increase in statistical weight, which is the maximum;
Cyclic
The following scheme applies here: one document links to the second, the last one to the third, and so on.

Thus, the statistical weight increases like a “snowball” and the more pages of the site take part in this, the more weight it gains.

When performing internal linking of links, you should take into account the fact that search engines always take into account their text and “draw certain conclusions for themselves.”

If you create linking with any keywords just to get a link, you will subsequently lose the prospect of increasing the page ranking for the main keywords.

If you organize anchors and anchor sheets correctly, then in addition to increased static weight, you will also receive an increase in the resource’s position for the key request.

If possible, try to link to the main page from internal ones using the same URLs;
if there is a link to the same page, then do it with different anchors;
do not place more than 3 links in one material;
When you add new content, you need to link to and from it immediately.

Basic information for beginners

If linking is organized properly, then such a resource will look much more relevant in the eyes of the search engine.

Therefore, we propose to consider the basic rules of competent linking:

Always try to link to promoted pages, as this will allow you to distribute some of the link mass to them;
All internal pages of the site should lead to the main page using a link. So each of them will transfer a little statistical weight to it. Thanks to the coordinated operation of such a system, the pr check of internal pages will increase to at least one;
It is recommended to place the links themselves directly in the text, however, you should not limit yourself to linking the sidebar and footer, since the search engine may mistake them for navigation and simply not transmit them;
There is no need to go overboard with internal links. 3 from each page will be enough. In this case, the total number of links should not exceed 150, since the more there are, the less weight they convey;
It is not recommended to link to the same page using the same anchors, because search engines have a tendency to glue identical ones together. Accordingly, there will be no benefit;
At the end of each article you should insert the block “ Articles on the same topic" However, this principle should only be used when appropriate;
It is recommended to create a link for each new article. That is, when adding new content to the site, you should make links to it from already written texts on the same topic. At the same time, the same thing is done with the new article, in which links to the old one are inserted;
Organize a site map that will contain links to all pages of the resource;
Use an anchor in the link;
There should be no external links from the pages you promote;
The article with the greatest statistical weight should not be idle;
The more pages a resource has, the higher the effect will be;
Statistical weights must be applied rationally. For example, link from a promoted page to an internal one in such a way that the user ultimately returns to the first one;
The URL of the resource pages must have a normal form (NC).

We really hope that this article was useful to you!