Internal Links: A Guide to Building a Strategy that Works

Internal Links: A Guide to Building a Strategy that Works

Internal Links Guide
Internal links are arguably one of the most neglected link building tactics in SEO marketing.

We are all quick to turn to tactics that will help us build external links (backlinks), but we often underestimate the impact of developing an optimized internal linking strategy.

What is internal linking?
Internal links are those that point from one page to another on your site. External links, by contrast, are ones that point to a page on another domain.

For example, a link to the SEMrush Features page from this article is an internal link, and a link to Google’s Keyword Planner tool is an external link.

We can become so focused on building natural links from external sources that we neglect internal improvements. It is an area of SEO in which mistakes are often made, so let’s take a look at how you can avoid the pitfalls to build a robust strategy that works for you.

Here is what we will cover:

Understanding the Importance of Internal Links for SEO
Understanding the Different Types of Internal Links
How to Audit Your Site’s Existing Internal Links
How to Build Your Internal Linking Strategy
Understanding the Importance of Internal Links for SEO
Do internal links help SEO? The short answer is ‘yes’.

If you want to leverage internal linking to have a real impact on your SEO, though, you need to dig a bit deeper to know why it matters.

We can break its benefits down into three main points:

1. Internal Links Help Search Engines Understand Your Site’s Structure
A solid internal linking structure SEO-wise can help search engines find and index the pages on your site.