When it comes to creating content for your web site, you shouldn’t just be focusing on building out bound links to quality sites and references, but also internal links of your own. When you start linking to your own site content, it allows people to easily find related content that they are already looking for, and it also helps the search engines rank your content. I recently had the chance to interview Alex Pyatetsky from TheHoth, about some of the frequency asked questions in the SEO world, and how important the different methods of link building are for web sites.
How important is internal linking when it comes to search rankings?
Internal links count. Period.
If SEO is an election and building links is pounding the pavement and shaking hands, then internal linking is interparty endorsements. Its a way to throw around accumulated clout (e.g. site authority) and focus it on the pages that you want to win the SERP election.Here is a true story to help illustrate.I was recently consulting for a client who previously owned several of the top blogs in his niche. He’s in a space where keywords have very brief lifespans, roughly 2-4 weeks before everyone forgets and moves on to the next thing. Once upon a time, every post on these authoritative blogs would rank in the top 5 within days/hours. But one day, it all changed and his fat, healthy cash cows went on the Olson Twins’ diet.Upon reviewing the site, I noticed that he had no “Recent Posts” section, which would create a site-wide link to each of his new posts. This would allow him to throw around his site’s built-up authority to the new pages that need it most, when they need it most so they can rank faster.As we dug deeper, I learned that one of the talking heads in the SEO industry previously told my client that having a site-wide element like a “Recents Posts” widget could hurt his blog because it would count as duplicate content.This, of course, is the epitome of B.S. Global elements like “Recent Posts,” “Most Popular Posts,”etc., create great navigational experiences for users and very strong internal link structures for crawlers to index featured pages. Its ridiculous to think that they could hurt a site.So guess what! My client got scared and took off the “Recent Posts” widget on all of his blogs as part of a sweeping round of changes. Magically, all future posts failed to rank.Sure enough, he implemented my advice, returned the “Recently Posts” widget, and with a few weeks he started killing it again in the SERPs.The moral of the story is1) Don’t listen to the talking heads. [I’m referring to worshiped industry idols who preach unhelpful dogma, not the band. The band is awesome.]2) Internal links count. Period.
If you aren’t currently linking to your own web site content, this is a must for receiving the best results in the search engines. To discover more secrets of link building and search rankings, visit TheHoth, and see how you can start your own aggressive link building package. Trial link building packages start at just $60, Results package (five times more links) are also available for $200.
