Linking-both internal and external- is still an integral part of SEO. Linking remains a big part of the ranking algorithm in 2021 and Google absolutely eats it up. Not only does linking assist in improving your rank, but it also assists your prospective customers to navigate around your website.
Here, we will go into more detail about the differences of internal and external linking and why they are both such an important part of SEO practice.
Internal Links
Internal links are links used for pages on the same website. For example, we may want to leave a link to another blog of ours to give you even more tips to improve your current rank! Internal links can be very valuable to a website for the following reasons:
- Structure: Including internal links on your website adds a bit more structure. When you have well-structured internal links, Google will crawl and index your site faster, increasing your SERP rankings.
- User experience: Internal links are a great way to keep potential customers on your website for a more extended period of time. If they are interested in what they are reading, and something similar is linked, odds are they are going to click it and check it out.
- Shares ranking power: When someone is on one page of your website and clicks an internal link to another page, it also increases the rank on that second page, sharing the ranking power!
- Drive organic traffic: When users keep clicking internal links to other pages of your website, it lowers your bounce rate and increases engagement, causing your page to appear higher in search results.
External Links
External links are links to websites that are not your own and vice versa; your website can also be linked on a website that is not yours! For example, if we wanted to share a pie recipe, we may just want to link you to the Food Network website. External links can improve your domain authority while they drive sales, traffic, and leads. External links are used in SEO for:
- Improves domain authority: Domain authority measures your website’s backlink profile. If other sites link to your website, your rank will increase.
- Credibility: Google trusts you when you have backlinks with high domain authority. However, it is imperative that they are relevant to your website.
- Drive traffic: When your website is linked on a trusted site, odds are it will dramatically increase traffic.
Contact Boston Web Marketing
To learn more about internal and external linking or more about SEO as a whole, make sure to contact the SEO specialists at Boston Web Marketing! We have a dedicated team that is ready to help expand businesses with the power of SEO. Give us a call today or fill out our online contact form!