Internal linking
Internal links are hyperlinks that form links to sub-pages within a domain. With the help of internal links, the link juice from the main page can be better distributed to all associated pages. In addition, this makes it easier for search engines and users to find content. The analysis and optimisation of internal link structures is an essential part of onpage SEO – and since such links are often set in content, of course also very relevant for perfect SEO content.
Internal links fulfil several purposes at once. They are also useful for Google and Co. as well as for users. It can be assumed that only a fraction of all URLs on a website are linked via backlinks, i.e. from outside. Here, the internal link structure actually takes on an important task. As soon as a search engine crawler visits a page, it follows the links on it according to the specifications of the robots meta element. The anchor text, i.e. the text module from which the link originates, is also read or interpreted. In this way, the internal links provide the bot with information about further contents of the website and practically provide the thematic connection between the sub-pages of a domain. Via the frequency of internal links and their anchors, the bot can recognise, among other things, why a specific subpage has more relevance to a certain search term than another. For this, an external backlink is not necessary, at least not technically.
For users, internal links are visible, for example, as the main navigation, in the breadcrumb structure or in texts, videos or images. Thus, the main purpose of internal links for users is already clear: they primarily serve as orientation aids. At the same time, links within a website offer the opportunity to draw attention to further topics or supplementary content. With an appropriate approach, your website benefits additionally, because users stay longer – the user experience tends to be enhanced. Related user signals will in turn have a positive effect on the rating of the website by search engines.
- In order to be able to create an internal link structure that makes as much sense as possible, you should pay attention to the following aspects:
Self-set links to the content of your website should ideally not be placed in the footer or in a sidebar, if one exists.
- Ideally, internal links should be placed at the beginning of the content – this way they are actually clicked on more often than further down the page.
- The anchor text of an internal link should contain the central keyword of the target page and/or give the user and the search engine a clear indication of the link target.
- The target of a link should always be linked with the same keyword within the domain, if possible.
- Internal links should be distinguished from the rest of the text by colour, bold/italics and/or underlining.
- The internally set links should always fit the theme of the link-giving page and take up, expand or supplement the theme in a comprehensible way via the link.
- The amount of content linked within a page should be at a reasonable level per sub-page so that the link juice is passed on as efficiently as possible. Do not try to insert a lot of links by hook or by crook – this is neither good for link juice nor for the user experience.
External links
External links, in English “outbound links”, are all outbound links from a website, i.e. those that refer to a link target that is located on another website. Outbound links are thus counterparts to internal links, which – as just described – refer to subpages of the same website. The number of outbound links can be decisive for the evaluation of web presences by search engines. The website to which an outbound link points receives a backlink. These are – as will be explained in more detail below – highly relevant for SEO.
In order to be able to explain the importance of outbound links for the link-donating page and more precise SEO content, it is helpful to imagine links as the blood vessels of the Internet. As a website operator, you recommend external content with an external link and thus create (vital or successful) connections to websites with similar topics and other Internet presences. This is indeed very useful for search engines, as they can thus, among other things, obtain a broad overview in different subject areas/industries relatively easily. Therefore, links have long been a fundamental part of the algorithms of the major search engines. Every external link should be seen as correspondingly important: The user and also the crawler receive a recommendation in the form of another page, which suggests trust and pushes its TrustRank or Domain Authority.
Since links are a very important currency for Google and Co., it can be assumed that setting external links is also beneficial to the ranking of the link giver. However, the following points should always be observed in this regard:
- Very many external links can weaken the ranking of the domain, i.e. harm the indexed website that awards the links.
- External links should point exclusively to trustworthy pages. In this context, we speak of trust links. These are outgoing links to websites with good domain authority and a high TrustRank. Links to untrustworthy sites may give rise to a suspicion of Bad Neighbourhood. If – for example as a warning – a link is nevertheless to be made to a dubious page, this external link must be provided with the NoFollow attribute – see below for more details.
- Paid (advertising) links should also be provided with the NoFollow attribute – especially if the corresponding content is recognisably advertising. This way you can prevent penalties.
External links may be understood as an indirect ranking factor. Google itself states that links that originate from one’s own website and refer to an external target page do not play a role per se for the positioning in the SERPs. On the other hand, Google states that external links can improve the added value of one’s own content, which in turn is very relevant for the ranking in terms of user experience.
From all this it can be concluded that the better the quality of the target page of an external link – i.e. its PageRank, TrustRank and the relevance of the linked content in connection with the linking page – the more positive the effect of outgoing links for the link-giving page. It should be clearly noted here that external links are far less important for the ranking of one’s own Internet presence than incoming backlinks from high-quality, thematically similar pages of third parties.