Internal Linking
Internal linking is important for both user experience and search engine crawlers, to help them find relevant and important pages. Our SEO Office Hours recaps on internal linking topics cover queries including the importance of internal links for SEO, how anchor text is used as a ranking signal, and how Google handles internally linked parameter URLs for indexing.
For more on internal linking, check out: 5 Internal Linking Strategies to Boost SEO and Drive Organic Traffic
Link Equity Can Pass in Any Direction in Site Architecture as it Follows Links Themselves
Link equity flows through the links that are there on a page and goes any direction that these links take it, so it is possible for link equity to pass up the architecture as well as down.
Presence of Internal Links More Important Than Placement
The placement of internal links is less important than Googlebot being able to crawl a site’s internal links and navigation. Sometimes Googlebot isn’t able to crawl sites properly because the internal navigation isn’t available.
It Doesn’t Matter if Internal Link Anchor Text is Branded or Not
Having a brand name in the anchor text of your internal links makes no difference in terms of ranking, as long as the anchor text is descriptive for users.
Google Uses Scheduler to Determine Recrawl Date
Google uses a scheduler before crawling to work out when they need to recrawl URLs. Google will increase crawl rate if it gets signals that it needs to do so e.g. updated modification date in sitemaps and internal linking (especially from the homepage).
Make Sure Internal Link Anchor Text Provides Context
Internal link anchor text should provide Google with the context of the target page. Avoid using anchor text like "click here" which doesn’t tell Google anything about the page you’re linking to.
Update Internal Links to Canonical URLs
Update internal links to canonical URLs to give Google a clean signal about which URL to index. If the canonical is accepted, any links to canonicalised URLs will be associated with the canonical URL.
Ensure Google Can Access Linked Content on Canonicalised Pages
Fine to noindex paginated pages (e.g. after page 2) but need to make sure that Google can still get to the content linked on these pages via other routes in your internal linking structure (e.g. related products/content, category pages).
Low Proportion of Indexed Pages Points to Technical Issue
If a site has a low proportion of indexed pages, this usually points to a technical issue than a quality issue. Compare the site map index counts and index status report for differences. Try splitting up sitemap file , checking indexed pages using info: query, that rel canonicals match those in sitemap file, hreflang and internal linking. Also, uppercase, lowercase, trailing slashes all matter. Then check crawl stats to get idea of crawl rate and if it’s reasonable.
Use Descriptive Anchor Text for Internal Links
Use descriptive anchor text for internal linking to give Google a better understanding of the content of the page you’re linking to.
Align Linking & Rel Canonical If Want Particular Page Indexed
Ensure internal links and rel canonical are pointing to preferred page to ensure you aren’t giving Google conflicting signals about which page should be indexed.