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
Add Links to Site Footer That Are Useful for Users Not Google
John suggests ten as an ok number of links to have in a site footer. There is no absolute number but it is worth looking at how these links are used to make sure they are for the user’s benefit and not search engine’s. Long anchor text for these links could look like keyword stuffing.
Links Not Visible By Default Will Be Crawled
Links hidden behind tabs will be crawled in the same way as other hidden content.
Link Position Doesn’t Influence Weight
Google doesn’t give more weight to internal links based on their position on a page.
Internal & Sitemap Links May Override Canonical Tags
Google uses a number of factors to determine which URLs to show. Canonicalised pages may still be chosen if you link to them internally and in Sitemaps.
Use Nofollow to Stop Googlebot Crawling Too Far
Google recommends using internal nofollow links to stop Googlebot crawling too far in one direction e.g. endless calendar links, faceted navigation and pagination.
Links Within Primary Content Provide More Context but Less Weight than Sitewide Links
Googlebot differentiates between boilerplate content in headers, sidebars and footers for indexing. Links within the primary content provide more context than sitewide links, but sitewide links to pass more weight.
Expect Ranking Fluctuations Following a Platform Migration
Google will take some time to reprocess a site following a platform change, especially if URLs and internal linking have changed, but if you see any long term impact you should explore any potential issues.
Google Passes Signals Normally for Links with rel="noopener noreferrer"
Following a recent WordPress update, rel="noopener noreferrer" attributes have been added to links opening in a new tab. Google ignores these attributes and passes all signals normally for these links as long they don�۪t have a nofollow.
Google Filters Identical Duplicates During indexing, and Near Duplicates From Search Results Pages
When Google recognises identical pages, it will choose one version to index, and when pages are similar, only one may show up in search results. Google looks at factors such as rel canonicals, redirects and internal and external linking when identical pages are crawled to decide which one to index.
Linking Related Pages Gives Google Context
Sites should link related products together so that when these pages are crawled it’s easier for Google to branch out and understand the context of those pages.