Linking a site - how to do internal linking of pages

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Promotion and internal optimization of the site is impossible without linking the internal pages of the site. Internal linking of website pages - What is this? Today we will talk about the internal linking of the site and its importance. Let's decide first!

Internal linking - this is the construction of the internal link mass of the site for the correct distribution of page weight. Search engines believe that if the site has a large internal link mass. Which points to a specific page as the key to the content topic. This means that the page is useful to users and deserves to be ranked higher. Pay attention to the use of meta tags on your site. Proper meta-tags will greatly improve the usefulness of your page in the eyes of search bots.

The content of the article:

• Importance of page linking for promotion
• How to do internal linking
• Contextual links on the site

Importance of page linking for promotion

Distribution of site pages and weight between them. It is of paramount importance, both for the user and the search engine. Internal linking performs two main functions, it is difficult to single out a more important one:

Distribute the weight of pages, pointing out to search robots more important materials on the site, and increase the weight of materials to reach the top.
Improve user navigation, which leads to an improvement in behavioral factors that directly affect the position of the site.

Guidance for ensuring competent internal linking of site pages

We provide an even distribution of weight between pages. Similar schemes for linking pages of the site will help in promotion.
There are 4 types of linking:

1. Contextual links in the text of the pages. Can be seen on any good site. Right in the text, you see highlighted parts that link to another page within the site.
2. Bread crumbs. Navigation from the main page to the page where the user is located. It helps to find out in which part of the site it is located. Typically, breadcrumbs can be seen after the title block of the page and before the title of the article.
3. Through links. Links to the pages of the site, present on all its pages. Somewhat punning, but in a simple way - the site menu. It is displayed anywhere and helps to navigate the structure.
4. Another function is to point search robots to important sections. Useful links. Usually, a block of useful links is located at the end of the page content. It may be named differently.

In an informational site, it may look like "Interesting materials on the topic", in an online store - "Similar products". The block improves the behavioral factors of users, but for search engines it does not matter much, because the links in it are often constantly changing.

How to perform internal linking - page linking

Now let's look at how to perform internal linking for each of the items on the site. Let's start with the simplest and fastest.

useful links

This block is easier to do using a plugin for WordPress. The most popular one is WordPress Related Posts, with it you can force the display of the desired posts for each page. It has many settings, it is easy to change the size of links to posts, previews, etc.

An example of organization: linking pages using useful links on the main page of the site in the site bar. The scheme was created by a WordPress plugin.

An example of linking using useful recommendations under the articles. Such a scheme can be organized using a WordPress plugin.

Cross Links

You will have to work with your hands and head. It is important to make your website easy to navigate and understand. The menu should contain the main categories, subcategories should be conveniently and correctly made as drop-down lists. After creating the menu, ask friends or family to navigate the site using the menu.

Hear feedback, whether it is convenient to use it, whether there are any shortcomings. An example of internal linking, through links on the main page.

Like the menu, read on, and sections with categories. An example of end-to-end linking between pages in the articles section. To ensure the best distribution of weight between pages.

breadcrumbs

Can be done manually or with plugins. Manual work requires intervention in the site code, and not everyone wants to climb into it without the necessary knowledge. It's easier to use a plugin. There are many of them for this task.

It is enough to go to the internal repository of plugins in the admin panel and enter breadcrumb (breadcrumbs in English) into the search box. Choose any of the most installed. An example of using breadcrumbs for proper internal linking.

Breadcrumbs are also important for website promotion and SEO.

Contextual links on the site - relinking pages using links in the text

But plug-ins cannot be trusted to work on this type of linking. You will get the greatest effect only when it is built entirely by hand. It is this type of linking that manages the maximum transfer of weight from page to page.

For such linking, you need to look for relevant phrases in the materials that can be attributed to other pages on your project. For example, when you talk about the process of building a house from a foam block and mention that such a house should stand on a strip foundation, then you make a link to the material that talks about the types of foundations.

Contextual links also play an important role for internal optimization and linking. These are links in the text of the article.

Ideally, each page on your site should link to another. This is called circular linking. In this case, the weight is distributed evenly.

If you need to strengthen one particular page, then it is worth linking to it from several of your materials, and not linking at all from the landing page. For example, such linking is important for online stores, where several less important products will link to a more expensive one, the sale of which is a priority. So this product will get more weight and be able to rank higher in search results.

There are other schemes of linking. These are just the main ones that are suitable for most website pages. I tried to consider each type in as much detail as possible. But it still turned out to be quite a bit of information and examples. Soon I will make a series of articles about a specific setting for each type. And, of course, I will link from this article to this series of materials.

Reading this article:

• Internal website optimization on your own - checklist
• Meta tags - meta tags relevance and use in practice

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