The link structure of a website plays an important role in terms of external inbound links (backlinks) and internal links. Both cases are weighted differently by search engines. While the external link structure is a positioning factor at the same time of trust, the internal link structure is useful for user navigation and, at the same time, important for transmitting link juice.
External link structure / backlink structure
External link structure is all about backlinks. These links have evolved from the structure of the World Wide Web and are originally a kind of "recommendation" from one web page to another. To date, search engines rate incoming external links as confidence and relevance signals of a web. At the same time, backlinks can also supply traffic. This in turn provides search engines with important data on the relevance of a particular search term or subject area in relation to the landing page.
Search engine providers like Google recommend getting backlinks through interesting content. They assume that high-quality content will also be voluntarily linked by other users.
External link structure optimization / link building
Link building has become an elaborate task for search engine optimizers, especially since the Penguin and Panda updates because right now, not only the number of incoming external links plays a role in evaluating a page. web, but rather the quality of the inbound links.
In link building, you should above all make sure that the backlinks are established in the most natural way possible. Bulk buying of links and the rapid and uncontrolled growth of associated links are detrimental to strengthening long term of a web page.
Content marketing strategies can be applied for backlink building. Thus, great content can be distributed on your blog systems, attractive content in the form of press releases can be sent to press distributors, or social media channels can be used for user activation.
Unlike previous SEO approaches, content optimization and all technical aspects of a website such as loading time or internal link structure should have a higher priority than actually building relevant backlinks.
Internal link structure
The internal link structure has a dual function. On the one hand, it helps visitors to quickly navigate to the desired content. Second, they are indications to search engine robots about the role of a page in the overall structure of the web portal. The optimization of the internal link structure is, in this way, part of the usability and search engine optimization.
Optimization of the internal link structure
If you optimize your internal link structure for search engines, you will create a kind of "site map" in the sense of an overview of all the subpages of a web portal. The following factors are important to boost the internal relationship:
- Anchor text: Linked text provides information about the content of the landing page to the search engine. Similarly, human users will know better what to expect when clicking on internal links.
- Links from home page to subpage: Since the main page of a domain is usually the one with the most link power, the internal links of the main page are very strong and can greatly affect the relevance of a subpage.
- Position of internal links: The higher the link is placed in the source code, the more relevant it will be to search engine robots.
- Number of internal links: The more links used on a website, the lower the link juice that a single link can transmit.
Therefore, when optimizing the structure of internal links, it is advisable to limit the number of internal links on each page. A commonly used number is a maximum of 100 internal links, which Googlebot can follow.
In general, the web should be planned with the highest possible hierarchy. Therefore, it is easier for users and search engines to find the content they are looking for as quickly as possible. To increase the relevance of the keywords or keyword combinations that drive traffic or revenue, the target pages in question should rank as high as possible at the top of the page hierarchy.
The internal relationship of content should not interfere with the flow of the reading. Usually one or two relevant internal links that anchor text to match other content on the web is sufficient.
Keyword mapping is a great tool to better plan the hierarchy of a web portal. Generally, each URL on a website is associated with a main keyword. For less competitive terms or longtail keywords, multiple keywords can be used for one page. At the same time, if you are looking to strengthen some specific areas of your website, you can provide them with direct internal links from the main page.
By taking full advantage of the internal link structure, it is also essential not to use anchor text for multiple landing pages. Therefore, you will avoid that two subpages of a website compete within the SERPs because the search engine cannot choose which of the two URLs is more relevant. Unlike the outer relation, it is an advantage to link the main keyword as anchor text.
