Optimising Website Internal Linking

July 15, 2010 - PRLog -- One key aspect of website design; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/our-services/ entails populating content in a complex balance that answers an ever increasing complex number of criteria. Reigning supreme is the importance of link building,http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/link-building/ yet too often the focus is on building good inbound links and neglecting internal deep links, which are the rich embroidery that binds a quality site tapestry together for satisfying results.

The core principle has always to be that website pages link together to form the site as a whole. Many of the same factors that are essential for inbound links also apply to a site's internal links and therefore, should be evaluated and applied in the same way as external link-building strategies.

The backbone of an internal link structure must be the primary site navigation and standard navigation optimisation rules apply. Whether optimising for a pure eCommerce; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/ecommerce/ sales product or consultancy services site, always employ text-based links rather than images, and avoid technologies like Flash which search engines cannot recognise, will not index and ultimately affect rankings.  

However, these are not the only links that can used to connect site pages. The written content; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/writing-content/ itself, when connected to other site pages, can provide strong internal links and should be included as much as possible.

Determine the anchor text of internal links by SEO keyword research,http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/search-engine-optimisation/ ensuring you are consistently targeting pages for specific niche terms. By tying together your internal targeting to the external link-building of your online marketing; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/online-marketing/ campaigns, you will enable the two link types to work harmoniously together to drive increased traffic results.

A site structure that is as ‘flat’ as possible means that every page should be no more than three clicks from any other page on your site. This type of structure aims to maximise relevancy and domain authority between site pages for both internal and external links.

Be aware that in the dynamic environment of a website, internal link structures will naturally create "multiple paths of navigation" when the path a user takes to the same site location changes the URL of the page.

The result is many versions of a single page being indexed. It’s therefore essential to use a robots.txt file to block indexing of the URL variations to avoid placing unnecessary obstacles in the path of search engines, whether a large or small site of 50 pages or less.

Regularly request that your website design and marketing team; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/about-provoke/ ensure that your site is functioning and performing at optimum efficiency – often a website refresh; http://www.weprovoke.co.uk/website-refresh/ at timely intervals will sustain traffic numbers and search engine ranking.

# # #

Provoke positions companies just like yours to succeed on the web.

Digital and marketing expertise has enabled businesses throughout the UK to successfully :
- Reach new audiences
- Drive sales
- Gain online/offline brand presence.