Optimizing Your Site

- Internal Linking

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) demands that you make your website content easier to understand for search engines so that your content appears and ranks on relevant search engine results pages.

And your website’s structure is built on internal links.

The way a person gets from your home page to a product or shopping page requires them to click on links.

If you do not put a focus on optimising your internal links, Google and other search engines won’t be able to judge your website’s structure and content hierarchy. Without this clear understanding, your website rankings may drop. 

Additionally, readers appreciate a well-organised website. If your website’s links are optimised, consumers will use your website more and bring you website traffic that increases the perceived authority of your content in the eyes of search engines.

So it makes sense to put energy into internal linking.

In this section of the SEO content hub, we will dive into internal linking and how to do it properly.

What is an Internal Link?

A link is made of an anchor text, anchor image or button to which a URL or web address has been embedded or assigned. When you click a link, you are transferred from one web page to another.

For example, you can click here to watch something really inspirational from Rick Astley. That blue underlined text you click on this page to get to that other page is a link.

If clicking or tapping on a text, image or button doesn’t open a new webpage or take you to another digital space, then it is not a link.

When you are redirected to a page on the same website or domain where you clicked the link, that link is then an internal link.

So essentially, an internal link is a link on a page of a website that directs you to another page or section on the same website.

For example, you can click here to access KAMG’s SEO Services page. That page is on the same KAMG domain or website so the link that takes you there from this page (you’re reading on) is an internal link.

All of the buttons or menu items on our website are internal links. They take you from one page to another within the KAMG domain.

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When you post an article or blog, you can include a link that points to a related product or service page on your website, like the link above that brings you to our SEO Services page.

So internal links are a natural part of your website but you can also use them to intentionally guide your users through a funnel. You can strategically use internal links to get someone to go to a shopping or subscription page where they may convert.

If the link takes you somewhere else outside of the website where you clicked the link, that link is an external link, not internal.

The 2 Types of Internal Links

If you’re on a web page and click a link and you’re transferred to another page on the same site, that is an outbound internal link of that page you are coming from.

From the perspective of the page that you were transferred to, that link is an inbound internal link.

So one page’s outbound internal link is another page’s inbound internal link.

What do Internal Links Do?

Internal links are useful for the following reasons:

They enable web users to navigate your website.

Practically, internal links are what users will click to go from point A to point B on your website. They are like doors that allow you to go from one place to another.

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For example, suppose user Michaela is visiting a cat products website and skimming through the home page and becomes interested in cat training resources.

She then clicks a link that says “watch cat training videos” and is directed to a separate page on the website where she can choose videos to learn from.

If Michaela wants to go back to the home page, there’s a link on the header portion of all of the website’s pages that says Home, and she can simply click it.

They aid in establishing the information hierarchy of your website.

Google knows that the most important pages on your site are the ones that have the most inbound internal links.

Your home page is where all of the links to your other major web pages can be found. So when someone searches on Google using keywords that match your business niche in general, the search engine knows to display your homepage on the SERP.

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They assist in spreading link equity or ranking power around your website.

Suppose you have a web page that is ranking highly on SERPs, meaning it has excellent authority SEO-wise. The authority of that page will then also be shared with the other pages on your site that it links to.

Think of it as a doctor you really trust. If your doctor introduces you to their colleague who’s also a doctor and recommends them for a medical procedure that you need, you would normally have some automatic level of trust in your new acquaintance by virtue of your initial relationship with your existing doctor.

So essentially, if you get your home page to rank decently, it pulls up with it the other pages getting inbound links from it.

Links associate a page’s content and authority with other pages it is linked to, spreading link equity and ranking power across your website.

They are an opportunity for you to funnel people to conversion.

You can actively manipulate your links as part of your conversion rate optimisation (CRO).

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The way someone on your site gets to a page that’s built for conversion is via links. So if you make your link texts descriptive so that it does a good job of encouraging a user to click the link, you effectively increase your chances of profiting from that user.

Side Note: If you want more CRO tips, here’s the KAMG 200+ item conversion checklist where we explore almost everything you need to know.

But for now, let’s dive into how you can do internal linking so that it’s excellent for SEO.

Internal Linking Best Practices for SEO

Internal links are the best way to establish site architecture and spread link equity. 

Search engines like Google require the content on individual pages in order to list them in their massive keyword-based index.

In order to find all of the pages on a website, they must also have access to a crawlable link structure (a structure that allows spiders to browse the pathways of a website).

Hundreds of thousands of websites make the critical error of concealing or burying their primary link navigation in ways that search engines cannot access.

This makes it difficult for Google to get the pages listed in its index.

The illustration below shows that it is simple for Google’s spider or crawler to find a webpage if it is linked to another.

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In the example, Google’s crawler can easily reach page A coming from page E simply because page E provides a link to page A. It will also be straightforward for the bot to crawl to page B but we can’t say the same thing for pages D and C.

Regardless of how important pages C and D are to the site, the spider has no way of reaching them or even knowing that they exist. This is because they are orphaned or there are no direct crawlable links that point to them.

As far as Google is concerned, these pages don’t exist.

Excellent content, keyword targeting and marketing don’t matter if the spiders can’t find them in the first place.

The ideal structure for a website would resemble a pyramid (with the big dot on top representing the homepage).

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This structure has as few links as possible between both the homepage as well as any given page. This is beneficial as it allows link equity or ranking power to properly flow all throughout the website, increasing the ranking potential of each page. 

You can use the same structure for your blogs.

For example, you can have an extensive blog called Cat Training | The Ultimate Guide. You can treat that blog as your big dot on top.

Then below it, you can have smaller more specific topic sub-blogs like Top 7 Cat Training Products, Easiest Cat Breeds to Train and When to Start Training my Cat.

And below each sub-blog, you can have even more specific topic blogs (sub-sub-blogs) around the subject of cat training.

Under the Cat Training Products thread, you can have related blogs like The Best Diet & Supplements for a Training Cat, DIY Cat Training Tools and Cat Training SetUp at Home.

As you structurally link these blogs to each other, the ranking power or link equity is shared on your entire set of blogs about Cat Training. Additionally, you simply give readers a well-structured bank of resources that they will love to stay on your website for.

Proper internal linking does a lot for your SEO and website traffic.

When you ensure that all of your pages are properly linked to each other, Google and other search engines will be able to effectively crawl and index them.

And when they do, you have the opportunity to rank on SERPs and get more traffic for your website.

More traffic means more conversion potential and, of course, better profits.

But that’s not only the thing you have to consider SEO-wise.

A proper URL structure for your website and its pages will supplement your internal linking and SEO efforts. And that’s what you’ll learn as you continue to the next section of our SEO Content Hub about URL structure.

Champ Biala

Champ Biala

Author

CHAMP BIALA is the Head of Content for KAMG and a seasoned writer. Past experiences in education, video production and music allows him to create varied content for multiple business types. He provides content for firms across Asia, the US, the UK and Canada when he is not organising beach festivals in the Philippines.

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Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 08, 2022

This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.

We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

  • Account means a unique account created for You to access our Service or parts of our Service.

  • Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to Kas Andz Marketing Group, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN.

  • Cookies are small files that are placed on Your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of Your browsing history on that website among its many uses.

  • Country refers to: United Kingdom

  • Device means any device that can access the Service such as a computer, a cellphone or a digital tablet.

  • Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.

  • Service refers to the Website.

  • Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.

  • Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

  • Website refers to Kas Andz Marketing Group, accessible from kasandz.

  • You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Email address

  • First name and last name

  • Phone number

  • Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City

  • Usage Data

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service. The technologies We use may include:

  • Cookies or Browser Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on Your Device. You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service. Unless you have adjusted Your browser setting so that it will refuse Cookies, our Service may use Cookies.
  • Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Service may use local stored objects (or Flash Cookies) to collect and store information about Your preferences or Your activity on our Service. Flash Cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as those used for Browser Cookies. For more information on how You can delete Flash Cookies, please read “Where can I change the settings for disabling, or deleting local shared objects?” available at flash player.
  • Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity).

Cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on Your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close Your web browser. Learn more about cookies on the Free Privacy Policy website article.

We use both Session and Persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:

  • Necessary / Essential Cookies

    Type: Session Cookies

    Administered by: Us

    Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.

  • Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies

    Type: Persistent Cookies

    Administered by: Us

    Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.

  • Functionality Cookies

    Type: Persistent Cookies

    Administered by: Us

    Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.

For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy or the Cookies section of our Privacy Policy.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

  • To provide and maintain our Service, including to monitor the usage of our Service.

  • To manage Your Account: to manage Your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data You provide can give You access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to You as a registered user.

  • For the performance of a contract: the development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the products, items or services You have purchased or of any other contract with Us through the Service.

  • To contact You: To contact You by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication, such as a mobile application’s push notifications regarding updates or informative communications related to the functionalities, products or contracted services, including the security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.

  • To provide You with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless You have opted not to receive such information.

  • To manage Your requests: To attend and manage Your requests to Us.

  • For business transfers: We may use Your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of Our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Data held by Us about our Service users is among the assets transferred.

  • For other purposes: We may use Your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

We may share Your personal information in the following situations:

  • With Service Providers: We may share Your personal information with Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service, to contact You.
  • For business transfers: We may share or transfer Your personal information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of Company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of Our business to another company.
  • With Affiliates: We may share Your information with Our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this Privacy Policy. Affiliates include Our parent company and any other subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that We control or that are under common control with Us.
  • With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.
  • With other users: when You share personal information or otherwise interact in the public areas with other users, such information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside.
  • With Your consent: We may disclose Your personal information for any other purpose with Your consent.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company’s operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Business Transactions

If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other legal requirements

The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
  • Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.

If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent’s consent before We collect and use that information.

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact us:

  • By email: team@kasandz.com