Thread by @Charles_SEO

SEO Internal Linking Masterclass 🔗

I talk about internal linking a LOT on this account, but I haven't really gone into depth on my own thoughts and strategy behind one of the most powerful techniques we have at our disposal.

So, here's this 🧵

Firstly, I have to answer the obvious question to all of those who clicked on this thread not even knowing what internal linking is:

An internal link is simply a link on a page to another page, from within the same domain.

Usually navigation, sidebar & footer links are ignored.

Secondly, I need to explain what anchor text is:

Anchor text is the word or words used within a link, this link is generated on a page from the <a> href tag within a pages HTML code.

Don't worry, that's the most complicated part of this thread.

Image Credit: @ahrefs

And thirdly, I need to explain that almost all of my style of linking is contextual, and by contextual I mean:

Within the body content of the site, and having directly surrounding words.

Examples of internal linking:

Taking the image above as an example (From CBDFX) the first 2 links (A, B) are fantastic!

They are perfectly within the context of the surrounding text, contribute to the content and offer direct keyword signals to the page they're internally linking to.

And whilst C has it's merits, it doesn't give an exact signal for "CBD" because it's not within the anchor text itself nor does it have it close enough in the surrounding text.

Ideally, we'd just extend the anchor to be:
combating stress using CBD
or
combating stress with CBD

Inserting non-contextual internal links (Like the examples below) was specifically targeted in the May 2022 update, doesn't allow context from surrounding text and generally offers limited anchor text choices.

Only sites with huge authority normally benefit from this style.

Onto my strategy!

My internal linking strategy (For almost all sites) is simple, time consuming, highly effective and for most people will work best one page at a time.

You first need to build 2 lists:
1 - A list of keyword variants for your page
2 - A list of relevant pages

Once you have these 2 lists, you need to first order your keyword variants by competitiveness - You can do this manually, or using a keyword difficulty metric.

Then you need to order your list of relevant pages by authoritativeness - Use your preferred metric: RD, UR, PA etc

Then it's simple: You internal link the most competitive keyword via the most authoritative page.

Theoretically passing the most power through the most competitive keyword signal.

With the added nuance that the pages must be relevant enough from Google's perspective, not yours.

Then you repeat this for every page you want to power-up and make stronger.

If you want to audit your internal linking, this guide by @InLinks is fantastic and showcases a variety of tools you can use -
inlinks.net/p/how-to-do-in…

And that's it! You've just learned one of the best ways to do internal linking, and some pitfalls to avoid.

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