So you already understand that internal linking is just as important as external linking. But do you have an idea of how to create a systematic internal linking system? It is not that hard. Read on to find out more about how to link internally to your benefit.

The Site Map
This is the most commonly suggested route to take. The site map is normally present in many web sites. Basically the site map is a page where visitors to your site can find a bird’s eye view of what your site contains. From the home page to other specific pages, they can find everything here. Even better, there are links to every single page in your site. This is the epitome of an organized internal structure. When you construct your site map, do make sure that you cover every single page and that your links are all working. Also, present your links in a visually appealing way and an intuitive structure as well.

Create a blog
If you are maintaining a web site that does not really have much need for changing content, then this would be a very good idea. You can create the blog for regular new content AND create links from your blog to your web site as well. This also works the other way around – you can create links from your main pages to the individual blog posts. Just make sure that the anchor texts that you use are very relevant.

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When people talk about links, what they normally mean are external links.  We have already established the importance of external links – both inbound and outbound – but we have not really placed that much importance on internal links.  Are they important anyway?  I believe they are.  But before we continue, let us define what internal links are clearly.  Basically, internal links are those links that point to another page within your web site.

So how are internal links important?  For one, they help people find other pages within your web site. This means that more of your web pages can be visited by your readers.  Compare this to a web site without internal links.  You rely on chance and the persistence of your readers.  If they do not feel like manually searching for related information within your site, then your other pages may not be visited.  If, however, you liberally sprinkle relevant internal links within your pages, the chances of readers actually clicking on those links and discovering other pages within your site are higher.

Going one step further, if human readers can find internal links useful, then so can the search engine spiders! And you should know by now that the more pages that the search engine spiders can index in your site, the better for your SERPs.  Think of those links as arrows and road signs within your web site, pointing the way to both your human readers and the spiders.

In the next post, let us look at some ways you can practice internal linking methodically.

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Pagerank sculpting, which as defined by Matt Cutts is simply trying to change how PageRank flows within your site using different methods such as the “nofollow” tag, is still plausible, however, in his post “PageRank Sculpting” he tells us why he doesn’t think you should bother doing it. Here’s an excerpt of his post on pagerank sculpting.

I wouldn’t recommend it [pagerank sculpting], because it isn’t the most effective way to utilize your PageRank. In general, I would let PageRank flow freely within your site. The notion of “PageRank sculpting” has always been a second- or third-order recommendation for us. I would recommend the first-order things to pay attention to are 1) making great content that will attract links in the first place, and 2) choosing a site architecture that makes your site usable/crawlable for humans and search engines alike.

So when is pagerank sculpting useful? According to Matt Cutts it is useful to use the “nofollow” tag for some pages such as links to a shopping cart or links to log-in pages but only “because those pages are different for every user and they aren’t that helpful to show up in search engines.” Other than that it would pay more if you spent your time optimizing your site in other ways.

Again make sure you make the best use of your time by giving attention to your site architecture and to your site’s actual content. Make sure that users find the info they need just a few clicks away from the main page and make sure that all pages you want indexed are crawlable.

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