Internal Linking Mistakes That Harm Your SEO Strategy

Internal linking is when links to other web pages are used in the content of another web page. Internal links are a critical part of any SEO strategy as they help both users and external search engines to find different pages on your website.

Internal links contribute to your SEO strategy in a few different ways like:

• Making navigation easier for a better user experience
• Helps search engines both discover and index new content that you publish on your site
• Helps to distribute the ranking authority – which search engines like Google use to determine overall page ranking in their searches

And while internal linking is crucial, you may be asking yourself “does internal linking hurt SEO in any manner.” Below, we take a look at three internal linking mistakes that can hurt your SEO strategy.

Does Internal Linking Hurt SEO?

To get started, does internal linking hurt SEO outright?

The answer here is no. Internal linking, as mentioned above, helps your website be discovered and indexed much easier by search engines as well as helping site visitors to find new, useful information that they are searching for.

Internal links bring a great deal of value to a website, but there are mistakes that can also hurt your overall SEO strategy. There are some common internal linking mistakes that are much easier to avoid once you understand what they are and how they can happen.

3 Internal Linking Mistakes That Hurt SEO

Improper Anchor Texts

Anchor texts are the visible words on a page that are clickable with a hyperlink. An example of anchor text can be seen in the following sentence: Improving local SEO for Columbus business can be a great advantage to your online discoverability.

Typically anchor text will appear on a webpage as a blue link, like the above example, and will lead to an internal link that is relevant to the information you are already discussing on the webpage.

When used properly, anchor texts can give site visitors a good understanding of the link they are about to click on and can also help search engines further index your site.

But improper anchor texts can easily happen and can hurt your overall SEO.

For example, say your page is discussing the finer points of statistics for the metal industry in 2022. You would not want to write about that topic and then link to a page or resource that discusses stats for 2020 or for a totally different industry.

To help ensure proper anchor text usage, consider using the most relevant keywords to your topic and keep the anchor text relevant to the linked page.

And try to keep the anchor text concise where you can!

Broken Links

Broken links are going to be links that are not working for two reasons:

• An incorrect link has been added
• The linked URL no longer exists

Broken links negatively impact your SEO strategy whether they are internal or external links. They interrupt a positive user experience as site visitors are reading through information on your site and will be read as a negative quality by search engines.

And while it is easy to ensure that you are not using broken links when you are actively working on a new page to your site, there are some steps you can take to help remedy broken links on future and past pages.

• Work with an agency that does professional SEO for Columbus businesses that can routinely replace broken and incorrect URLs in your content.
• Republish pages that have been deleted if they are still relevant to your business.
• Take out broken links completely.

Too Many On Page Links

While it may be tempting to include as many on page links as possible, there can be a point where you have too many links. Too many links will negatively impact your SEO and may be interpreted as spam by search engines that are looking to rank your site pages.

To help combat overstuffing your content with too many on page links, try and be more thoughtful behind the links you use.

Ask yourself:

• What is the most important and relevant information I should link to for my audience?
• What will provide the most value?
• Where will internal links make most sense – be it in terms of value, placement in the content, or keyword usage

Using fewer links helps make it easier for site visitors to navigate your website in a simple and user friendly manner. Working to not overwhelm them with links by sticking to the most relevant internal link can make all the difference in your SEO strategy.

These three common internal linking mistakes can hurt your SEO and the efforts you have put into making your business’ website the best it can be.

But now that you have an idea of the mistakes to keep an eye out for, you or an SEO agency for Columbus businesses can take steps to improve your SEO strategy and keep your internal linking up to date!

Split Reef is a digital marketing agency with offices based in Columbus, Ohio and Jacksonville, Florida. With a dedicated team of specialists, they offer a full suite of services that include digital marketing, website development, custom web application development, and professional SEO for Columbus businesses and organizations. Split Reef client’s range across a variety of industries including real estate, law, industrial, medical, home, and more. The Split Reef agency is unmatched in their work and services – ready to help move your online presence forward.