What’s this about?
In a stunning revelation, Google has said that internal link text matters. Or at least it’s part of the mix.
Or how about this for a wild and crazy idea? Labelling links correctly helps users and search engines contextualises the link and provides a better user experience for all concerned.
Read all about it in this extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates 24th November 2017.
#SEO #SEONews #InternalLinks #UX #Googlebot
Google: Internal Link Anchor Text Matters
Key Issues Summary:
- Well blow me down, Google has come right out and said that anchor text on internal links matters.
- This despite it laying in plain sight on the original PageRank citation for the last 20 or so years.
- (Hint: the paper talks about relevance of links & value passing to the destination page, as well as some reflected glory on the originating page).
Key Actions To Take:
- Label your internal links correctly and accurately.
- Always use descriptive linking using relevant terminology.
- Avoid “find out more”, or “click here” like the page.
- Anyone who bleats about “user experience” doesn’t understand what user experience actually is.
- Click here to contact me to discuss how to construct internal linking to benefit user experience, ranking, and general well-being.
Insights & Discussion:
I have to chuckle sometimes. How else does a contextual search engine based on stored value of links work, if not on contextual terminology used on those links? (Yes there are plenty of other factors).
Considering that a link is a link is a link, there is almost no difference between an internal link and an external link in terms of relevance that is passed from one to the other. There are differences in authority, but not relevance.
I say chuckle. I also despair, as often people asking these questions put themselves forward as professional SEOs, or are SEO Managers for organisations. And after despair, I stop wondering at how the industry occasionally gets a bad name for itself.
More Information:
Mobile First is NOT Mobile Friendly
TL;DR
- Googlebot and others love links, it’s how the web works.
- Oddly, if you label your links correctly, it helps users and bots understand what your page is about and what the destination page is about.
- Label your internal links well, peeps.
- Who would have thunk it?
- Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
- Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.
- Finally, get your content ranking well on Google by starting to understand Find Crawl Index.
Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.
