The way pages of a website link is extremely important for search engines. It’s not only a way to physically link pages but also a method for search engines to establish logical relations based on relevancy between different pages. When you plan your links you have to think not only to the architecture of the links but also to the actual text of the link or where the link will land. In this article I’ll talk a little bit about the natural links: the links placed in content.
Search engines look at these links as a way to further develop the subject presented on that page. That is why a link will carry a certain amount of relevancy and authority. Based on this simple principle, that a link will help the user find more information related to the content where the link is placed, we can make some really simple deductions.
It really matters what the link says. If you have a page where you talk about the general principles of photography, for example, and another page on black and white photography then a link to the second page should have a relevant text, like “black and white photography principles”. The text is related and relevant to the content where is placed and also points to a page that talks about specifically that subject.
It really matters to what page we are linking. Links will carry authority between pages. A proper link will not only create a physical connection between two pages but also a logical one. That is why a good advice will be not to create a link pointing to another website with the anchor text containing a keyword that you want to rank for. The thing you’ll do is offer relevancy to that other website.
It really matters to where, on a certain page, the link will land. It’s important not only to what page you link but also where on that page. Use anchors to improve the quality of a link. If you link with the text “black and white photography principles” to a page that talks about that subject it will also be a good thing to link it exactly where you start talking about those principles. Maybe at the beginning of a phrase like “So here are 7 principles of black and white photography”.
That is why backlinks are so important. By now I think that this is obvious. Having other related websites linking back to you will help establish your content as being relevant to your topic. That is also why it’s more important to have 10 links from 10 different websites rather than 100 links from the same website.
What you think about all this? Share your ideas in comments bellow and lets all learn from your experience. Also, if you find this article useful consider subscribing and receive my articles in your e-mail.
Nice and straightforward article Toma. Maybe next time you could go into a bit more of the advanced methods of structuring a sites content? Like I said, nice intro though.
This is a great post (found you on LinkedIn, but I always wondered how do you chose backlinks for eCommerce sites and stay relevant. I guess it would depend on the industry…
Thank you Jason Brooks for your comment. I decided that beside my usual articles to also write some practical ones. These articles will focus on how to really apply principles from SEO or how to take some SEO tasks.
Thank you Carla for following the link from LinkedIn and posting a comment. In the today-web getting relevant backlinks is much difficult and usually is strongly related to the quality of content produced and your methods of marketing it.
[...] Plan logical links between articles that will help the reader and the search engine find more on your subject and also evaluate the relevancy of your pages for the subject. [...]
Thanks – highly relevant to a project I’m working on right now. Forwarding this on with a “See….?”