The way you structure your internal links can have a huge effect on your SEO. A lot is said in the SEO world about the value of links, and a lot of people assume that it’s outside links SEO experts are always talking about. Not so. Internal links can be just as valuable to your search engine optimisation campaign, and better still, you’re the one who has control of them.

Well, in theory at least. The behaviour of some sites indicates that a lot of businesses ignore their internal navigation structure for months at a time. How many times have you wandered wearily through a site, trying to find the information you seek? The unfortunate truth is many businesses, particularly big companies, ignore the value of their internal links.

Your site’s internal link structure can be maintained fairly easily. Keeping links in your footers and margins up-to-date is a part of site maintenance and most businesses do this regularly. It is the area of new content in which some businesses slip up. Keeping your cross-site SEO structure maintained can be difficult, and is one of the many reasons to retain your SEO consultant beyond the initial optimisation of your site.

Your new content pages will support the existing SEO strategy of your site, and also open up avenues for you to rank in new keywords. The inability to properly link through new pages is one of the biggest problems for constantly updated websites. One of the basic SEO techniques is the use of inline text links, anchored to keywords, throughout content. This provides clear paths for search engine spiders to crawl through, but complicates your internal links. New content can often seem like too much hassle to deal with properly when you’re dealing with the demands of your business.

Having an SEO consultant on tap can be of huge help in maintaining your site, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult about continued consultation. Even if you don’t go down this route, link maintenance doesn’t take a lot of time. When adding content to your site, spend a just few minutes strategising how to work it into your internal link structure. Support the new content with links from your own pages and use the opportunity to highlight keywords by using them to anchor in-text links. Use the new content to support your other pages by doing the same within your new content. Even these small touches can make a big difference in keeping your site’s ranking.

Maintaining your internal links is one of the ways to ensure that your improved ranking stays that way over time. It also pleases your viewers. Many internet users give up on a site after three clicks. This is why optimising pages for specific keywords is so important, ensuring your viewers reach the page they want as swiftly as possible. When they are on your site, however, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to stay.

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