You show your CD collection to a friend. She mentions that a certain CD is her favorite. You say, “If you like that, you ought to hear this. . . . ”
It’s the same when you’re writing a post, and you realize what you’re saying ties neatly with something you wrote last week, last month, or last year. You have to link to it. Your readers deserve to hear about it.
The Value of Intra-Links
Internal links or intra-links have three key values.
- They offer readers more content on a subject they’re interested in.
- They increase your page views when readers follow them.
- When you use well-thought descriptive anchor text, they help search engines interpret the content of your blog.
Well-Thought Descriptive Anchor Text
Am I choosing for myself or for my readers? A random survey that I did shows that just about everyone could be better at anchor test. Text that says click here or this is not choosing for readers, nor is it well-thought, descriptive anchor text.
Well-thought anchor text states where the link goes so that when readers arrive, they’ll know they’re in the right place. The strongest anchor text uses keywords to show the relationship between this page and the next. The anchor text lets the reader and the search engine see the content connection–the relevancy–between the two documents.
Well-thought linking adds structure and context to how people and search engines see your blog.
Example 1: See my earlier post called “Think Before You Link,” which also talks about thinking through your link choices.
Example 2: You might also be interested in reading about using intra-links as blog promotion tools.
Intra-links draw readers further into your blog the same way they draw in search engine spiders. Readers become more involved and more a part of your blog with each link they follow. The involvement leads to a comfort-zone, a sense of belonging.
Who doesn’t want to look, when a friend says you have to see this?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
[via Aaron Matthew Wall, SEO Book]
Great post! I’ve written about creating hyperlinks correctly (how’s that for an extralink? 😉 but something’s just nagging at me. It always has. There doesn’t seem to be an efficient way to follow links without interrupting the flow of reading. As soon as you click on a link, you go somewhere else (or get a popup which isn’t all that great either). At least with tabbed browsers you can load the pages up in other tabs, but by the time you get to them, you’re usually out of context.
Hi Ara,
First let me say, that’s also a great use of an emoticon, too. 🙂 Thanks for your words on the post and for using excellent descriptive anchor text.
I suppose if the link, such as those I mention in the post above aren’t important at any one point. They could be included at a less crucial point in the document. But you’re right. They’re like adding a point in a conversation. There’s no way to interrupt without interrupting. 🙂
Liz
Ara,
I always open those with a right-click-opens-a-new-window, so I don’t lose my train of, uh..of…uh, whatever.
One way to avoid this is to put the links at the bottom of the post with a recap of where they go and why.
Remember: Do as I say, not as I do. Right, Liz ?
Mike, I always do as you say . . .:)
When I can I put the links at the bottom. Sometimes you can’t avoid putting in the middle of the content though. If you stick with the question, “What best serves my readers?” you’re bound to end up where you need to be.
Liz
Looking over some of my posts I’m guilty of using ‘click here’ links rather than keyword-rich ones – gotta get better on that front 🙂
I guess it’s more of a lazy thing, cause I have known for years that this is a good S/E tactic, yet I still don’t utilize it properly.
Thanks for the wake up call 😉
Hi Martin,
Yeah, As I said, when I looked around the Internet, everyone seems to go this one not very well. It is a lot easier to just type “click here.” I don’t suppose the search engine will send you to jail over it.
smiles,
Liz
Mike,
I have employed the technique of listing links at the end of a post such as in my post on Proper URI design, but it wasn’t necessarily to re-iterate the links found in the post.
What might be cool is if the new window/tab somehow retained the context in which it was opened. You know, if it presented an excerpt of where its parent link originated in order to refresh your memory.
I suspect though that this is an ages old problem pre-dating even the web. I mean, what do you do when you’ve got an excerpt or an aside while reading a magazine? Do you stop your reading flow or wait until you’re done and go back?
Ahh, the wonderful world of usability. 😉
Uhh… that comment was aimed at more Liz too. It started out for Mike, but evolved into a more general comment aimed at both Mike and Liz. So, uhh, sorry ’bout that 😉
Good morning Ara,
Is it morning where you are? You aren’t just commenting to show off your phenomal descriptive anchor text skills are you? 🙂
You’re right it is an age old problem. Reading a magazine, for example, when do you stop to read the interesting text in the side bar–before, during, or after? Up to the readers’ choice I guess.
Liz
No worries, Ara,
I like it when you guys talk to each other. That’s what communities do.
Liz