How do you use internal and external links for SEO?

1 What is link building?

Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. Links are like votes of confidence, as they signal to search engines that your content is relevant, authoritative, and trustworthy. The more quality links you have, the more likely you are to rank well for your target keywords and topics.

3 How to use internal links effectively?

In order to use internal links effectively, you should adhere to certain best practices. Descriptive and relevant anchor text should be used, rather than generic terms like "click here" or "read more". Additionally, the linked page should be related to the current page's topic, goal, or intent. Furthermore, the page should be valuable and useful for visitors. Lastly, a reasonable number of internal links should be used per page; a good rule of thumb is 3-5 internal links per 1,000 words of content.

4 Why are external links important?

External links are links that point to other websites from your own. They help you establish your credibility, authority, and relevance in your niche, as well as attract more traffic and exposure. External links also help you build relationships with other webmasters, influencers, and audiences, which can lead to more opportunities and collaborations.

5 How to use external links effectively?

To use external links effectively, you should adhere to certain best practices. Link to reputable and authoritative websites with high-quality content and a good reputation, as linking to spammy, malicious, or low-quality websites can damage your trustworthiness and SEO ranking. Additionally, link to websites that are relevant and complementary to your own, rather than unrelated or competitive sites that may distract visitors and reduce your conversion rate. Furthermore, link to websites providing additional value and information for visitors instead of those offering the same or similar content as yours, as this can reduce your uniqueness and differentiation. Moreover, use a reasonable number of external links per page; too many or too few can have negative effects. Generally, it's suggested to use 2-4 external links per 1,000 words of content.

6 How to measure the impact of your links?

To determine the impact of your links, you'll need to track and analyze some key metrics, such as traffic, rankings, conversions, authority, and engagement. Traffic includes how many visitors are coming to your website from your internal and external links, how long they stay on your website, and what actions they take. Rankings include how well your pages rank for target keywords and topics as well as how internal and external links affect ranking position and visibility. Conversions refer to the number of visitors converting into leads, customers, or subscribers from your internal and external links as well as the conversion rate and revenue from those links. Authority looks at the amount of quality links pointing to your website from other websites and their effect on domain authority and page authority. Engagement is the number of likes, shares, comments, or mentions that your pages receive from internal and external links as well as their effect on social media presence and reputation. You can use Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Moz, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or other platforms to measure these metrics.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?