Types of Website Links
It’s no secret that your website’s structure and content are major factors for getting your website ranked in search engines. You have to have just the right mix of ingredients to make your SEO recipe taste good. While most people focus on backlinks to their website, there are different types of website links, and they’re all important. Confused? Don’t worry. I’ll break them down for you here.
Internal Links
Anchor links (Within the same Page)
These types of anchor links are used when you want to link a word or phrase, and have it pop down to that portion of content on the same page. This is typically for longer pages with many different sections of content. It can also be just to make it more convenient for your visitors to jump to the exact content they want to read, without having to scroll a lot to get to it. Anchor links can be to a specific section on another page, too. Let’s look at how the code works, and how it is different for each one.
Anchor links on the same page
Whatever text you are linking from will simply have a # symbol and the anchor word. This should be unique for each section.
Example: <a name=”#contact”></a> is used for the section. Then the link in your menu will be: <a href=”#contact”>Contact</a>.
Anchor links on a different page
If you are linking to a specific section on another page, you would include the url for the entire page with a backslash and then the same # symbol and anchor word.
Example: using the same <a name=”#contact”></a> for the section, if the section is on your about page, then the link in your menu on a different page will be:
<a href=”http://yourwebsite.com/about#contact”>Contact</a>
Clicking the above link on any other page will take you to the about page, and immediately jump you to the contact section.
Internal links (to a different page on the same site)
Internal links are important because it helps with the flow of content and the flow that the user should take to consume the content on your website. For example, if you want to promote your web design services page, you might write an article on your blog that provides tips on the topic of web design. Within that blog post, you may link to another relevant blog post on the same topic, or you could link to your web design service page. This helps visitors discover your internal pages. There is actually an entire strategy for the structure of your inner pages, and links within those pages. A good source of information about this can be found on Authority Hacker’s site architecture guide.
External links
External links are links that are on your website that point to other completely different websites that are on the topic you are discussing. There are 2 types of links that are important for external links to other websites.
DoFollow
A Dofollow link from a high authority website can help your website rank increase. It helps Google, Yahoo & Bing realize that your website is relevant to a particular topic. A dofollow link also passes some power to your website, so if you get these, they are kind of a big deal. You should be selective of who you give dofollow links to from your website. A dofollow link code looks like this:
<a href=http://samplesite.com rel=”dofollow”>
NoFollow
Nofollow links are important, too. They keep you from passing link power to another website. This is important for sites like Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. They are also good for ecommerce or affiliate websites, too. If you are referring sales, that’s great, but you don’t want to also pass “link juice” over to them as well. The html for a nofollow link likes like this:
<a href=http://samplesite.com rel=”nofollow”>
Anchor Text
The anchor text, or the text that is linked to an external website is very important. Anchor text website links help you to rank in search engines for specific keywords or phrases. You want to have a good mix of anchor text links and basic links. Too many anchor text links will get your site penalized for over optimization or spamming.
The rule of thumb is that you can game the system. You want to keep anchor text links at about 2%. What I mean by this is that for every 100 links pointing to your website, you want only 2 of those to be the keyword anchor text for a particular keyword or phrase. Just keep in mind that things should be natural. It doesn’t look right if you have 100 links, and you have 50 links pointing back to your website with the same exact keyword anchor text.
Branded
Branded links are links that feature your business name. For example, brand links back to my site have G Squared Studios as the anchor text. You could have a couple of variations, such as G2 Studios, or G Squared Studios, LLC or anything similar. A little variation looks more natural anyway. They are typical of a real business, and Google expects people to link to your website with your business name.
Naked URL
Naked urls are just the url as a hyperlink. For example, G Squared Studios would be https://gsquaredstudios.com. Those links are common, and they appear naturally from different sources. You should have a good mix of these in your link profile as well. They help pad the anchor links, and most businesses have them naturally from backlinks that accrue from being linked to from different sources on the web.
Diversify your Website Links!
You don’t have to be an all-powerful Knoxville search engine optimization expert to get the right mix of website links. Create content that people will want to link to. Then, make sure your external links are set properly, so you aren’t passing power onward to someone else’s website. Don’t build a bunch of anchor text links to your website from other websites that use the same text. That will get you penalized quickly. The key here is moderation!
Do you have any questions about the types of site links you’ll encounter? Maybe you have questions about how to get other sites to link to yours. Feel free to post your questions in the comments area, and I’ll be happy to help you if I can.