There is so much talk about on-page SEO and the most important thing everyone has to focus on is definitely the use of internal links. This is where much debate appears among different people talking about search engine optimization. There is no way to deny the fact that internal links are very important for on-page SEO optimization but what should you focus on? This is exactly what we will talk about and even highlight SEO mistakes to avoid.
The Most Important: Content Links
The most important internal links that everyone should focus on are the content links. They are definitely much more important than what we often see as vital: the navigation link. This is not surprising since it highlights that at the link the reader can find more information that is related to the topic that is discussed.
Keep in mind that this is not something that is always the case. For instance, if there is a link that is always present in the navigation bar, adding it to the content link will not add extra value. The important thing to remember is that you want to add content links that are 100% relevant and that add value as these are the most important for on-page SEO optimization.
Lowest Value Page Links: Footer Links
There are various cases in which there is a link present in the footer that is not present in the navigation and in the content area. This link is not passing much weight. In many cases the only value that it has is indexing so these are not at all important and should not be a focus.
Using More Internal Links For Increased Value
While this is not officially recognized by practically anyone, various tests performed by industry specialists highlighted that Google is very attentive to the site’s pages that are generating the highest traffic from other pages on the site. The search engine giant is going to often interpret data in ways that are as natural as possible. This means that when you add more internal links to a specific page, from different pages, you can increase traffic to that at an internal level so the weight of that link becomes higher when looking at the bigger picture.
Multiple Links To One URL From Different Pages
In some cases you are going to add more links to a specific page on various parts of the page. As an example, you can have the link in the navigation bar then 3 times in the content area. What should be remembered is that Google does see all the links and they see that they are pointing to the exact same page. What they do is add more value to the initial anchor text value, from link number one. Link number two is basically ignored. If you think you are going to add more value by adding a link numerous times, you are wrong.
Conclusions
As you can see, what should be remembered is that the very best link that you can have for your on-page SEO optimization is the content link that adds more value, the one that is as relevant as possible. Then, we should focus on the main navigation links and then we can look at other links. Footers are normally the place for privacy policies and similar links, those pages that are not necessarily connected to the content.