Internal links are links from one page to another within your site.

Experienced internet marketers know how important they are and how to use them to build traffic and drive people to their money making pages.

Here are the main points you need to know.


Tip #1: The words you use in a link are very important


Links should be created using important keywords. For example if you are linking from your homepage to a topic page about buying a website the link should include the words ‘buying a website’.

“For more information about buying a website

The words within the link are known as anchor text.

Why is this so important?
Google compares the words in the link with the words on the destination page. If the keywords appear in both places, Google gives the page a higher score which can improve its position on the search results pages.

Tip #2: Never use ‘click here’ as anchor text


This tip follows on from #1.

It is very common on pages to see links presented as:

“For more information about buying a website click here” where the words click here is the link. You should never do this. ‘Click here’ is worthless anchor text. It’s a complete waste of the link. Make the keywords the link.


Tip #3: Use links to share Pagerank


Google gives every web page a pagerank score between 1 and 10 with 10 being the best.

A page with a good pagerank can pass on some of the benefits of its high score to the pages it links to.

Usually your homepage has the highest pagerank. Therefore the links from this page are the most valuable so use them wisely.

To find out the pagerank of your pages download the Google Toolbar .


Tip #4: The most important links are to your action pages


Your highest pagerank webpages, should link to the pages that make you money (e.g. your subscription sign-up page) … or at least the pages that move you a step closer to making money (e.g. email newsletter sign-up).


Tip #5: Cluster links to your most important pages


If you have lots of pages of content on your website (which you should have!) include a link within the first 300 words of every post to your most important money making page. You should end up with dozens of internal links all pointing to the same action page. This will increase the action page’s ranking whilst driving more traffic to it from within your site.


Tip #6: Create a glossary page with links to your action pages


Glossary pages which define all the key terms for your niche can create good traffic. Make the most of these visitors by linking from the definitions to the action pages on your website.


Conclusion


Successful online marketing is about doing lots of small things which together have a big impact on the traffic your site gets from the search engines

Getting internal linking right is a small change, but can have a noticeable impact on the number of free visitors your website will get.

Understand how internal linking works and keep doing it until it becomes intuitive. You will continue to reap the benefits for years to come.