Comments on: Internal linking strategy http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/ Search Engine Optimisation SEO Blog - Website Design Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:01:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: SEO Carly http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2657 SEO Carly Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:55:28 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2657 I always try and use diagram 3, with all pages having a link to home. This isn't just for the bots but for a userbility standpoint as well. I really hate browsing a few levels deep in a site and having no 1 click option to get back to the home page. Internal Nofollow is very handy if used correctly regardless of PR. I don't want my crawl budget blown having thousands of forum/calendar.php pages crawled/indexed that have essentially no worth. Likewise with multiple copies of the same page, ie archive, print versions etc. It blows crawl budget, creates duplicate and i could end up with the print version higher in the serp's then the regular version. So a liberal and well planned use of the Nofollow internally can be very beneficial. I always try and use diagram 3, with all pages having a link to home. This isn’t just for the bots but for a userbility standpoint as well.

I really hate browsing a few levels deep in a site and having no 1 click option to get back to the home page.

Internal Nofollow is very handy if used correctly regardless of PR. I don’t want my crawl budget blown having thousands of forum/calendar.php pages crawled/indexed that have essentially no worth.

Likewise with multiple copies of the same page, ie archive, print versions etc. It blows crawl budget, creates duplicate and i could end up with the print version higher in the serp’s then the regular version.

So a liberal and well planned use of the Nofollow internally can be very beneficial.

]]> By: Gary http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2652 Gary Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:10:52 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2652 <em>"How would you feel if someone has written a lot of stuff, and says “well this isn’t worth much attention” and the stuff he points to that should be worthy of your attention is not really much more than a bunch of links? Exactly…"</em> Sorry Joost I am not sure what you mean by that. <em>"If you can think like that, an algorithm can too… I think you’re a bit too obsessed with PR, and you should just make sure your internal site structure is good, and NOT nofollow internal links…"</em> I take your point but I am not so bothered about PR for pages, although I did not explain what I was trying say as best I might have. I believe I use good internal site structures, but use nofollow to enhance it. My main reason for using them is to pass reputation where I want it ie a page on "web design" has links to it they say "web design" and is grouped with other pages relating to "web design". I would then do the same for a section about say "Web Hosting". I rather this linking of simialr content, than just one big ball structure that Brian was referring to. I am not saying that there are not better strategies, but I have been using this strategy on my client sites for some time now, with good results. “How would you feel if someone has written a lot of stuff, and says “well this isn’t worth much attention” and the stuff he points to that should be worthy of your attention is not really much more than a bunch of links? Exactly…”

Sorry Joost I am not sure what you mean by that.

“If you can think like that, an algorithm can too… I think you’re a bit too obsessed with PR, and you should just make sure your internal site structure is good, and NOT nofollow internal links…”

I take your point but I am not so bothered about PR for pages, although I did not explain what I was trying say as best I might have. I believe I use good internal site structures, but use nofollow to enhance it.

My main reason for using them is to pass reputation where I want it ie a page on “web design” has links to it they say “web design” and is grouped with other pages relating to “web design”. I would then do the same for a section about say “Web Hosting”. I rather this linking of simialr content, than just one big ball structure that Brian was referring to.

I am not saying that there are not better strategies, but I have been using this strategy on my client sites for some time now, with good results.

]]> By: Joost de Valk http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2651 Joost de Valk Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:36:09 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2651 How would you feel if someone has written a lot of stuff, and says "well this isn't worth much attention" and the stuff he points to that should be worthy of your attention is not really much more than a bunch of links? Exactly... If you can think like that, an algorithm can too... I think you're a bit too obsessed with PR, and you should just make sure your internal site structure is good, and NOT nofollow internal links... How would you feel if someone has written a lot of stuff, and says “well this isn’t worth much attention” and the stuff he points to that should be worthy of your attention is not really much more than a bunch of links? Exactly…

If you can think like that, an algorithm can too… I think you’re a bit too obsessed with PR, and you should just make sure your internal site structure is good, and NOT nofollow internal links…

]]> By: Gary http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2650 Gary Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:28:51 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2650 Hi Joost, Maybe and maybe not. I use nofolloow on my blog posts as I believe I would pass on too much PR where I do not necessarily want to. I wish there was a plugin that allowed you to auto nofollow links but with a manual bypass if wanted. I have also split the top commentators so that the top have pass PR, and of course I pass PR to my friends. On commercial sites, the user rarely realises there are nofollows in place, and if it helps SERP performance, then that is the way to go for me. Cheers, Gary. Hi Joost,

Maybe and maybe not.

I use nofolloow on my blog posts as I believe I would pass on too much PR where I do not necessarily want to. I wish there was a plugin that allowed you to auto nofollow links but with a manual bypass if wanted. I have also split the top commentators so that the top have pass PR, and of course I pass PR to my friends.

On commercial sites, the user rarely realises there are nofollows in place, and if it helps SERP performance, then that is the way to go for me.

Cheers, Gary.

]]> By: Joost de Valk http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2648 Joost de Valk Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:06:02 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2648 I hate nofollowing internal links, don't you think it looks shabby?? I hate nofollowing internal links, don’t you think it looks shabby??

]]> By: Gary http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2647 Gary Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:04:04 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2647 Hi Mike, Have a look at this site www.doublespark-seo.co.uk you will see all links on the home page/menu have a no-follow on them other than the sitemap, ensuring the search engines are taken directly to and only to the sitemap. The sitemap has a no-follow on all apges other than the home page. I then link every page back to its parent (via the breadcrumb menu) and sometimes every other page within that section. Where I feel necessary/benificial I link randomly to other pages within the section. If I want to give the user a link but not the search engines, then I do so but use a javascript link. On a mult-tier site this enables me to pass link juice upwards only firstly to the main section pages and then on to the home page. This allows me to target the hardest keyphrases on the home page, the next hardest on the main section pages, and the least hardest on the lower pages. I then use the blog to target the long tail keywords. Hope this makes sense. Gary. Hi Mike,

Have a look at this site http://www.doublespark-seo.co.uk you will see all links on the home page/menu have a no-follow on them other than the sitemap, ensuring the search engines are taken directly to and only to the sitemap. The sitemap has a no-follow on all apges other than the home page. I then link every page back to its parent (via the breadcrumb menu) and sometimes every other page within that section. Where I feel necessary/benificial I link randomly to other pages within the section. If I want to give the user a link but not the search engines, then I do so but use a javascript link.

On a mult-tier site this enables me to pass link juice upwards only firstly to the main section pages and then on to the home page. This allows me to target the hardest keyphrases on the home page, the next hardest on the main section pages, and the least hardest on the lower pages. I then use the blog to target the long tail keywords.

Hope this makes sense.

Gary.

]]> By: Mike http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2646 Mike Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:55:05 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2646 Let's say you have a site architecture similar to the one in the second diagram above. The designer puts in css drop down menus (using li and a href tags) which makes essentially everypage link to every other page via the navigation include. Is this bad? Should you just link to those second tier pages instead. What about the navigation on the third tier pages, should those have links to each of the second tiers, plus the homepage? Let’s say you have a site architecture similar to the one in the second diagram above. The designer puts in css drop down menus (using li and a href tags) which makes essentially everypage link to every other page via the navigation include. Is this bad? Should you just link to those second tier pages instead. What about the navigation on the third tier pages, should those have links to each of the second tiers, plus the homepage?

]]> By: Being a link builder - Internal Links-- Link Builder’s Union http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2622 Being a link builder - Internal Links-- Link Builder’s Union Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:24:39 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-2622 [...] By cross-linking related internal pages you increase their PR getting them out of the Supplemental Index. Gary at PhoenixRealm has a tight article (complete with pictures!) describing a good internal linking strategy. [...] [...] By cross-linking related internal pages you increase their PR getting them out of the Supplemental Index. Gary at PhoenixRealm has a tight article (complete with pictures!) describing a good internal linking strategy. [...]

]]> By: Joost de Valk http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-77 Joost de Valk Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:15:53 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-77 Interlinking the pages lower in the hierarchy can ensure that all of them get crawled though :) Interlinking the pages lower in the hierarchy can ensure that all of them get crawled though :)

]]> By: Gary http://www.phoenixrealm.com/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-74 Gary Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:13:57 +0000 http://www.phoenixrealm.com/2006/11/19/internal-linking-strategy/#comment-74 I am all for this type of linking it's a fact that linking to a page about red widgets with the text "red widgets" lets the search engines know what the page is about, hopefully, yep red widgets. But for this type of linking i usually use a nofollow attribute, as I do not necessarily want to also pass PR. My internal linking strategies usually involve only passing PR upwards in the hierarchy of pages, as I target the more competitive key phrases here. The pages at the bottom are usually kept for my less competitive keywords, and therefore only need a lower PR. I am all for this type of linking it’s a fact that linking to a page about red widgets with the text “red widgets” lets the search engines know what the page is about, hopefully, yep red widgets.

But for this type of linking i usually use a nofollow attribute, as I do not necessarily want to also pass PR.

My internal linking strategies usually involve only passing PR upwards in the hierarchy of pages, as I target the more competitive key phrases here. The pages at the bottom are usually kept for my less competitive keywords, and therefore only need a lower PR.

]]>