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How convenient is it to click something and be automatically directed to a site. Imagine having to type in the full URL of anything you would want to see more of. It would be time consuming and lets face it we would be too lazy to do it.
This is why the world has created links. A link is a connection between two points. A website a link is used to take your audience from your web page to another source. The type of source you are linking it to has endless possibilities. It could be your Instagram, Facebook, an article, or resource you are sourcing. The link is intended to be an easy way to direct your audience who want more information on the topic to that info.
In this guide we will go over what links are in a website, where you use them, and the two different kinds. That being said, we will explain internal and external links, and how to get them for your website. Then, we will go over their importance to your website in terms of SEO, and getting more exposure for your business.
From there, we will go over the best practices for links.
The kind of links you want to have and don’t want to have.
We will end with giving you ideas of how to get these links and how to make more websites link to yours!
What is a Link?
A link is used to take your audience from your web page to another source. In an effort to show them different but related content in detail. It is typically highlighted and when clicked will redirect you. Its typically used for other social media pages, internal resources, tools, etc.
Why are Links important and When to Use Them?
It allows your potential clients to navigate between different resources with a click of a button.
Links can be used for just about anything! The only difference is each link has an intended purpose for your audience. For example, if you are blogging about a product that you sell, you would need to provide a link so they know where to buy it. The goal of the link would be to make a sale. While, if you are writing content to teach your audience, you can link other related articles to yours if they are interested in reading more. The intent of the link would be to educate your audience and to be of value to them.
With this in mind, links can be used to target our audience to act or to grow trust and connection with. This is why, links should be used with an intended goal for their audience.
Types of Links
There are two types of links in a website. The two links are known as Internal Links and External Links.
Internal Links
These are links in your website, such as the navigation menu. Each text listed is an internal link that connects you to that webpage. Similarly, the contact us buttons or learn more buttons are also forms of internal linking. This is very important you want your audience to stay engaged and navigate through the website easily.
Internal links are also great for grouping content. For example, having all the services you offer, and then individual links to each.
Links allow you to a home page that is vague and only express what you have to offer. When a client finds what they are looking for they will click and the link will direct them to the page of interest where they can read more!
By far the most important internal link you should have on your website is a contact page. Your website and service could be amazing but how is a client supposed to contact you? Make it easy to find and repeat your contact gateway many times on your site.
External Links
The second type of link is an external link. As the name suggests these are links that do not originate in your website. These links are typically not your own site but offer valuable information or a different view of your business.
Examples of external links can be a link to your social media (Facebook, instagram, etc). Where you are more frequently posting content and have the most online presence. The goal of this link would be for your audience to follow you and keep up to date with your business.
Whereas, you can also site other websites that explain or offer a service that helps your clients. For example, If you sell wallpapers, you can link a wallpaper length calculator. This eliminates the hassle and makes it easy for the client to order the correct quantity.
External links are great for your website not only for your audience but to the precious algorithm for search engines.
SEO and Business Exposure Online
Why would links whether internal or external have an influence on how your website ranks? Well, believe it or not having an adequate number of links in your website greatly improves your search engine optimization (SEO).Search engine algorithms analyze the amount of links pointing to your website. Meanwhile, also looking at how many of your own pages you referencing in your website.
Internal links are easy to setup. While, external can be more challenging to get authentic links from reliable sources. The easiest way to get an external links is to use sites that promotes businesses. All you have to do is sign your business up and add your website link and contact information.
Another way is to ask a friend to link from their website to yours. There’s a twist to this the link must make sense. Search engines know when you have fake external links and your site will suffer in rankings if you buy or con your external links. They ultimately have to make sense, if a baking website links a concrete website this seems out of the ordinary and the search engines will catch on.
Quality over Quantity Linking
There is such a thing as a bad link. I know I just said that linking is great it helps our audience, it promotes us, and is great for getting our business online presence. That is still correct, but we need to be very careful that our links still exist and have not changed.
Bad Link
Links that no longer exist because the website is down.
- You need to audit and re-check links every couple of months especially to sites that are not your own to ensure they are still good. Nothing is more disappointing than clicking a link that doesn’t work. Clients can loose interest and give up on your site altogether, and we do not want that. We know attention spans are short so keep them engaged as much as possible!
Links that have changed and been moved and give 404 errors.
- Go back and find the new link so your audience can continue to use them.
How to Get More Links to your Website
1. Link your website on your social media sites and posts.
- This is an easy thing to do. You do this once on your platforms and make it habit to link your sites on your posts.win for
2. Use Websites that promote other businesses to boost your business.
- These sites are designed for clients to find contractors or services near them. This is an easy way to put your business on their site and they will link to your website.
- Posting your business on sites similar to these is an easy way to get external links
3. Ask a friend to promote or link your website in a blog post on their website.
- We are all here to help each other out. If you know someone who has a business they can always find ways to promote you. They can write a blog post about the work you do and link your website.
Summary
From this post we learnt what a link is, why it’s important to the user and for SEO, and how to get links.
Explained the two types of links, internal and external.
Discussed quality over quantity when it comes to website links.
Lastly, we finished off with tips of how to get good links.
Now that you know about linking. Get started today with incorporating more internal and external linking for your website. We’ve outlined so many easy ways of doing this in this blog but feel free to get creative with it!
Let’s make your website as SEO friendly as possible.
By following these steps you increase the chance of all your content reaching clients. This is exactly what you need to get more jobs and more importantly higher quality clients to work with.
If you are unsure or don’t want the hassle of maintaining or updating your website let Congraphix do all the work for you. We can automate the process and keep up to date with your updates. You can also determine how often you would like to update based off your business. We work within your budget. To learn more or to contact click here.