Webmasters should use internal links to point to content and pages that they “care about the most”, rather than just using them for establishing basic site navigation, Google says.
The search giant’s webmaster trends analyst, John Mueller, has again been answering some of the most pressing questions from SEOs, and he went into detail about how internal linking should be used.
Mueller stated emphatically that internal links are “super critical for SEO” as they are great for guiding Google and visitors to important, relevant pages across a website.
He noted that internal links are vital even when structured data has already been added to web pages to support “breadcrumb” navigation, which establishes primary categories and sub-categories.
Mueller says structured data is not a replacement for internal linking and that the latter should be a priority for SEO strategies.
What makes link building unique, according to Mueller, is the fact that publishers can decide what pages they want to link to.
He says that they could simply link to pages that “earn the most money” or to content that highlights how they are the “strongest competitor” in a specific market.
Tailoring links in this way is not possible with other forms of optimisation such as using structured data, which makes it unique.
It also allows for a strategic approach, with Mueller advising publishers to “highlight” what they care about the most rather than just using a “basic set of links”.
While Muller did not mention how internal links influence search rankings, his latest comments show how Google is always looking for and referencing links to understand context and determine which pages on a site are the most important.
