Q&A: Deep Linking & Internal Link Structure

Jackie Alarie of Natural Skincare Secrets asks:
My question is on internal linking structure as it applies to SEO: I realized that many of my pages are only linked to internally from my sitemap. I have a nav bar on the home page that links to my 7 major categories. Then I have another 40 pages written on longtail keywords. Only a few of these pages are linked to from a main category page. They are linked to from the sitemap, though. I started to add internal links to these pages from the category pages. Then I began to question if this should be done all at once or not. Is it better to adjust my internal linking structure gradually?

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Hi Jackie,

You have a model website. It is very easy to navigate, has great content, very nice illustration and good adsense placement. I like the way you weave in product recommendations seamlessly with your content, too - nice work!

Since your site map is linked at the bottom of each page, the search engines wont have any problem finding your internal pages. That will help with indexing, but of course a link on a relevant content page, in the actual content area, carries more weight when it comes to getting those new pages to rank.

Looking at your site, I can see that you are already doing a great job of linking your pages internally. I would continue to do this as it not only helps with search engine rankings, but also helps your visitors navigate through your site and enjoy all of your related content.

To answer your question, I would approach it naturally. You need deep links to your internal pages both from relevant pages within your own site, and from pages on other domains. Unless you're Wonder Woman, this is probably not going to happen fast enough to throw up a red flag 😉

Work on your deep linking strategy one section at a time. In addition to internal linking, look for off-site links that you can point to these pages as well. Doing this at the same time will help your link strategy to appear more natural because external links will stagger in while you are strengthening your internal links.

For each micro-topic within your site, you can:

• Set up hub pages and squidoo lenses
• Answer questions on social Q&A sites
• Comment on relevant blog posts & forum threads
• Write & submit articles
• Create mini-videos to host on YouTube

If you can find some B or C-list bloggers in your niche that do well with longtail keyword phrases, you might contact them to see if they would accept $10 for deep links within relevant posts. I would recommend you do this as a private transaction, not as a disclosed sponsorship.

I suggest this specifically because your content is high quality and the links would be beneficial to the visitors. Paid links are frowned upon by Google because low-quality sites use this method to 'spam' the search engines, but in your case it could be a win/win situation if you established a good relationship with a few niche bloggers.

Look for other places that you can submit content, such as FreeIQ.com, wiki sites (my favorite is wikihow.com), etc. The best place to start is by doing a search for Google for your keyword phrase. You can also look at some of the competing websites in your niche, and analyze their backlinks. You'll likely find some great options there!

Also see: 7 Practical Deep Linking Tips

Best,