Internal Linking as a Map To Guide Your Reader to Exactly Where You Want Them to Go

I use this analogy all the time. Think of your website as a huge and popular department store like Best Buy. When a customer walks through the front door, while they may have an idea of what they want, the store is built to get them to see the best deals and make them irresistible.

Signage, placement, and everything else built into the science of how customers navigate that store isn't arranged by accident. Similarly, with your website, internal linking is your way of placing signs, aisles, and helpful floor staff to guide your audience from that first look directly to the checkout counter.

Start seeing internal links as a map that keeps your customer moving. If someone lands on a blog post about how to brew the perfect cup of coffee, don’t just leave them with a nice article. Give them a direct link to the grinders, filters, or specific beans you mentioned. You're holding their hand and walking them from the "I’m curious" stage to the "I’m ready to buy" stage.

Look at your most popular pages first. Make sure they have a clear, and highly relevant path to at least one product or service page. Use enticing language for your links. Instead of saying "click here," write "explore my collection of organic coffee beans that have been beautifully digested and expelled by real humans." (ok, maybe not that far. Just making sure you're still paying attention.) Quality call to action text draws them in and lets them know exactly what to expect on the other side.

You also need a way to connect related products in the same way a department store does. Next to the iPhone and laptops at Best Buy are all their accessories. So if you have a product page, do the same and link to accessories and complementary items. If your article is a review on a high-end camera, link them to the memory cards reviews, lenses, and bags that go with it.

Now don't go nuts and have 100 links on a page. Focus on the most helpful, logical next steps. Your goal should be to never have your reader be more than three clicks away from making a purchase. And when it's all highly relevant to each other in a nice, tight niche, it makes this even easier.

Finally, go through your site with fresh eyes. Be the customer. Pick a landing page, and see if you feel lost or guided. If you hit a page with no links, add some. Do your calls to action need some updating? Are you able to find the pillar content pretty easily?

Get after it!
Build that map!
YOU GOT THIS!