Search Engine Optimization: The Value of Internal and External Links

Content has largely taken over online marketing in the past few years. To attract followers in your target audience on Facebook, you need to create content. To engage subscribers with your marketing emails, you need original content. To manage your reputation, generate leads, and establish thought-leadership, you need content.

So where does this leave search engine optimization in regard to your marketing campaign? Well, although content is an essential asset, it’s not nearly as effective without backlinks.

A recent Practical Ecommerce article talks about the value of internal and external links. According to the article, external links are extremely important since they demonstrate your authority on a given topic:

“Links from other sites — external links — are the most valuable because they send the strongest signals to search engines that your content is authoritative. However, external links take time to acquire and are harder to influence. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t work with the rest of the marketing department on a strong content marketing strategy. You should. But it takes time, skill, and luck for those efforts to mature into links.”

When other sites link to yours, they’re trying to gain more credibility. Having your site positioned at the top means a great deal for your search ranking. You have the same role that a citation has in an academic paper.

Internal links are easier to control than external links, but they don’t bring as much to the table with respect to your SEO. Businesses should regularly check and manage their internal links to make sure they lead to the appropriate pages.

Without internal and external links, your content won’t have a big impact on your SEO. You might impress the few consumers that manage to find it, but you won’t get the visibility and exposure you desire.

To talk more about search engine optimization, or creating a new website for your business, contact us today!