etravel 2016 presentatie Jesse James Woods Kayak

How to Boost SEO Through Internal Linking

Tips & Best Practices

Jesse, SEO Analyst at KAYAK | @jessejameswoods

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Presentation agenda

1. What is SEO?

2. What is internal linking and why is it important?

3. How do we treat internal links at KAYAK?

4. 10 internal linking tips to improve your SEO

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Let's dive straight into it

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1. SEO?

image via momerrellsays.wordpress.com

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SEO stands for “search engine

optimization.” It is the process of

getting traffic from the “free,”

“organic,” “editorial” or “natural”

search results on search engines.

image via oraiko.com

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2. What do we mean by internal linking?

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We do NOT mean when

another website links to

your website

Your siteExternal site

External site External site

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An internal link connects

one page of a website to a

different page on the same

site.

Homepage

Category 1 Category

2

Category 3

Subpage

Subpage

Subpage

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What does your internal link structure look like?

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Homepage

Category 1 Category

2

Category 3

Subpage

Subpage

Subpage

Is there a logical order to it?

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Or does it look like a plate of spaghetti?

Homepage

Category 1 Categor

y 2

Category 3Subpage

SubpageSubpage

image credit: rebloggy.com

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Many sites try to link to too many pages

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SEO value User value≤

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Why is internal linking important for users?

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1 Internal links help your users find what they are looking for

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2 Internal links help your users discover more content on your site

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3 Internal links help your users navigate back and forth easier between pages, sections and categories on your site

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Why is internal linking important for SEO?

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31 Internal links help search engines understand and crawl your website

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One site with all verticals mixed together

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Separate websites for each vertical

Flights Hotels Cars

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One site with vertical-specific categories

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312 Internal links distribute page authority and ranking power throughout your site

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Link juice & ranking power distribution

Homepage

Categories

Links from other websites

Subpages

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3. How do we treat internal links at ?

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Homepage

Vertical (A) Vertical (B) Vertical (C)

Worldwide (A)

Basic structure of our website

Continent (A1)

City (A1)

Country (A1)

Detail page (A1)

Worldwide (B)

Continent (B1)

City (B1)

Country (B1)

Detail page (B1)

Worldwide (C)

Continent (C1)

City (C1)

Country (C1)

Detail page (C1)

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Situation: We have many pages

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Challenge: How do we keep link juice/ranking power from being distributed too thin across these pages?

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Solution: We link directly to our top destination pages

from our front pages and use a linking structure that makes all of our content easily accessible

for users and search engines

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1 We group pages by vertical and start linking to each vertical from our front pages

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2 For each destination we crosslink all different vertical pages for the same destination

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3 For each destination we use breadcrumbs to link to higher and deeper level pages in each vertical

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4 We link to our best monetizing pages from the front pages of our site

$ $

$

$

$

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5 We use anchor texts in our internal links that contain descriptive keywords

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6 We try to link each page as close as possible to the front pages of our site

3 steps from Flights frontpage to the Amsterdam Flights page

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7 On each page we try to minimize the number of pages we link to so that we are only linking to the most relevant pages.

all hotels near Anne Frank house all hotels near Centrumx x✓

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7 On each page we try to minimize the number of pages we link to so that we are only linking to the most relevant pages.

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4. 10 internal linking tips to improve your SEO

1 Group your pages into vertical specific categories

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2 Link to each vertical from your front pages

For each destination, crosslink your vertical pages

4 Use breadcrumbs to link between higher and deeper level pages on each vertical

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5 Link to your best monetizing pages from the front pages of your site

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6 Link each page as close as possible to the front pages of your site

On each page try to minimize the number of pages you link to by only linking to the most relevant pages

8 Use anchor texts for your internal links

4. 10 internal linking tips to improve your SEO

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9 Make sure your links are crawlable and that the pages they link to are indexable by search engines

10 Do a quarterly audit of your internal linking structure to keep it well-maintained● Link auditing tools to check out:

○ Google Search Console○ Screaming Frog○ Xenu's Link Sleuth○ Open Site Explorer

4. 10 internal linking tips to improve your SEO

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I hope this helps towards achieving your SEO goals

image via Reddit

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Thank you!

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Let's talk more about SEO sometime

@jessejameswoods

linkedin.com/in/jessejameswoods

[email protected]

Jesse James Woods

SEO Analyst