Managing Your Internal Links

In search engine optimisation, the number of internal links found within a web page plays an important role. The number of links per page will have a large influence on how PageRank will be disseminated throughout the site. Previously a webmaster would try to design the site so that PageRank was focussed on the most relevant or important pages using a method called PageRank sculpting. This is essentially a means of using the NoFollow feature on links with low importance, so that PageRank was distributed across high importance pages instead of being watered down.

However, this form of maximising the PageRank is now ineffective and there is no way of limiting the way PageRank is shared out amongst all the links, including those that have nofollow activated.

To ensure that only the most crucial web pages get through PageRank use the link consolidation process. This method will ensure that only those links necessary appear on a page and that any links that are unnecessary and could eat into PageRank are kept in a different area of the website.

If you want to look at examples of this in action, look at sites where on the homepage there are links to pages like Terms and Conditions, delivery information and privacy statements. These pages will not benefit the site if they get a high PageRank, whereas if PageRank is distributed to high level category pages that feed into products, the advantages are significant. By grouping the three links you can minimise this likelihood of this happening.

At internet marketing company Click Consult we can help you develop a site that is well designed for SEO.