Sixth City Marketing · Internal linking

How we plan internal links for clients

Every link should push toward a money page.

Group like pages by relevance. Pick the page in each group that makes money. Then point the rest of the group at it, using anchors that describe what it's about.

A typical site

Pages link wherever someone happened to add a link. Nothing points anywhere on purpose.

A roofing site's pages sorted into groups, with support pages linking to each money page A roofing company's pages start scattered with random links. They sort into three groups: roof replacement, gutters, and siding. Each group has one money page. The support pages in each group link to it. In the roof replacement group, the six links use anchors like roof replacement, replace your roof, full roof replacement, new roof installation, replacing an aging roof, and reroofing your home.

Anchor text

Anchors should model the money page's topic

The anchor is the clickable text. It tells search engines and readers what the linked page is about, so it should describe the money page, in slightly different words each time.

Says nothing

Generic anchors

click herelearn moreread morethis page

Nothing here says the page is about roof replacement.

No variety

The same words every time

roof replacementroof replacementroof replacementroof replacementroof replacementroof replacement

Looks manufactured, and misses every other way people describe the topic.

How we do it

On topic, with variety

roof replacementreplace your rooffull roof replacementnew roof installationreplacing an aging roofreroofing your home

Every anchor is clearly about roof replacement, and no two are the same.

The checklist

Four rules for every client

Group like pages by relevance

Sort by topic first. A page belongs in a group if it's about the same thing that group's searcher wants.

Choose one money page per group

The page that turns visitors into leads or sales. Usually a service or product page.

Point support pages at it

Blog posts, guides, cost pages, and project pages in the group each link to the money page.

Target the anchors, then vary them

Every anchor describes the money page's topic. No two are identical, and none say "click here."