Web linkingThe era of web technology is upon us and with volatile trends stemming into uncertainties, many SEO strategists have come to believe if the online industry is as reliable as it was before. But turning a blind eye to such platforms can mean the difference of success and failure in an online business.

A failure that can ruin your worth and spiral into a costly catastrophe. So when it comes to owning a website, you need to make sure you take it to town because as the saying goes, “a bad tree does not yield good apples”. If you are aware of the basics, the first step after creating a website is giving it the right exposure. This is where link architecture comes in.

Why Link Architecture is Important?

Web page linkThe link architecture of a website is extremely crucial for spreading your wings across the internet. All the important aspects of visibility and exposure in online marketing such as search engine crawling, Page rank distribution and indexation are acutely sensitive to link architecture of your website.

These factors are also responsible for the UI and navigation of the web pages which ultimately affect the conversions rates of your website. If you have a revenue driven website, then you might as well have to consider putting some serious Link Structure into practice. Here in this article, we have mustered 10 tips that you will definitely find useful in managing a healthy internal link architecture.

  1. Picking the Right Website and Link Strategy

Every method has its ups and downs, but for setting your link architecture there are a few more strategies effective than the other. Three factors run their roots deep in link architecture and they are capacity of the website, its type, and the objectives it is set out to achieve. The safest practice that full fills all three into a wholesome bite of effective internal linking is flat link hierarchy with the the use of sub folder and sub domains for the main categories. This not only cranks up the SEO performance, but also sets a concrete architecture for internal linking.

  1. Feature Text Menus in Your Website

Plain text link menuThe primitive use of Silverlight, Flash and Javascript for menus has been quite the buzzkill for SEO from a long time. According to web design experts, websites with plain-text menus tend to achieve higher results in SEO and also get away with indexation problems. Even though SEO engines are more advance with juiced up algorithms working like self-aware mainframes, they still get jet-lagged while crawling non text menus. Adding text menus also allow you to achieve more accurate site links.

  1. Internal Links Must have Keywords for Anchor Text

Now this might be the most run-of-the-mill practice, but when it comes to raising rankings for your internal pages it sure as heck is pretty effective. Through targeted keywords and then using them in anchor text, you can enhance the rankings of your website’s web pages. You can also surround your content with a wider range of keywords by using several other variations. This prevents spamming and bans a common side effect of aggressive SEO linking. Just be careful not to get carried away with it.

  1. Never Spend Excessive Page Rank on Weaker Pages

Page rank leaks is a notorious issue when it comes to internal linking. It causes weaker pages to achieve higher rank compared to product pages and category pages that count the most in terms of conversions and leads. These pages include disclaimers, privacy policy pages and registration forms etc. The best way to move the spotlight to the significant pages and irrigate the link flow to them is by keeping less important pages the least as possible. You can remove them from the website or just merge multiple pages into one.

  1. Cross-Link Pages that Have Value

Webpage cross linkAs familiarity breeds contempt, cross-linking significant pages has become more prominent in. Its powerful, effective and shoots page rank distribution like rocket fuel. Even if these pages are a part of multiple levels of sub-trees, the indexation will still improve regardless. You can easily merge this technique in your content by introducing links in the main text of the page. Showing recommendation to visitors is also an effective method. This ensures the users will remain on your website longer, thus enhancing retention while search engines find your page content more effectively. The bounce rate will also consequently be reduced.

  1. Important Pages Deserve Direct Links

As we know, the homepage dominates the page rank (in most cases). Being the top branch of the tree, it holds highest level in SEO giving the pages near it the best attention while others that are slightly apart get lesser link juice. Through the intervention of overlapping link hierarchy, you can add direct links from the home page. This helps in thrusting rank of the most conspicuous pages without compromising the core structure of your site. You should also consider initiating a link building campaign and introduce external links directly to your page if an internal page is involved with a very competitive keyword.

  1. Take Out Dangling Links, Broken Ones and the Duplicate Content

Tinkering with rank on your web pages can prove disastrous for your website. You are susceptible to lose priceless link juice if you are harboring duplicate content, broken and dangling links within your website. By eradicating these dead links for good, you can revitalize the link structure of your website. It might take time removing dangling links and refreshing pages with fresh content, but it all pays off when the page crawling, indexation and rankings improve. Internal pages will definitely enjoy the good time your giving them through these tips.

  1. External Links Vs. Outgoing Links

According to the guidelines from the boss of search engines, Google clearly suggests less than 100 links per page to keep a smooth working process of ranks for higher importance pages. Having a reasonable number of links are recommended because excessive links are responsible for transferring the link juice to external websites. This weakens the energy required in internal links because SERPs get them sidelined. In order to make sure your potential page rank stays with you, reduce the number of external links.

  1. Learn to Say No

Why should you avoid ‘nofollowed’ links? Well, for one they do not boost page rank, fail in page’s position in the SERPs, and reduces the page’s favor from several other angles.

According to Matt Cutts, adding the ‘nofollow’ attribute while running a blog is a sign that rank is defective in the site. Using the attribute can result in page rank losses and can reduce your link juice to muck. However, you can use them as referral traffic. A blog comment appropriately placed on a contextual forum has the potential to divert some good traffic to your site.

  1. Place Important Links

Building a website cross link‘Position’ is a cardinal factor in Google when it comes to calculating the editorial importance of a link in web pages. Links that end up being placed on top of the pages produce greater flow in page rank compared to those links that are positioned on the footer.

Hence, it becomes imperative that the placement of your links has be on the beginning of the page. The use of HTML templates/designs must also be avoided which result in creating on main menu at the page’s end.

Google SEOFor some time now, website owners and SEO managers have been measuring their success and picking link partners based on Google’s Toolbar Page Rank Tool.  People came to understand that a PR4 is excellent while a PR1 is pretty low. In the last year however, Google has stopped updating the their Page Rank tool altogether, confusing and angered site owners who are trying to increase their website traffic.

As many people know, Google is relentless when it comes to creating an air-tight algorithm that rewards organic web traffic and positive SEO tactics. As it became clear that basing metrics on Page Rank was driving link spamming, Google decided to abandon the practice and now encourages web designers to focus on other SEO tactics and measurements. They have updated the PR toll only once within the last year, and that was done by accident. It is clear that Google will no longer be supporting Page Rank going forward.

Many people have found that Domain Rank is a close alternative and have started to use Moz Domain Authority’s 100 point Page Rank system. Domain Authority measures the predictive ranking strength of entire domains or subdomains. It is a higher level picture of authority strength and it is more difficult to impact with black hat SEO practices.

Inbound links to websiteYou can use the Moz Open Site Explorer to find the Domain Rank of any website for free. You can also view the inbound links to that site and their own respective Domain Ranks. This allows you to keep tabs on your competition and find related high ranking authority sites you might want involved in your linking strategy. There is also a Pro version of Moz that allows for more reports and metrics to be analyzed.

Moving forward it is more important than ever to concentrate your efforts on meaningful SEO tactics including creating amazing content, a solid linking strategy and paying attention to how views use their site. To increase your Domain Rank and be seen in Google search results, partner yourself with a SEO expert like the ones at eBizUniverse. Long range thinking, well planned strategies and quality content will be your key to success.