Internal Links vs. External Links & Why You Need Both

When creating content for your website it’s important to also include links. Links direct readers to a different part of the internet when they click them, whether it’s to a different place within your site or to a completely different site altogether. Where that link takes them determines whether it’s an internal or an external link, and companies like Digital Marketing Group can help you use them to your advantage.

Understanding why you need both of these links is helpful when maintaining a website, and knowing the difference between internal and external links, as well as knowing how and why to use them, can significantly help your SEO. If you want your website to be successful and bring you more traffic, you’ll need to use both internal and external links.

Read on for more information on internal links vs. external links and why they’re important for the success of your website.

What Are Internal Links?

When you get a potential customer to visit your website, one of your goals is to keep them there as long as possible. This can be done in many ways, but one of the most popular is by adding internal links. The content you’ve created for your site can help potential customers make the decision to pick your business over your competitors. Still, not all users will willingly read every post or page your website has to offer. This is where internal links can come in handy.

An internal link is a link that takes users from one page on your website to another. Some more familiar forms of internal links include home page buttons, menu buttons, and about pages. Those internal links are clear ways to make navigating your site easy for users, but those aren’t the only ways you can include internal links on your website.

Another popular way that internal links are added is within your content. Content such as blog posts is great a way to redirect users to other places on your site that they may not have gone to on their own. This guides them to related content or content that they may find interesting based on what they’re already reading. Not only does including internal links provide valuable information about your business to potential customers, but it also keeps them on your website longer and can contribute to your site’s overall performance on search engines.

What Are External Links?

Another option for adding links to your website is through external links. Unlike internal links, external links connect your users to different websites. You may think that external links are less important because the goal is to keep people on your site and these links direct people away from it, but there is value in adding external links.

External links can often provide even more information to users about a specific subject you’re covering. They can lead the user to reputable sites that specialize in the subject you’re covering briefly or provide factual evidence to a subject you’re covering. Users benefit from being guided to more information, but your site will also benefit from providing it. Search engines will see that your site helps people find the answers they’re looking for.

External links can also be used to guide users to other sites that you manage. Of course, not everyone is in charge of two websites, but social media pages can count as external links as well. Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube aren’t necessarily your website, despite them holding your company’s content. Using external links in this way can help to keep users within your business’s reach while directing them to a different website.

Why Are They Important?

When it comes to the battle of internal links vs. external links, you’ll find that both are important for different reasons. They have some similar benefits as well as some differences that allow them to achieve specific goals. One thing they do have in common is that they both contribute to your SEO and your search engine ranking, which is why it’s helpful for your page to have both.

You’ll find that where your website ranks on popular search engines can make a huge difference in the amount of traffic coming to your site. Being on the first page of a search engine like Google can mean the difference between someone visiting your site or missing it completely. No matter how valuable the information or services you offer, it makes no difference if you can’t reach the people you’re trying to reach. Your search engine position can greatly benefit your business, and a link’s ability to positively affect that is what makes it so important.

How Can You Legitimately Incorporate These Links?

Incorporating links into your website isn’t as simple as just adding random links here and there. Each should serve a purpose, such as helping users to navigate your site or leading them to more information. Figuring out how to properly insert links takes some expertise that you may not have. Luckily, companies like Digital Marketing Group specialize in creating this kind of content and including both internal and external links on your site.

A marketing company can use its expertise to utilize techniques such as link chaining. This will create a specific flow that directs your users to different spaces on your website within one visit. It can keep users on your site much longer than they originally planned when done successfully and increase the odds of someone buying your goods or services. A quality marketing company can also perform the research necessary to add the external links that will best aid your website in climbing the search engine ladder as well as creating the content that surrounds that link.

External links specifically help your search engine positioning, as they are known to work as third-party votes. Inserting external links in a way that makes sense and choosing high-quality external links can help Google recognize that your site has value and can be helpful to people searching for the topics you’re covering. With the help of external and internal links, your website can perform better than it ever has before.