Your website structure and internal links are two of the largest factors in Search Engine Optimization that are often overlooked despite the power they provide. It always amazes me to find that so few websites make use of the relevant information they have at their fingertips, that which is contained within their own pages.

So, as you begin designing your website structure, it is important to plan out your internal links, keeping in mind these important factors:

Site Navigation – Your site navigation consists of the navigational menus that are typically listed across the top or down the left side of your pages. These menus generally contain links to your main pages, though sometimes sites will include two navigational menus, one for the main sections of the site and the other for informational pages. This important component should be designed to peak interest, enticing your visitors to stay for a while, and helping them to easily find what they are looking for. It should occupy a prominent position on your site and include important links that remain consistent from page to page.

Anchor Text (Link Text) – Many times websites will use words such as “click here” as anchor text not realizing how important these textual links actually are to the Search Engines. Think about it. How often have you searched for “click here?” Instead, using keywords for the page results in more effective anchor text and provides important information to the search engine spiders. As a matter of fact, if you find that you are able to link to the same page more than once, it is a good idea to throw in variations of the same key phrase across the multiple links.

Contextual Links – These links are placed within the context of the page rather than in the navigational menu and are often rated higher than menus by the search engines. For this reason it is good to use them in combination with your other site navigation. It is also interesting to note, that your visitors will be more likely to click on the links in the text while they are reading than to search for that same text in a menu. This proves to be a more natural response, resulting in better staying power. Always keep in mind the usability of your site, adding these links where they will make sense, from one relevant page to another.