Interlinking between Web Pages : Why & How

Properly linking the various pages on your website, is one of the most important things you should do to assure your site receives the full attention it deserves from the various search engines.
Why ?

well, firstly, a search engine might not be able to find and spider all your pages, if there isn't good interlinking between your website's pages. Not having a good website structure might also "confuse" the search engines in building a good "picture" of your website's pages and structure.

This could in the end seriously hamper your search engine rankings for certain keywords. We have tried this concept on a trial and error basis, and believe me - it works ! Also, for the sake of clients, potential clients and surfers of your site - there's nothing more frustrating when visiting a site and not knowing where you are on the site, not knowing what else your site offers, and finally not knowing how to get there .... you might just as well give your site a death sentence right now.

Let's say you offer a wide selection of a specific product and have it illustrated over 4-5 pages. Wouldn't it be logical to have a horizontal linking system between all these pages ? Yes, you would say, but we still see plenty of sites that don't - just adding again to their site's visitors frustrations. So instead of expecting the visitor to go back to an index or menu page all the time, also give them the option of browsing between pages - as long as you make a note for them where they are on the site ! Eg. Bracelets page 2 of 5.

How

This starts with having a good structured contents page or a site map as it's referred to these days. I would spend a great deal of time with structuring this page if I were you ! Also look at the title and description tags, and add relevant keywords to go with the contents on this page. This will help your rankings along more than it wouldn't ...

You can look at this page as if it was your sites yellow pages & index all in one. Imagine how difficult it would be for a person trying to find a specific stamp in a stamp catalogue with over 1500 pages. Let's add to this a few other volumes. Eg. 4 more volumes of 1500 pages each. Remember, you, the webmaster might know your site plus it's structure, but a first time visitor doesn't ! Help them by having a good linking system between sections, as well as between various pages of a section. Also remember to include a link from all your pages to your main page.

Links to other important sections, like "about us" and "contact us" is always appreciated. Don't let you visitors go surf for it. Remember, you don't know though which page a visitor will enter you site, and first impressions normally last .... if the visitor doesn't like the page he lands on your site, he/she will surely not make any attempt to look further. You will loose a potential client.

Should you fail to properly structure and link your web pages, your site will become like a jungle : the main sections bigger trees, pages little trees, paragraphs the branches and information the leaves. Your visitors will feel like a monkey let loose in a new forest ! Now go and properly re-structure your site. Thanks for your time.

About the Author

Brian is a freelance writer, website marketing expert & webmaster of 3 websites, including Rankadvance at http://www.rankadvance.com