SEO services–search engine optimization services… What are they, and how do they benefit your business? SEO is a broad umbrella encompassing a number of different tactics surrounding online marketing. The goal of search engine optimization is to climb higher on a query results page and thus appear to more browsing internet users. This is where the help of a specialist comes in. We at MyCity Social are a team of digital marketing gurus–an Orlando, Miami, and Tampa SEO company with the knowledge and skills to help you understand what it takes to make digital marketing a success. We want to take a moment to talk more about SEO, what it is, what it does, and specifically how internal links can be used to reach a higher search engine results page. There are many moving pieces to think about, but by the end, you’ll have a better grasp on how these services function as well as understand the value of hiring a specialist to manage it for you.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is, in short, a method of optimizing your web presence for search engines so that it appears further up on search engine results pages. This includes the elements to your web page like metadata, backlinks, and internal links. In the age of the internet that we live in, the largest way many of us get more information is through the use of search engines. Are you looking for children’s swimming lessons in your area? You’ll probably be using a search engine for that. Need to find the best disco bowling alley for when your family is in town? You’ll use a search engine for that too. By organizing and optimizing the components of your web page, and creating content designed to match the search algorithms, you’ll climb to higher results pages and get more clicks from anyone in need of what your business offers.
What we want to emphasise today are internal links. What are internal links? Any link that you include on your website that leads to another page of that same website is an internal link. Why might you do this? Internal links are all about accessibility for the tools within your own website. A great example would be the “contact us” section. As you’re reading through a website’s content, you may want to reach out to them. A user can just hunt for that page themselves, but by adding links on other pages, you allow them the opportunity to bypass those tasks and go straight to the page they need. It’s all about placing internal links throughout your website naturally. Think about what content a user is looking at and what other content might be relevant. If you’re breaking down your services on your home page, perhaps you can add internal links to pages that further expand on each of those services. For example, if you ran a business that handled home restoration services, you might want links to detailed webpages for each service listed on your homepage after a brief synopsis.
How do Internal Links Benefit SEO Services?
Internal Links help search engines understand the content of your website better. The key is in the hypertext–the actual text of the link you’re including on a given page. Search engines can use that hypertext to determine the kind of information it links to and uses that knowledge appropriately. This is why it’s important to add links to text that accurately describe what the link leads to rather than just plopping the link onto your webpage. For example, rather than just copy-pasting the url to your contact information, attach the link to the actual phrase “Contact Us” that you place somewhere on your webpage.
One thing to note is that search engines are smart enough to check for the diversity and the relevance of internal links on your site. It also checks for the distance between links. This means that spamming links all over your website isn’t an effective strategy to improve your site’s performance. Basically, spamming links doesn’t do you any good. What you should do instead is focus on including links where it feels natural, and trying to make sure they’re diverse.
Understanding Website Hierarchy
Another element that pertains to links and SEO is the hierarchy of your website. Hierarchy refers to the layout of your website’s content and links and is effectively how users will know where they are on your website as well as how to get to where they want to go. If you have a messy hierarchy that doesn’t flow, you’ll run into two main problems. The first is that a search engine may not be able to effectively index your web pages. The bigger concern is that any users who arrive to your website may have a difficult time navigating it, and most of us lack the patience to tolerate this for long before we give up and try and find someone else whose is easier to read. With that in mind, the hierarchy of web content will fall into two major categories depending on your website and the content you have.
- Flat Hierarchy
- This is a website that has more categories than it does sub-categories. Categories are the broad links you often see at the top of web pages that cover larger groups of information. A sub-category is basically a category within a category–one that covers a more specific piece of information or content than the broader category. An example of this might be on an online boutique. The category labeled “Mens” will cover clothing classified as menswear. When you hover your cursor over “Mens,” you’ll see a dropdown menu of sub-categories like “Pants,” “Sweaters,” and “Hats.”
- Deep Hierarchy
- Where a flat hierarchy has more categories than sub-categories, a deep hierarchy is the opposite–having more sub-categories than categories. The example of an online boutique would probably fit this mold as many online boutiques will have many different sub-categories to help shoppers narrow their search options to more easily find what they’re looking for.
Internal Links: Ultimately About the User Experience
We’ve talked about the ways that internal links and website hierarchy benefit search engine optimization, but the biggest impact these have is on the user experience with your website. Web design is all about flow and ease-of-use, and links are a major part of web design. You want your uses to have an easy time reaching every corner of your website so that they can access whatever kind of content they’re looking for. Internal links make it easy and seamless to transition to other pages that would naturally have information complementary to the content where the link originates.
Remember, if a website lacks clarity and cohesiveness, users are likely to get lost. Especially in today’s age, users may not have the patience to spend more than a few minutes trying to figure out your website’s layout. If that user decides to give up, that likely means they’ll return to the search engine results page and find a different website. That’s not only a loss of potential business, but it also means that user may go on to build a relationship with a competitor. Because of this, the biggest importance to effective use of internal links and your website hierarchy is ensuring that your users have that easy experience of navigating your website.
About MyCity Social
Here are MyCity Social, we are a team of digital marketing gurus that work to help our clients optimize their websites and social media to reach more web users and expand their brands. With offices located in Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, we’ve helped many Florida companies broaden their market through our digital marketing services, but we also can help companies throughout the country remotely. We do this through our combination of search engine optimization services, social media management, and web content creation. Our goal is to help all our clients reach a bigger audience by improving the quality of their web content and social media presence. Client satisfaction is our biggest priority, and through strong communication and accurate SEO reports, we can ensure those clients have a clear picture of exactly how they’re benefiting from our services.
Contact Our Orlando, Miami, or Tampa SEO Company
Do you have a better grasp on search engine optimization? Do you know the benefits of well-organized internal links? Do you know what kind of website hierarchy is best for your site? Now that you have a better understanding of these components and how valuable they are, you might be ready to consider the assistance of a specialist. At MyCity Social, our teams are dedicated to mastering the arts of SEO, social media management, and digital marketing. We aim to help every client with these services so that they can reach new audiences and pull in more users. It’s not just about organizing the content you have, but also maintaining consistent, new content to continue these efforts over time. For effective and reliable SEO services, our Orlando, Miami, and Tampa SEO company is here to help. Don’t wait! To learn more about our services, how we can help you, and to get started with our digital marketing gurus, contact us today.
