Implementing an effective linking strategy begins with your website structure. In order to rank well in SERP’s (Search Engine Ranking Page) your website needs to be themed. A Theme is a collection of closely-related keywords and phrases. Google prefers well-structured webpages. A well-structured webpage is easier to recall, describe and share, thus making it easier to link.

Creating Themes

The process starts by breaking your websites topics up into themes. So what topics are actually relevant? Start with previously researched keywords. These keywords represent the products offered to users.  Another great trick is to use web analytics. Web analytics is the analysis of internet data in order to optimize website traffic. Numerous forms of web analytic tools are available that allow you to track user behavior in order to identify relevant themes. For example: Google analytics.

Once you have successfully identified viable keywords to theme your website it is time to break these themes down into simplified structure. Identify the most searched themes and prioritise your list of keywords accordingly.  Split this prioritized list into main themes and sub-themes. Now that you have organized your themes it is time to structure your website. It is important to note that at this stage you should at least have landing pages for every main theme, as well as sufficient content for all the theme topics. The next step is structuring these themes.

Structuring Your Themes

In order to match up your webpage content with your themes you need to silo your webpages. Siloing is the process of grouping related content into themed sections within a website. This involves structuring your webpages downwards from main theme to sub-theme to sub-sub-theme and so on. For instance: Your main theme is Cars. A sub-theme of cars is sports cars and a sub-theme of Sports Cars may include Lamborghini, Ferrari and so on. If the user clicks on the Cars webpage page he should be prompted to visit the Sports Cars page, where he should then be prompted to visit the various sports cars webpages. By creating a thought-out and user-friendly structure you are justifying your websites place in the top rankings. Each pages description and placement should be exact.

In fact avoiding this structure will have a huge negative impact on your SERP results.

Physical Siloing

There are two methods of siloing. The first is physical siloing, sometimes referred to as directory-based siloing. This method of siloing involves structuring your website according to its directory. The directory of a website is the files and folders that contain the actual content of the website. Whenever your website is updated the content is first uploaded onto the website directory. Your website directory is located in your content management system.

Each main theme has a top-level folder, with sub-folders beneath them. The linking follows the structure of your directory. It is important to note that your directory linking should remain as shallow as possible. The consequences of having too many subdirectories are: The longer it takes to get to a subtopic the less important that page is considered by Google. The higher the number of directory folders the longer the url, which decreases the chances of users clicking on it. Longer urls also increase the user’s chances of mistyping them.  Recall the Car theme: The main theme was accompanied by a broad car key phrase (Sports Cars), with different types of sports cars under that. This structure covers all the topics yet is only three levels long.

Another crucial point to consider when practicing physical siloing is the difference between absolute and relative linking. An absolute link includes the entire URL while a relative link only includes the corresponding directory address. Absolute links are preferable over relative ones: The reason being that they are clear in description and easier to interpret by Google. Also keep in mind the nature of the links when breaking them.

Remember: Absolute links require updating if the links are broken, due to changes to the webpages.

Virtual Siloing

The second method of siloing is called virtual siloing. Virtual siloing may be used in the case where your websites directory is not structured correctly and doing so simply isn’t viable. Virtual siloing involves the implementation of internal linking through anchor text, backlinks, external and internal links.

Anchor text is a hyperlinked description of a link. Anchor text tells Google what each page is about so ensure you’re anchor text is accurate. Anchor text helps to guide Google through your website.

Backlinks are the links directing to your website from other websites. The nature of a backlink is incredibly important. Backlinks need to be from relevant websites, or else Google does not consider them relevant. Social media links are also important (but more so for the promotion of your content). So make sure your webpages have accompanying social media buttons. Google also puts varying emphasis on links according to the credibility of their source. Links from high-ranked industry relevant websites are sought after, and tell Google that your website is considered by the best.  In order to acquire these links you will need to develop productive relationships with other websites. Providing quality content and creating mutual opportunities for one another ensures genuine backlinking.

This brings us to the next point, external linking. External linking refers to the links from your website to other websites. In order to secure appropriate backlinks you need to ensure you return the favour with corresponding external links. Note that external links do not necessarily have to be to direct competitors. External links to websites that offer complementary products are a great way of building win-win opportunities. Reciprocal linking, which is discouraged is the practice of linking to and from irrelevant websites and is punishable by Google. Always ensure your linking is industry related.

The last element of virtual siloing is internal linking. Internal linking refers to the construction of your webpage menus and tabs. It is highly important that each webpage directs the user according to the silo structure. In other words having the Cars’ webpage linking to the Sports Cars’ page, and not to other unrelated webpages. After all you can’t expect to have a well-structured website that directs users in a random fashion. So avoid crosslinking at all costs. A webpage should only link to a theme above or below it in the grand structure.

Microsites

If your websites structure exceeds three themes consider creating microsites for each theme. Microsites provide you with a wider search traffic catchment area.

Social Media

Social media is a vital element in your linking strategy and if used properly will reap great rewards. For example: A tweet about a recent article published on your website may be retweeted by your followers and retweeted by their followers and so on, increasing your linking exposure exponentially

Conclusion

This entire process is of course reliant on quality content provided by your website. Content that induces sharing. Google dislikes link purchasing, reciprocal linking and other unethical linking practice. The consequences may be harsher than dropped search rankings, so do yourself a favour and implement an effective and proper linking strategy; one that is both effective and ethical. At the end of the day you want your website to be structured in the most user-friendly, Google-friendly and most relevant structure.

Previous article in the series: On-page SEO; Next article in the series: Social Media Strategy

Julian Karstel is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Sound Idea Digital | @JulianKarstel |Julian@soundidea.co.za

Sound Idea Digital is a full service digital agency | www.soundidea.co.za