There are four types of links that matter most for SEO. Like how well-designed the Mena Entrepreneur site is, if you want to rank your website higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to make sure that you have a strong link profile with a good mix of all four types of links. If you’re wondering what those four types of links are, let’s get started. Keep reading, and you’ll learn the basics and the significance of each type of link and how you can go about obtaining them.
Internal Links
Internal links are perhaps the easiest ones to get and are also significant for SEO. An internal link is simply a link from one of your own website’s pages to another page on your website. Internal linking helps users navigate your site. It allows search engines to crawl and index your content. It spreads link equity (ranking power) around your website.
When linking internally, use relevant keywords in your anchor text (the clickable text in a link) to help users and search engines understand what the linked-to page is about.
External Links
External links, also called backlinks, are links from other websites to your website. Backlinks are essential for SEO because they show search engines that your site is popular and relevant. The more backlinks you have from high-quality websites, the higher your site will rank in SERPs. When building backlinks, use keyword-rich anchor text so that users and search engines understand what the linked-to page is about.
Natural Links
Not only are natural links the most powerful type of link, but they’re also the hardest to get. A natural link is a link that comes about naturally without any prompting or solicitation from you. The linking site’s editor or the author simply decides on their own to include a link to your website because they think it would be helpful for their readers. Because natural links are so powerful and difficult to obtain, it’s pretty lucrative that you never try to artificially create them. If you do, search engines will likely penalize your site.
Manually Obtained Links
When it comes to manually obtaining links, there are two types: editorially given links and self-created links. Editorially given links come from the editors or authors of other websites who have decided to link to your website because they think it’s high quality and relevant.
These are similar to natural links, but you’ve interacted with the linking site (e.g., you submitted a guest post or gave them an interview). Self-created links are just what they sound like—links you’ve created yourself. Creating self-created links is commonly referred to as link building. It’s generally done through link bait (creating content that other people will want to link to) or by contacting webmasters and asking them to link to your website.
Links are essential to SEO, so mastering the basics and going beyond the different types and how to obtain them are always a must. Internal links are perhaps the easiest to …
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