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    4. Should my back links go to home page or internal pages

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    Should my back links go to home page or internal pages

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • AshShep1
      AshShep1 last edited by

      Right now we rank on page 2 for many KWs, so should i now focus my attention on getting links to my home page to build domain authority or continue to direct links to the internal pages for specific KWs?

      I am about to write some articles for several good ranking sites and want to know whether to link my company name (same as domain name) or KW to the home page or use individual KWs to the internal pages - I am only allowed one link per article to my site.

      Thanks

      Ash

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • David-Kley
        David-Kley last edited by

        Always link by page and subject matter. If you have an article about red widgets, you should link back to the page you have about red widgets. True you can build up your home page with a lot of links, but this hurts your user experience by making them have to go through the entire site to find what they came there for.

        When you send all your links to the homepage, you are suggesting what page is the most important to search engines. This can often be seen where you have sites that never have any subpages ranking or showing up in search results, only the home page over and over. Sounds great doesnt it? But you can limit the exposure of your site in the long run. By directing links at your subpages, not only do you increase the chance that they will eventually rank higher, you also can get more specific with your linking text.

        Direct keyword linking to the home page is more risky. With your subpage links, you can get closer or even use exact keyword phrase links because the content is more specific. In reality, use whatever link phrase that a user will click on. A bunch of keywords might not do that job as well as a conversion statement. If you are worried about getting people to your home page, change the way the subpages are set up on your site, so that users can go to the other relevant areas of your site with ease. It should be easy and simple to direct them where you want them to go using graphics or styled text.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Bryan_Loconto
          Bryan_Loconto @SilverDoor last edited by

          I agree with SilverDoor & donford!

          Relevancy! Relevancy! Relevancy!

          Don't get too caught up in your domain authority or page rank. Build naturally (for the users of your site)... and it all shall come 😃

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • donford
            donford @SilverDoor last edited by

            Completely agree with SilverDoor (thumbs up). Backlinks should always point to the most relevant page.

            The way I always approach it by not driving myself nuts over pushing up Domain Authority or a certain page's Page Rank rather focus on the unique content that will drive itself to get links. Once you have the content in place, you of course have to do some work getting yourself noticed, but once that happens you'll find backlinks coming from multiple places with no additional work required.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • SilverDoor
              SilverDoor last edited by

              Hi Ash,

              The best way to work out where you should point the backlink to is by asking yourself this question:

              What is the most related and useful page on my website for the article I have written?

              Take it from a readers perspective. Would they prefer to go to your homepage or a more specific internal page?

              Once you can answer that question then you know where to link to.

              Make sure to not over-optimise the keywords you use for your anchor text.Just put them on the most natural, relevant word in your article.

              Hope this helps.

              donford Bryan_Loconto 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 3
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