Why internal links are so important for Squarespace SEO

A few weeks ago, I published a blog post/video tutorial all about the 3 link types and the role they play in Squarespace SEO. It’s a banger, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already haha

You guys loved that general overview but I decided to take things a step further… hence today’s deep dive all about INTERNAL LINKS and their importance in Squarespace SEO :)

Internal links play a significant role in Squarespace SEO but they’re also something that many people overlook or under-appreciate, which means that they are often missing out in this area. I know that once you learn more about internal links and see this demo for yourself, you’re going to pop back over to the back end of your Squarespace website and make some tweaks asap!

As a Squarespace SEO expert and leader in this super random little niche, it’s my job/pleasure to introduce you to things like this and present it in a way that makes you think, yes Charlotte I can handle this!

This is the kind of insider info that I share with my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and students in my online course, Top Squarespace SEO. But since I’m not one for secrets and truly want the best for anyone with a website, I’m giving you the summarized goods here - totally for free!

Read the blog post or watch the video tutorial below - sit back and relax cause you’re about to learn all about internal links - what they are, why they’re important for Squarespace SEO and how to set them up on your website.

Some of you reading this might be totally new to Squarespace SEO and are looking for an introduction to this topic, someone to hold your hand and show you it’s not actually that scary. On the flip side, you might already be familiar with a few points on this list already but maybe you are looking for confirmation that you’re on the right track and haven’t missed anything important. No matter where you are in your Squarespace SEO journey, I know you’ll benefit from this info!

Alright, let’s get straight to it - read the post and watch the video tutorial below to learn all about internal links and Squarespace SEO!

I have so many tips to share on the subject that it would have been crazy to put it all in one article! There are many misconceptions about Squarespace SEO which is why I've dedicate so many posts to this topic. Enjoy!

Click to view all posts in the Squarespace SEO Series

Visit my Squarespace SEO page for lots more resources.

Why internal links are so important for Squarespace SEO

Internal links matter for SEO - don’t overlook them!

As I mentioned in the intro, internal links are a very important part of Squarespace SEO but they’re also an often overlooked or under-appreciated factor.

Once you know more about internal links (what they are and their value), you can use that to your advantage and start seeing some significant improvements to SEO and see the changes in how your site is ranking in certain online searches, specifically for your desired web pages, blog posts, products, etc.

As a very quick recap, internal links are anytime you link from one part of your website to another. This could be a link to another page, another blog post, product in your online shop, gallery, event - anything really, so long as its content from within the same website!

There are several reasons why it’s valuable to set up internal links, specifically from an SEO perspective, and I want to go through those with you now.

1. Internal links help with crawlability

Without getting too technical, it’s important to remember that anytime a search engine (like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) arrives on your website, they are going to do two things:

crawl your website content
index your website content

They’re browsing through the content of your website, trying to understand how it’s built but also what your website/brand/business is about.

As they’re crawling your site, they’re taking note of all the technical & structural components that make up a page - headers, body text, images and other media, links, etc.

Whenever these crawlers see a link, they’re going to follow the link path and see where it leads them. Internal links, therefore, help Google’s crawlers to explore other parts of your website and map out the content.

internal links are a fantastic way to signal to Google that their crawlers should go beyond the initial page, and instead should carry on & discover other parts of your site too. So not only are you making it easier for them to discover the website content (new content, old content, updated content, etc.), you’re also assisting in the site mapping process to give them a better understanding of your site overall.

2. Internal links help distribute the page rank and expand the authority of a specific page

Let’s say you’re trying to rank one particular page on your website higher than others - for example, your homepage or services page.

The more you link internally to that particular page, it signals to Google that this page is more important than lesser pages/posts on your website that you link to less often.

As you are establishing website authority, you can use that to distribute page rank not just from a specific page but also TO another page/post/whatever on your site.

This is great too because remember that often people will land on your website (whether it’s on a page, blog post, product in your online shop, etc.) via a Google search. And if you can include links to other relevant or important parts of your website, you deliver value to them (benefits for real humans AND search engines).

3. Internal links improve user experience (UX)

Remember that user experience and SEO are closely linked because Google always wants to return the highest quality, best & most relevant piece of content to someone doing an online search - so, if your website is focused on user experience AND keyword-rich valuable content, then you have a massive advantage in ranking higher compared to other sites.

So, let’s look at internal links and the role they play in user experience.

Imagine that someone does a Google search and your website shows up in search results. They click over to your page/blog post/whatever.

Remember that this might very well be their FIRST time ever coming into contact with you, your website, your brand/business - they have no idea who you are or what you’re about, let alone any of the products/services/offerings you have!

Internal inks will definitely come in handy here because anytime you mention something within the page/post content, you can link over to the other relevant sections of your website and it helps the human discover more valuable content that they would otherwise have no clue about. You’re providing something useful beyond just straight up text.

Now that we’ve covered 3 reasons why internal links are valuable to SEO, let’s go through a little demo so that you can see how they actually work on your Squarespace website.

if you look at THIS BLOG POST that you’re currently reading, you’ll see many examples of internal links! The links appear as a different colour and many of them will take you to another page/post on my website.

But as you go through the examples, I want you to take note of a few things:

Internal links use descriptive keyword rich anchor text

When it comes to setting up internal links, you don’t just want to slap a link around without a care in the world. Compare these two options:

Option 1: You say something like “read the blog post to learn more” and link the words ‘blog post’.

Option 2: You say something like “read the blog post Why internal links are so important for Squarespace SEO to learn more ” and then link the full text title.

Can you guess which option you should do? Yep, option 2 - always! It’s important to use descriptive keyword-rich anchor text whenever you set up an internal link on your Squarespace website, if you want maximum SEO benefit.

Again, this is helpful for Google AND the real human who is reading your website’s content.

Demo: how to set up internal links on your Squarespace website

To set up an internal link:

open a page/post/product/etc. that you want to insert an internal link on
highlight the text that you want to link (remembering the point above!)
click the “link” button
you have several options of how you link and it depends on what you’re trying to do: you can paste in the link url directly or search through Squarespace’s Page preview or link to an email/phone/file
Optional: open in a new window (usually if you’re linking externally you will open link in a new window, but if it’s an internal link you can choose)
click Save

And that’s it! Super easy, eh?

Final Thoughts

There you have it, a deep but not scary dive into internal links and why they matter for Squarespace SEO!

I hope you can see why they are so important and are worth your time setting up throughout your site.

If you don’t have a lot of internal links set up on your site yet, that’s totally OK! Your homework is to go back through your pages/posts/etc. and add in relevant & valuable internal links wherever it makes sense.

And if you’re building out new pages/posts in the future, then internal links are definitely something to keep in mind.

There’s a lot to consider with Squarespace SEO and I totally understand that it’s a daunting subject when you’re first starting out, which is why I’m thrilled to help you out with this blog post/video tutorial all about internal links & Squarespace SEO

Whether you’re just starting out with a brand new website and want to make sure that you’re setting it up correctly, or if you’ve had a site live for a while and now want to grow it to make more of an impact, SEO will get you where you want to go! From web pages to blog posts to product descriptions, these factors should be considered across your Squarespace website if you want best results.

Now it's your turn to tell me, do you have internal links set up on your website? Have you set them up correctly? Are you going to go back and update your website to include them, now that you know how valuable they are for SEO?

Leave me your questions down in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer them. As people are spending more time online than ever before, it’s SO important that your website shows up properly in search results so that you can reach your ideal audience online - but you can’t do this without SEO!

If you want more SEO goodness, be sure to check out my Squarespace SEO page for all resources on the topic.

My signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, will be opening for enrollment again soon - sign up for the TSS waiting list here!

You can also sign up for my newsletter (right here or below), where I often share Squarespace SEO tips, tricks and high-quality exclusive content. I send out emails to my list every Wednesday, mostly focused on Squarespace websites and SEO, and I can guarantee that you’ll find the newsletter topics interesting, entertaining and worth your time. #humblebrag

Finally, shameless plug: hit me up with any specific questions you have about Squarespace SEO and your website because I’m your girl. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested in working together on your website and we can talk about whether or not you would be a good fit for my consulting and ongoing services. I can’t take on every request to do Squarespace SEO consulting but I do pick a few websites and businesses to work with every month and I’d love for you to be one of them.