By Shad Super in Questions —

What Internal Linking Practices Can Help Me Improve Crawl Budget Allocation and Ensure the Indexing of Key Pages?

Summary

Proper internal linking practices can significantly improve crawl budget allocation and boost the indexing of key pages on search engines. To achieve this, consider creating a logical site structure, using descriptive anchor texts, prioritizing important pages, using text links, limiting the number of links on a page, and regularly checking for broken links.

Logical Site Structure

Creating a clear and logical site structure with a well-setup navigation menu makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your website. This includes using breadcrumb menus, categorizing pages in a logical manner, and making sure that every page is reachable through a text link from another location on the site [The SEO Guide to Internal Links, Moz, 2020].

Descriptive Anchor Text

Using descriptive anchor text can inform search engines about the context and content of the destination page. Avoid generic phrases like "click here" or "read more". Instead, use specific keywords that accurately describe the page you're linking to [13 Killer Link Building Strategies, Search Engine Land, 2014].

Prioritizing Important Pages

Prioritize the critical pages on your site by including more internal links to them. The more internal links a page has, the more likely search engines will interpret it as important and allocate more crawl budget to it [Website Navigation: 7 Best Practices, Design Tips and Warnings, Search Engine Journal, 2017].

Use of Text Links

In general, text links are better for SEO than image links, as images may not be as correctly interpreted by search engines as text. Ensure that you make ample use of text links in your content to maximize crawlability [Image Best Practices, Google Developers, 2021].

Limit Number of Links On A Page

Too many links on a single page can dilute link value and confuse both users and search engines. Reserve your links for meaningful, high-value pages to ensure that these pages are crawled more frequently [The SEO Impact of Clickable Links, Search Engine Journal, 2018].

Regularly check for and fix or remove any broken internal links which can disrupt the flow of link equity throughout your site, and equally damage user experience [How to Find and Fix Broken Links, Ahrefs, 2021].

Conclusion

Focusing on these internal linking practices will help to improve your website's crawl budget allocation and enhance the indexing of your key pages. This will, consequently, contribute to a better user experience and more efficient search engine optimization.

References