In this presentation, we show you how to use internal linking to break through an SEO plateau and continue making progress on your site. You’ll learn how to: - Identify opportunities for internal link optimization. - Make smart, data-driven decisions about taxonomy and structure. - Troubleshoot problems with on-site keyword cannibalization. - Adjust supplemental content to meet your internal link needs. - Understand how internal link flow contributes to your site’s E-A-T. - Future-proof your site architecture against Google Core Updates. Have you done everything you can think of to optimize your site, but you just can’t seem to crack the top 5 for certain queries? This is a familiar challenge that faces website owners and SEOs alike… a plateau of sorts that can develop into a stagnating cycle of repeating the same thing even though it just isn’t working. OnCrawl Ambassador Jenny Halasz covers the theories behind internal link optimization, a set of carefully selected examples of success, and the data and sources you’ll need to implement this strategy on your own site. By using data strategically to identify opportunities and build out content hubs on your site, any search professional can elevate their organic presence to the next level. Whether you’re an independent website owner or a strategist for an ecommerce site with 100k SKUs, you will get great value from this session and learn to think about search in a new and different way.

1. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Internal Linking:
How to Unlock Your Site’s
Hidden Potential
with Jenny Halasz

2. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Speaking
Today
Jenny Halasz
President
20yrs Technical SEO
OnCrawl ambassador

3. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Image used under Creative Commons License

4. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
"It looked as though it had once been a
large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had
been added here and there until it was
several stories high and so crooked it
looked as though it were held up by magic
(which, Harry reminded himself, it probably
was). Four or five chimneys were perched
on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck
in the ground near the entrance read, THE
BURROW."
Image courtesy of:
https://aminoapps.com/c/harry-
potter/page/blog/grand-finale-most-favourite-
magical-place/

5. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Structure and
Architecture

6. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
A. I’ve never audited internal links
B. Once is usually enough for me
C. Every quarter
D. At least once a month
E. I’m always working on internal links
How often do you check or audit
internal links?

7. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Evaluating Internal Value
Background:bit.ly/dixonjoneslinks

8. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Components of Internal “Link Power”*
*Kevin Indig:
TIPR model uses
incoming links to
influence power
of internal links.

9. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Search engines
do not care about
Governance and
Logistics
Components of Internal “Link Power”*

10. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Search engines
care about
keywords
Components of Internal “Link Power”*

11. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Canonicals and
nofollow are just
for controlling
crawl
Components of Internal “Link Power”*

12. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Links only matter
as to depth from
the previous link
Components of Internal “Link Power”*

13. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Mega Menus
Out of
Balance

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@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Uneven
Value
Structure

15. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Anchor Text
Word Cloud
Few Valuable
Keywords

16. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Repetitive
Linking
Template
Fails

17. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
A. Finding time/resources to work on them
B. Knowing how to identify opportunities
C. Understanding how internal links help SERP rankings
D. Dealing with links in templates (header/footer/sidebar/menus)
E. Other
What’s the biggest internal linking
challenge you face?

18. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Should I change my site
structure to be less “flat?”

19. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Flat Architecture with Good Internal Linking

20. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Flat Architecture with Good Internal Linking

21. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Flat Architecture with Good Internal Linking

22. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
My Client wants to do better on
keywords like
“alternative to Amazon FBA”

23. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Ideal Traffic Patterns
@OnCrawl

24. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Less Ideal

25. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Big Opportunity!
Recommendation:
The client should use this existing page to optimize for the
desired keywords, consider consolidating the third page listed
with the new one, and add a link to the “how to sell” page.

26. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Why does our top group of
pages for traffic not have the
highest link power?

27. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Missing an Opportunity

28. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Spread the Wealth
Recommendation:
It’s clear this was a featured post in the past. If we look at
inbound links, it’s got some great ones. So the client should use
this page to transfer link power to other pages.

29. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Using an Opportunity

30. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Troubleshooting with Internal
Linking

31. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Cutting off value

32. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Too Many Links To the Wrong Place

33. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Don’t Ignore Critical Pages
A lot of these deeper pages (navy) are the find-
physicians pages; critical pages to success!

34. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Template Failures
Recommendation:
Dr. West is a well reviewed doctor in internal medicine! Check the
Internal medicine treatment page to see why she was left off.
Seek pages that aren’t getting enough link “power”

35. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Locate Technical Issues
SEO Active Pages:
Where are the pages
that don’t get any
traffic?

36. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Filter to What Matters
Filter by
Indexable
Pages

37. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Filter to What Matters
Determine
Value:
Duplicate
New
New
Unimportant
Opportunity!

38. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Enjoy Your Success!

39. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Enjoy Your Success!
Google Organic Traffic Year Over Year
Changes
Implemented

40. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Use Internal Links to:
• Future Proof Core Updates
• Find Opportunities
• Troubleshoot
• Improve Performance!

41. Want more
on internal linking?
available as handout
https://cgntv.co/g
Check out
OnCrawl’s latest
ebook
in collaboration with Chris Green

42. www.oncrawl.com
Enjoy a 1-month free trial

43. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl
Questions?
Jenny Halasz
jenny@jlh-marketing.com
@jennyhalasz
https://jlh.marketing

44. #SEJWebinar
@jennyhalasz
@OnCrawl