Hyperlinks

How do hyperlinks affect SEO?

In general, the more websites that link to yours, the better. It makes your site seem more important and authoritative to search engines. There is a catch however; links that are low quality, irrelevant and unnatural looking can harm your website’s SEO instead. As a result, it is important to choose an experienced SEO company that you trust. That way you can ensure that your links are built to a high standard and will assist your search engine ranking, not hinder it.

What is the difference between internal and external hyperlinks?

Internal hyperlinks are links from one page on a website to another page on the same website, while external hyperlinks are links from a page on one website to a page on a different website. Internal links help users navigate a website and help search engines find and index content, while external links connect a website to other websites and can improve a site’s visibility and authority if they are from authoritative and relevant sources.

Can too many external links negatively impact my website’s SEO?

Having too many low-quality external links, such as those from spammy or irrelevant websites, can negatively impact a website’s SEO. However, having a reasonable number of high-quality and relevant external links can improve a website’s authority and ranking in search engine results.

What is the optimal anchor text for a hyperlink?

The optimal anchor text for a hyperlink should accurately describe the destination page and provide relevant context for the user. It should also be concise, clear, and avoid using generic terms like “click here” or overuse of keywords, as this can be seen as spammy and harm the website’s SEO. For example “our services” is a good anchor which describes to the user and search engines where the link leads (services page). By contrast, “click here” or “see more” tells search engines nothing about the topic of the linked page or the quality of the link.

How do I check the quality of my website’s external links?

You can use various tools, such as Moz’s Link Explorer, Ahrefs, or SEMrush, to check the quality of your website’s external links. These tools can provide information on a website’s domain authority, page authority, spam score, and the quality of the links pointing to your website.

Can broken links harm my website’s SEO?

Yes, broken links can harm a website’s SEO by providing a poor user experience and signalling to search engines that the website is not well-maintained. It’s important to regularly check for broken links and fix them promptly to maintain a good user experience and improve the website’s ranking in search engine results.

What are nofollow and dofollow links?

A nofollow link is an HTML attribute that instructs search engines not to follow or pass any link equity from one page to another. This means that if a website has a nofollow link to another website, the link will not be counted as a vote of confidence by search engines and will not pass any authority to the linked website.

On the other hand, a dofollow link is a regular HTML link that search engines can follow and use to determine the authority and relevance of a website. When a website uses a dofollow link to link to another website, it signals to search engines that the linked website is a trustworthy and valuable source of information, and can help to boost the linked website’s SEO value.

It’s worth noting that most links are dofollow by default, meaning that they pass authority from one page to another. However, webmasters can add the nofollow attribute to a link if they want to prevent search engines from following the link and passing SEO value to the linked website. Nofollow links are commonly used for paid links, user-generated content, and other situations where the website owner wants to avoid any risk of being penalised by search engines for manipulative link building practices.

Does having dofollow links hurt my site’s authority?

There is a common myth amongst webmasters and SEOs that having too many dofollow links will cause a site’s authority to “leak” out to other domains, damaging rankings. This is not true, as confirmed by Google. For many forms of writing Google expects that high quality content will be well-referenced and include external links to sources. In these cases especially, dofollow links will actually increase a site’s authority.

How can I ensure my website’s hyperlinks are accessible for search engines and users?

To ensure that a website’s hyperlinks are accessible for search engines and users, it’s essential to use descriptive and concise anchor text, ensure that links are not broken or dead, and follow web accessibility guidelines, such as using contrasting colours for link text and underlining links.

How can I use hyperlinks to increase traffic to my website?

Hyperlinks can be used to increase traffic to a website by using them in guest blogging, collaborations with other websites, and social media posts. Providing high-quality and relevant content on a website can also encourage others to link to your website, improving the website’s visibility and authority in search engine results. Additionally, including internal links in website content can help users navigate the website and increase their time on the site, which can also improve search engine rankings.