Why Deep Linking For Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Is Important

What is deep a deep link?

A deep link is a link that takes you to specific content. Most web links are deep links. Your website domain is not a deep link. Take a look at the examples below:

Not a deep link: www.abccompany.com

A deep link: www.abccompany/shoes/sneakers/adidas/adidaspro3000.com

Deep linking for search engine optimization (SEO) is important because of the following reasons:

Improves site navigation
Creates a better link profile
Increases traffic

Today, we will take a look at each of these reasons, and help you understand why deep linking is an essential aspect of every blog post you make.

Improves Site Navigation

A visitor to your website is not likely to do a search for related articles within your blog. And if they don’t do this, chances are they will exit your blog after reading your post, and thus also increase your bounce rate.

You can combat this by adding deep links to useful information that a reader may be interested in, which is related to the current page that he is reading.

For example, a reader may be on a web page about 7 Tips How to Choose a Pair of Sneakers. In this case, you can put a deep link somewhere in that blog post that goes like this:

Suggested reading: Top 10 Adidas Sneakers

As you can see, a site visitor who got to your page, 7 Tips How to Choose a Pair of Sneakers, is not looking for the Top 10 Adidas Sneakers. He is looking for tips, and that is how he got to that blog post, to begin with.

A site visitor will find it challenging to browse what other information you have to offer, especially so if you already have hundreds of blog posts. You have to help this consumer find his way to relevant posts, and you can do this with deep linking.

If you use deep links, you will increase the engagement of your site visitors, and you have a better likelihood of making a sale. This lead would have never thought, let alone search for the Top 10 Adidas Sneakers.

But since you deep linked it, you improved your website’s usability and site navigation. More importantly, you controlled how the site visitor navigates your blog. In this example, you’ve routed this customer to the Top 10 Adidas Sneakers, hoping that he would click on any of those links and buy the product.

Creates a Better Link Profile

What is a link profile?

A website has several links. There are backlinks, internal links, sub-page links, and so much more. A healthy web link profile is made of several types of links, and a deep link is one of the most crucial ones.

Just imagine if a blog post has no link whatsoever. A customer is not going to spend the time looking for something in it. Your blog is not amazon. In marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, site visitors have a specific product in their minds, and they do self-service to find the products they are looking for.

In your blog, a good link profile means that for every page, you have links that will either take the lead to another of your pages or take him to the products that you are endorsing.

You can do this in many ways, such as:

Creating a blog roll
Putting call-to-action (CTA) buttons on your pages
Adding affiliate links and images
Putting suggested topics to read

While organic search still happens, it is not something you can depend on if your blog site is not as big as others, like Medium or Mashable.

A website that has an active link profile is one that offers multiple links that guide site visitors. Eventually, the links will become part of your sales funnel, as you are guiding the site visitor to related pages that will ultimately lead to a sale.

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Increases Traffic

So, how does a deep link increase traffic? While many people are just focused on site visitors, Google has already changed so much in its algorithm that keywords are only a small part of your seo strategy.

Today, Google rewards websites whose site visitor sessions are longer. If a site visitor stays longer on your website, Google will naturally think that you are providing value to your readers.

And how will you make them stay? Use deep links.

In our example earlier, maybe it will only take a site visitor about five minutes to the reader your 7 Tips How to Choose a Pair of Sneakers. If you have no deep-link, the site visitor is going to leave.

But what if you offered a deep link, Top 10 Adidas Sneakers, and the site visitor decides to read that, too?

If he did, he would spend more time on your website. Google will know this, record the length of time the site visitor stayed, and also record how many of your pages were viewed.

How will this help your traffic?

If Google decides that you are adding value, it will rank your pages higher. One day, your blog post that says 7 Tips How to Choose a Pair of Sneakers may rank high for keywords like “how to choose sneakers.”

And this is all because of the deep-link to the Adidas shoes that you recommend. Whenever you write a blog post, put a deep link somewhere in there, especially so at the bottom of the page where you can recommend a product or another helpful blog post.

Increase Traffic with Social Media Channels

On another hand, you can increase your web traffic if you put your deep links on other pages that are not part of your domain. For example, you can put your dep link for 7 Tips How to Choose a Pair of Sneakers in a facebook post, or Instagram, Pinterest, and Quora.

All of these are social media channels that will help you drive traffic to your website. If someone on a forum website liked what you had to say, and is interested in reading your tips, he will surely click that deep-link and go to your blog page.

And as more and more people click this link, the more traffic you will have.

As a word of caution, though, you should not spam people. Social media sites frown on deep links that do not provide help. These are deep links that lead to a product page or an affiliate landing page. If you spam people with this, you will get banned.

What you need to do is to provide a link to a blog post, which will serve as a bridge post between your target customer and your monetization page.

Summary

Deep linking for search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial because it increases your traffic, provides your site visitors a better navigation experience, and makes your website rank as an authority.

Think of a mall. Inside a mall, you will find many directional queues. These signs show you where the food court is, or the washrooms and anyone interested in going to these places will follow these directions.

These directions and signages are your deep links. Malls use this to drive people to the right locations, and so should you. You see, a big box store whose isles have no labels is challenging to navigate, and your website will be the same without deep links.