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Inner Links

Inner links, often referred to as internal links, are hyperlinks that point to another page on the same website and play a crucial role in ranking a page for several reasons.

First, they aid in distributing page authority. Inner links can pass “link equity” or “link juice” from one page to another throughout a website, ensuring that important pages (like your Focus Pages) receive the necessary attention.

Second, they help search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of a website, allowing them to discern the relationships between pages and the context within which content is presented.

Additionally, internal linking enhances user experience by providing relevant navigation pathways, keeping visitors engaged longer, and potentially reducing bounce rates.

In essence, a well-structured internal linking strategy can improve both search engine visibility and user engagement.

By using the Inner Links features from Squirrly SEO, you can boost your SEO by easily setting up and managing inner links.

How Squirrly SEO Helps You with Internal Linking

Using the Inner Links features from Squirrly SEO, you can:

  • add new, custom contextual internal links based on keywords. This allows you to select both the source page and the destination page manually.
  • automatically create internal links to your Focus Pages, based on your Focus Page’s target keywords. This process involves an automated system that identifies inner link opportunities within your existing content.

How to Activate the Inner Links Features in Squirrly SEO

OPTION 1: Navigate to Squirrly SEO > All Features, search for ‘Inner Links’, and activate the feature using the toggle, as shown below.

OPTION 2: Another way to activate this feature is by navigating to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Settings and turning ON the option: Use Inner Links Assistant.

Once you activate this feature using either one of the two methods presented above, the Inner Links item will appear:

  • in the Focus Pages left menu, as shown in the screenshot below
  • in the Squirrly SEO menus, as shown in the screenshots below

How to Access the Inner Links Features

  • To access the Inner Links features, go to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Inner Links
  • You can also reach the “Inner Links” Panel by navigating to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Details > Inner Links and then clicking on Inner Links Assistant

Once you reach the “Inner Links” Panel, you can:

  • View the full list of internal links created with Squirrly SEO
  • Add new Inner Links
  • See suggested Inner Links (helps you find relevant opportunities for adding internal links that point to your Focus Pages)
  • To reach this section, go to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Inner Links

Here, you’ll find a comprehensive list of internal links created for your website using Squirrly SEO.

For each internal link generated by Squirrly, the following details will be displayed:

  • Keyword. This represents the generated anchor text.
  • Link Attributes: Details like whether the link has a rel="nofollow" tag or if it opens in a new tab are mentioned here, right beneath the keyword.
  • Linking/Source Page: This is the page where the internal link is placed. It’s listed in the “From” column.
  • Destination/Target Page: This is the page the link points to, and is shown in the “To” column.
  • Status: Provides insights such as the total number of valid internal link opportunities per keyword present on the linking/source page. Note! The number you see in this column doesn’t represent the total count of internal links added for each keyword on the linking/source page. Instead, it indicates how many potential internal link placements per keyword Squirrly has identified on that page. The actual number of links Squirrly inserts on your linking/source page will depend on the settings you’ve configured in Squirrly SEO > Inner Links > Settings.

If the keyword you provided when manually adding a new internal link isn’t present on the selected linking page, a notification like the one below will appear under the status column.

This indicates that the internal link wasn’t added since the linking page’s content doesn’t include the specified keyword.

You also have the option to edit, check (refresh data), or delete every individual inner link. To access these options, click on the three dots beside the link, and a drop-down menu, similar to the one shown below, will pop up.

Now, let’s explore some of the other options available in the Inner Links panel.

Bulk Actions

Using this option, you can check (this will update the information for selected inner links) or delete inner links in bulk.

To check or delete multiple internal links at once, select the links you want to check or delete and then choose the corresponding action from Bulk Actions.

Filter to Only View NoFollow Links

Use the filter to view All Inner Links or just the Inner Links that have a rel=”nofollow” HTML tag applied to them.

You can also utilize the search bar to locate specific keywords in the list. Last but not least, you can choose how many inner link entries (records) show up on a single page of the Inner Links list.

Add New Inner Links

  • To add a new Inner Link, go to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Inner Links > Add Inner Link

If you don’t see the Inner Links item in the menu, make sure that you’ve activated the Inner Links feature using one of the two methods presented at the beginning of this tutorial.

To create a new internal link:

  1. Enter your keyword in the field shown below.
  2. Ensure the keyword is present on your linking page; otherwise, Squirrly won’t be able to establish the link.

If Squirrly detects the keyword on your linking page, it will use it as the anchor text.

The next step is to select the linking/source page. This is the page on which you want to add the Inner Link. Search using words from the title to locate a specific page on your website.

Next, select the destination/target page. This is the page you want the link to point to. To find a specific page, search using keywords from its title.

Finally, you can customize your inner links with two settings:

1. NoFollow link. By turning this option ON, Squirrly will automatically apply the rel=”nofollow” HTML tag to your generated inner link. 🚨 We recommend leaving this option turned OFF.

2. Open in New Tab. If this option is turned ON, your generated inner link will open in a new browser tab. We recommend activating this option.

NOTE! If using this feature in SEO Beginner Mode, click on More Options > in order to see the NoFollow Link and Open in New Tab options.

When you’re happy with your settings, click on Add Inner Link to complete the action.

Squirrly will automatically incorporate the internal link taking into account the guidelines you’ve configured in the Settings panel.

We’ll delve into those settings next.

👍 GOOD TO KNOW:

  1. Inner links created with Squirrly SEO won’t appear in the Edit Post view. Instead, they are displayed only on the live frontend of the page.
  2. Rest assured; the inner links generated via Squirrly SEO will not affect the page’s loading speed.
  3. Squirrly SEO checks for different aspects before placing the inner link. You can even set more rules in settings, but one of the things it checks for is: “if the keyword is in an <a> “. In that case, it will not try to place a link there, so as not to destroy the <a> </a> definition. So, it will not touch words inside links or interfere with other links you’ve already set up.

Inner Links Settings

You can use the Inner Links features from Squirrly in two modes:

  • SEO Beginner Mode
  • SEO Expert Mode

In the SEO Expert Mode, you’ll find advanced settings that you can customize based on your needs.

Conveniently, you can toggle between SEO Beginner Mode and SEO Expert Mode from the top right corner of your screen.

Let’s walk through the customizable settings for each of the two available modes.

Inner Links Settings in SEO Beginner Mode

Default Open Inner Links in New Tab

By turning this option ON, all inner links set with Squirrly SEO will open in a new browser tab by default. This enhances user experience by allowing readers to seamlessly access linked content without navigating away from the original page.

Please note: Any specific settings you choose while adding a new inner link with Squirrly’s ‘Add Inner Link’ feature will override the general settings you set up here.

Exclude Tags from Inner Links

This option allows you to tell Squirrly to skip / not take into consideration any textual content that’s enclosed within specific tags in a given webpage when looking for keywords on which to place an inner link.

To exclude one or more tags, click on the drop-down and select the tags you want to exclude.

You can exclude one or more of the following tags:

  • Headlines (< H1 to H6 >). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within your headlines. By default, headlines (< H1 to H6 >) are already selected.
  • Strong text (<strong >). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content that is displayed in bold on a given webpage.
  • Tables (<table>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within a table.
  • Image captions (<figcaption>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found inside image captions.
  • Ordered list (<ol>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within an ordered list; usually displayed with numbers indicating the sequence (1., 2., 3., etc.)
  • Unordered list (<ul>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within an unordered list (usually displayed with bullet points).
  • Blockquotes (<blockquote>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within <blockquote elements>, which are typically used to denote quotations or citation from another source.
  • Italic text (<em>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <em> elements, which are typically used to emphasize text, rendering it as italic by default in most browsers.
  • Inline quotes (<cite>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <cite> elements, which are typically used to reference the source or citation of a quote or referenced work.
  • Sourcecode (<code>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <code> elements, which are typically used to display computer programming code.

Inner Links Settings in SEO Expert Mode

  • To switch to SEO Expert Mode, select SEO Expert Mode from the top right corner of your screen

Compared to SEO Beginner Mode, SEO Expert Mode gives you more settings that you can use to customize how Squirrly SEO will set up inner links for your pages.

Using this feature, you can set the maximum number of internal links Squirrly will add for each keyword present on the linking/source page.

For instance, if a keyword appears 10 times on a page but you’ve set the “Maximum Inner Links Per Keyword” to 2, Squirrly will create internal links for only two instances of that keyword.

Squirrly SEO will adhere to this limit when creating internal links throughout your site.

By default, this setting is at 1, which means Squirrly will only create a single inner link per keyword if that keyword is found on the linking/source page.

Using this feature, you specify the maximum number of internal links Squirrly can create per target (destination page) based on the keywords identified on the linking/source page.

By default, the “Maximum Inner Links per Target” is set to 0, indicating no limit. If left at this default value, Squirrly will add a link to all Focus Page keywords present on the linking/source page. However, it will still respect the limit set under “Maximum Inner Links Per Keyword”.

Example:

Let’s say you have a Focus Page that’s optimized for the following keywords: flower, sun, beach. And suppose you have another article that includes each of these three keywords at least once.

You’ve set:

  • “Maximum Inner Links Per Keyword” to 1.
  • “Maximum Inner Links Per Target” to 0 (meaning no limit).

With these rules in place, Squirrly SEO will add the following to your article:

  • one inner link pointing to your Focus Page on the word flower (regardless of how many times that word is mentioned on the linking page)
  • one inner link pointing to your Focus Page on the word sun (regardless of how many times that word is mentioned on the linking page)
  • one inner link pointing to your Focus Page on the word beach (regardless of how many times that word is mentioned on the linking page)

Continuing with the same example, if you change the “Maximum Inner Links Per Target” to 1, Squirrly SEO will only link one out of the three keywords in your article to the Focus Page.

Default NoFollow Inner Links

By turning this option ON, Squirrly will automatically apply the rel=”nofollow” HTML tag to all inner links set with Squirrly SEO by default.

🚨 We recommend leaving this option turned OFF.

Why? One of the primary reasons links are valuable for SEO is because they pass “link equity” or “link juice” from one page to another. This link equity can help improve the authority and ranking potential of the linked page.

The nofollow tag tells search engines to ignore that link, so there’s no link equity passed.

Please note: Any specific settings you choose while adding a new inner link with Squirrly’s ‘Add Inner Link’ feature will override the general settings you set up here.

Default Open Inner Links in New Tab

By turning this option ON, all inner links set with Squirrly SEO will open in a new browser tab by default. This enhances user experience by allowing readers to seamlessly access linked content without navigating away from the original page.

Please note: Any specific settings you choose while adding a new inner link with Squirrly’s ‘Add Inner Link’ feature will override the general settings you set up here.

Linking Template

This setting enables you to customize the appearance of your automatically-generated internal links using styles and classes. For instance, if you input style="color:red", the resulting anchor text will be displayed in red.

Exclude Tags from Inner Links

This option allows you to tell Squirrly to skip / not take into consideration any textual content that’s enclosed within specific tags in a given webpage when looking for keywords on which to place an inner link.

To exclude one or more tags, click on the drop-down and select the tags you want to exclude.

You can exclude one or more of the following tags:

  • Headlines (< H1 to H6 >). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within your headlines. By default, headlines (< H1 to H6 >) are already selected.
  • Strong text (<strong >). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content that is displayed in bold on a given webpage.
  • Tables (<table>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within a table.
  • Image captions (<figcaption>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found inside image captions.
  • Ordered list (<ol>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within an ordered list; usually displayed with numbers indicating the sequence (1., 2., 3., etc.)
  • Unordered list (<ul>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within an unordered list (usually displayed with bullet points).
  • Blockquotes (<blockquote>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within <blockquote elements>, which are typically used to denote quotations or citation from another source.
  • Italic text (<em>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <em> elements, which are typically used to emphasize text, rendering it as italic by default in most browsers.
  • Inline quotes (<cite>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <cite> elements, which are typically used to reference the source or citation of a quote or referenced work.
  • Sourcecode (<code>). If you choose to exclude this tag, Squirrly will NOT place any links on textual content found within the <code> elements, which are typically used to display computer programming code.
  • To access this option, go to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Inner Links > Suggested Inner Links
  • You can also reach this option by navigating to Squirrly SEO > Focus Pages > Details > Inner Links > Inner Links Assistant > Suggested Inner Links

Here’s a simplified breakdown of the process used by Squirrly to offer you relevant internal link suggestions for your Focus Pages:

  1. Squirrly scans your website content via its Cloud services to pinpoint ideal chances for adding internal links to your designated Focus Pages. The automated searching part is done via our Cloud so there will be no impact on your site’s speed.
  2. If it finds matches, meaning published content on your site containing keywords you’ve optimized your Focus Pages for, it will display them in one list.

You can view this list by clicking on the “Suggested Inner Links” button shown below.

Clicking on the “Suggested Inner Links” will open up a list with the following information:

  1. Keyword: This keyword, if you decide to add the internal link, will be used by Squirrly as the anchor text.
  2. From: In this column, you will see the title and URL of the page that contains keywords from your Focus Pages. If you choose to add the internal link, this will serve as the source or linking page.
  3. To: This shows you the title and URL of the Focus Page for which Squirrly SEO found a match / inner link opportunity. If you choose to add the internal link, this will serve as the target/destination page.
  4. Option: In this section, there’s an “Add” button. By clicking it, you can automatically create an internal link from the identified page (From column) to the specified Focus Page (To column).

NOTE! If a link to the specified Focus Page is already present on the identified/matched page, the message “Link Found” will appear in the “Option“ column.

🚨 IMPORTANT NOTES!

  • To find relevant matches, Squirrly’s Inner Links Assistant will take into account Focus Pages’ keywords (both the main keyword and secondary keywords you’ve optimized for). These can be viewed at Focus Pages > Details > Keywords.
  • Keep in mind that the automated matching process isn’t executed in real-time due to the extensive processing that’s required, especially for larger websites with numerous pages and keywords.

While the process isn’t instantaneous (so Squirrly may not find matches on the 1st day of testing, for example), the Suggested Inner Links option provides a great way to automatically find opportunities to link to your Focus Pages from existing, relevant pages.

For an INSTANT method to insert internal links with Squirrly SEO, consider using the “Add Inner Link” functionality.

Ready to Give it a Try?

Mastering internal linking can seem daunting, but with the Inner Links features from Squirrly SEO, you’re equipped with a powerful tool.

Start weaving those connections and watch your SEO soar!

[RELATED READING] Squirrly SEO also provides a nifty feature that will help you build more content for growing inner links for your Focus Pages by automatically identifying relevant topics. Dive into how it works right here >>

[RELATED READING] Looking for a quick snapshot of Squirrly’s Inner Links feature? Check out this infographic that unpacks its two core components.

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