Case Study: Do Internal Links Improve Organic Search Traffic?

Search Pilot recently confirmed our understanding that increasing internal linking increases organic traffic. Their report is here.

The Main Finding

Not only was this test positive, but it was one of our most positive tests to date resulting in a 25% uplift to organic traffic across level two and level three category pages – an additional estimated 9,200 organic sessions a month.

Quote taken from the study by Search Pilot

Some notes and observations

We will not regurgitate the study here, as InLinks was not directly involved in this study. We can read it at Search Pilot. It builds on the principal that the way PageRank works may remain part of Google’s algorithm. For many, this is evidence enough that you should closely link your content. However, the test did not add a layer of context, as the Internal Linking was done at the navigational layer of the site.

InLinks adds another layer of sophistication to Internal Linking, because it is able to identify contextually relevent internal link opportunities within the body of the main text. In addition, the internal linking is automated (but inlinks users get the opportunity to modify the links).

Do Internal Links Improve Search Traffic?

Yes, according to the study, internal linking resulted in a 25% uplift in organic traffic across pages that were classed as “level 2” or “level 3” pages,

Do Internal Links have to be in the body text?

Not according to the study, which used navigational links to demonstrate the lift. However, contextually relevent links are better for Natural Language Processing algirithms (like InLinks’) and over time, it is likely that links in the main body would carry more weight and context then navigational links alone.

How can Internal Links be automated?

InLinks.net automates and optimezes internal linking by first running a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm over a site to understand the underlying concepts. Users of InLinks then infrom the system as to the main cornerstone pages for each important concept and then other mentions are hyperlinked automatically. The links are injected through Javascript, so there is no need to update the site’s links manually. Your first 20 pages are free.