How should i best structure my internal links?

[Towelsrus]

I am new to SEO and looking to employ a logical but effective internal link strategy.

Any easy ways to keep track of what page links to what page?

I am a little confused regarding anchor text in as much as how I should use this. e.g. for a category page "Towels", I was going to link this to another page we want to build PA  for such as "Bath Sheets". What should I put in for anchor text? keep it simple and just put "Bath Sheets" or make it more direct like "Buy Bath Sheets".

Should I also vary anchor text if i have another 10 pages internally linking to this or keep it the same.

Any advise would be really helpful.

Thanks

Craig

[Towelsrus]

Hi Alice,

Many thanks for your response, very helpful indeed.

Thanks Again.

Craig

[gcdtechnologies]

Hi Fraser,

I think the best strategy for internal linking is to keep things simple and consider what would give the best user experience for your customers. So, for example, linking from towels to bath sheets is logical and helpful, as it's closely related.

The same applies to anchor text - let the customer know what's on the other end of the link, and don't try to slot in unnatural phrases and keywords for SEO benefit. It's likely that excessive internal anchor text linking triggers a penalty (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/testing-the-value-of-anchor-text-optimized-internal-links), so try to keep anchors natural and vary them if the context requires it. So you might use "bath sheets" on one page, "buy bath sheets" on another, "our range of bath sheets" on another and so on.

In terms of keeping track of links, a site map or a spreadsheet should easily accommodate the information you want to track.

You might also want to consider page rank sculpting, which uses internal links to channel the page rank towards high priority and high value pages. However a well-structured site channels page rank naturally and doesn't require any sculpting. Matt Cutts deals with the practice here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/pagerank-sculpting/

Good luck!