Relaunching a site that has had thousands of posts linking to the same 20 articles. How to properly setup internal linking?
-
I'm in the process of relaunching a music news site (www.prefixmag.com) that once did quite well in search (over a million monthly search visits in its prime). The site got crushed by Panda, etc. and we stopped updating it.
I'm starting to do more research but one thing that I noticed was we have modules in the right rail (desktop) that are found on all of our article pages that point to the same posts. (Edit: Added attachment. The links in the right rail under Editor Picks, Features, News, Media, etc. are found on every page of the site).
In other words, we have thousands of posts that all link to the same 20 or so articles. Should we not do this if we're not trying to emphasize these posts in Google? Assuming this is the case, what is the proper way to do internal linking? Do we simply setup a sitemap and link to it? I'm hoping to have the thousands of articles we've published over the years have a chance to rank in search again. Also, we have a number of posts that are thin in content should those pages not be submitted in the sitemap? Thanks in advance!
-
Hi Leggo, thanks for the question!
Your current setup is definitely not optimal for SEO, as you are discovering. There are a few things that you can do to help yourself out here. First, there are three good resources here on Moz that you should check out (the last 2 done by me in 2012, but still very relevant):
- https://moz.com/learn/seo/internal-link
- https://moz.com/blog/internal-linking-strategies-for-2012-and-beyond
- https://moz.com/blog/smarter-internal-linking-whiteboard-friday
On to your specific questions.
You ask how to set up your internal linking. Your current setup of linking to just 20 pages internally is definitely not helping you out because you are effectively just telling Google about those 20 articles and not the longtail of articles that you have. XML sitemaps are for discovery purposes for Google, not ranking. An HTML sitemap is a must for you if you have a lot of content and can also help with discoverability and a bit with rankings as well, but it's definitely not all you need to do.
If your content is structured well (in categories that make sense, tagged, etc), then you can set up a system (all depends on your CMS how this is configured) that links similar articles with other similar articles. Some sites have done smart things with linking to specific articles that have more potential search volume, and deprioritizing the number of internal links to articles that don't have much potential.
In the latter case, eventually you should audit if you should remove those lower volume or quality pages to help your site overall. You say that it is indeed the case that you have these pages. I would at first not put them in the sitemap. Then, decide if you want to a) update them to make them quality or b) remove them. That's an internal decision based off of current available resources (time, people) and opportunity. I've done both in the past (updated or removed) and both can definitely help. It just depends on your overall strategy for your site!
Good luck!
-
Thanks for the tip Tymen. In response to when you say "post everything online at the same time again", I do not plan on taking anything offline and the site has remained live for years even though it was not being updated with new content. By relaunching we'll be focused on adding new content. To summarize, you're suggesting we get rid of the modules in the right tool bar that point to specific articles, correct? And we could just put key articles and topics in the footer?
The aim with the site is to provide features, news, and reviews on various bands/artists.
-
Hi Leggo,
I would not go for a relaunch and post everything online at the same time again. This would seem very unnatural. Also I would get rid of the linking to the main articles. You could put the most important articles/ topics in a footer menu and get the same idea. If the content is unique and actually gives answers for those looking for information it is valuable. I also see you put new articles on so this adds to your credibility. What is your aim with the site?
Good luck regards, Tymen
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I am getting automatic spam links to my site, how can I remove them?
Hello, I need assistance, recently I noticed a huge traffic drop from my blog, lost all the rankings in SERP. I got to know that it's Google OCT Spam Update mainly it's about spamming and black hat techniques. But I haven't done any spammy practices or Black HAT SEO. I pay good amount of $ a month to freelancing content writers and don't make any spam backlinks. My site is : tcmguide.com Checked my site in search console and noticed that I had out of no where got 13000+ links from different dirty sites, as I have never tried to building those links in my life. 13 382 links.jpg I tried to export and Disavow this but via Export I got access to 1000 only and can't find these links in MOZ. Moz is showing other links, can any one help me out to recover my traffic and If my site is hit with Spam Update, how can I recover from it. Please help me felling pretty demotivated and stressed
Link Building | | dsdfsdfdfdfvg330 -
Somone is creating a ton of links to my site!!!
Today I looked at site explorer and found over 1100 linking root domains and over 750 linking c-blocks. My site was hovering around 200 linking root domains and 150 linking c-blocks. I have not paid anyone to link to my site... Is this one of my competitors trying to create negative seo for a specific key word? I've worked very hard to never try to build links and only get links naturally by providing good content that people would want to link to. Can all hundreds of new links hurt me? What can I do? my site is www.yakangler.com | | |
Link Building | | mr_w
| | |0 -
Sites with more than 18,000 links to my!
Tem um site enviando mais de 18 mil links para o meu site, como eu posso bloquear esses links e isso me prejudica ?? São Mais de 18 mil links com o texto acompanhantes RJ, isso prejudica meu posicionamento no google ? Have a website sending over 18mil links to my site, how can I block these links and this harm me? More than 18,000 are links to the text accompanying RJ, it undermines my position in google?
Link Building | | WebMaster210 -
Best On-Site Internal Linking Practices?
Hi everyone, Our company works extensively with ecommerce website, and we're beginning to wonder with all of the impending Google updates what our best bets for internal linking practices will be, in particular when it comes to menu options. We typically set up our navigation with top-level categories in the main menu, then drop downs to the sub-category level pages. Our question is, should the links in the drop-down menus be followed, and if so, should they be followed links across all pages of the website, or just on the homepage menu list, or not at all? We're trying to figure out what will pass the most internal linking power without being too much and overly "spammy," I guess. Thanks for your input!
Link Building | | MountainMedia0 -
Most OSE Top Links Are Internal
If I run an OSE report and check the 'top links' tab, I find that 95% of the links are internal pages on the same root domain. Can I deduce from this that my link profile sucks, and is in need of serious improvement? Thanks.
Link Building | | -Al-0 -
Should you guest post on a site that allows unrelated anchor text?
Suppose a blog has pretty good authority and quality articles but allows guest posters to use really random anchor text in their bios like Miami mexican restaurants when the blog is about blogging. Is there a risk that all the outbound links on the site will be devalued?
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
How to find article sites that will be very picky
I'd like to write good, unique content, and one of the places i was looking at was article repositories. I do understand that most of them have been spammed to death, but I was wondering how I would go about finding ones that would accept my article. I do realize that niche news/forum/informational sites are probably my best bet. Beyond that, would would be a step down or a 'general' article directory where I could get something approved and post content that is high quality. I'm not sure I have time to go around to every niche site and make the handshakes necessary at this time.
Link Building | | ilyaelbert0 -
If I write a PR release on a site such as PRweb with anchor-text links that is picked up and published by other news sites, do the engines consider this duplicate content or additional, beneficial links?
I recently wrote a news release on PRweb that was picked up identically by 8 other news websites, with the same anchor-text links as the original. Is the reproduction of duplicate content and links across different websites like this to the benefit or detriment of SEO and ranking power? Some of the links are: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/view/pressrelease/eventa-new-eventa-christmas-parties-website-is-launched-648923?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Alert&utm_content=pressrelease http://www.prweb.com/releases/christmasparties/neweventasite/prweb8562064.htm Many thanks!!
Link Building | | RobertHill0