5 Proven Contextual Linking Practices that can Improve your Website
A contextual link is defined as a piece of clickable text that links to other web pages that are similar to the ideas or context of a piece of content on your website. The use of contextual linking can help show search engines that your website’s content is relevant, credible, and accurate to a searcher’s queries.
Contextual linking will also help your website provide a more valuable and enriched user experience and will establish a sense of trust amongst viewers by showing them that your business prioritizes providing accurate and high-quality information; even if that means linking to other websites.
Contextual linking will not only increase your viewer’s satisfaction with your website, which will also help increase your website’s overall user traffic; but can also significantly improve your website’s Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.). Search engines tend to favor websites with higher user traffic and a perceivable enriched user experience, as it shows that the content being provided is valuable and relevant to the searcher.
Contextual linking is one of the most important and popular SEO strategies that digital marketers and online businesses use today. Studies show that 75% of digital marketers stated that they use content marketing specifically to generate links. However, there are several best practices that businesses should keep in mind when trying to reap the benefits of contextual linking.
Best Practices for Contextual Linking
Long-Tail Descriptive Phrases
Some websites tend to believe that using as many keywords as possible in online content makes search engines view content as more relevant and accurate, and it will thus rank higher in organic search results. However, if contextual links appear to be forced into content just to appeal to more viewers, search engines will penalize your website and your content will appear much lower in organic search engine results.
Instead, your business should focus on using more relevant long-tail descriptive phrases that include your keywords, which will appear to be more natural and will be favored by search engines. Research shows that 69.7% of all search engine queries contain keywords that are 4 words or more. Therefore, your business should try to include longer potential search queries instead of vague short-tail keywords.
Prime Keywords as Anchor Text
Anchor text is defined as the blue, underlined clickable text included in a visible URL link on a web page. To optimize each contextual link, your website’s anchor text should consist of multiple prime keywords that are relevant to the web page’s content. This will help search engines identify the relevance of your website’s content as well as the contextually linked URL in question when a relevant search query is entered into the search engine.
This process helps your web page rank higher on organic search engine results, which will, in turn, lead to higher website traffic and viewer engagement. If a website’s anchor text contains prime keywords, your website will look much more useful to both search engine crawlers and viewers searching for relevant information. Furthermore, anchor text should be informative, descriptive, and relevant to your website’s content.
Link to Authoritative Sources
Contextual linking should always involve URLs that are genuinely related to the subject matter or context of your website’s content. These sources should also be accurate, trustworthy, and reputable. Contextual links should not be added to your webpage just for the sake of improving on-page SEO. This can lead to a substantial increase in your website’s bounce rate, which will do more harm to your website’s search engine rankings than good.
Contextual links should provide some additional value to readers that click on them. By including contextual links that are reliable, accurate, and relevant, both viewers and search engines will view your website as a credible and informative source of information.
Use Natural Language
Contextual links should appear to be useful to your website’s viewers. They should only be included to provide valuable, accurate information and resources to readers; instead of just for improving search rankings and website traffic. Therefore, both the language used to describe each contextual link as well as the inclusion of the external source should seem natural and not forced.
Contextual Linking to Revitalise Your Website’s SEO
Contextual linking is one of the most popular Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies amongst digital marketers today. It can increase your website’s user traffic volume, viewer experience, and engagement, and perceived relevance to search engine crawlers.
There is a multitude of different strategies that your business can use to perform contextual linking to the best of your ability; including utilizing long-descriptive phrases in links, using prime keywords in visible anchor text on your website, linking to reputable and authoritative websites, and using natural language. Take advantage of the power of contextual linking today to revolutionize your business’s online presence!
