SEO Basics: How Important Are Backlinks and Internal Links?

Part 2 of a 3-part series on SEO basics

Have you ever read a piece of content that made a bunch of claims, but had no links to sources to back those claims up? Or the “sources” they linked to weren’t legit? You probably didn’t take that kind of content very seriously.

And guess what? Neither does Google. 

Google and other search engines LOVE both internal links and backlinks. That's why providing links within your content (to other pages on your site as well as to reputable external sources) is an important part of a good SEO strategy.

In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of backlinks and internal links, as well as some best practices for finding and linking to external sources.

Why Use Internal Links?

Internal links (or “interlinks”) are links to other related pages on your website. Internal links serve two main purposes:

Navigation

Internal links help users navigate through your website content, enabling them to get more information on the topic or related topics. They also show web crawlers (the “bots” Google and other search engines use to “read” your website) how to navigate your site. The better search engines can understand your website, the higher your content is likely to rank on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Expertise

Internal links also show web crawlers your content has breadth and depth in a particular topic. This makes your content appear more helpful to users, which Google rewards with higher rankings. Higher rankings on the SERP means a higher likelihood of more traffic to your site.

That’s what it means to have good SEO. 

Internal Link Examples

So what exactly should you link to when you incorporate internal links? The short answer is: any other page on your website that’s relevant to the topic at hand.

For example, you can:

• Link to your blogs. In our Social Media Platforms 101 blog, we link to our blog on Facebook Ads Key Metrics. This gives readers more information about that topic without us having to go on a tangent about FB ads. The reader gets more information, and we get more traffic to other web pages — it’s a win-win!
• Link to other pages on your website. In our blog on email marketing, we include a link to our email marketing service page. This enables interested readers to learn more about the importance of email marketing as well as how we can help them with that aspect of their marketing.

A Word About Anchor Text

Anchor text is the text you add a link to. So, for example, in the previous paragraph, our link text was “blog on email marketing” and “email marketing service page.”

If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve probably seen a lot of “click here” anchor text. And while that text does the job, it isn’t very descriptive of what the reader can expect to find when they click the link.

Instead of generic “click here” anchor text, use text that’s relevant to the page you’re linking to.

Why Include Backlinks?

Backlinks are created when one website links to another. You may use backlinks, for example, when you’re quoting someone or citing a source for information used in a blog. Other sites may link back to your site for the same reasons.

Backlinks serve two main purposes:

Authority

Creating backlinks to other highly reputable websites boosts your page’s authority because it shows both web crawlers and users that your content is well-researched (and therefore more helpful). Search engines reward this with higher SERP rankings.

Expertise

On the other side of things, when another website links back to your site, it signals to web crawlers that your website is seen as relevant and helpful to others. More helpfulness = higher SERP rankings.

Backlink Examples

Backlinks you add to your blogs and website pages can include statistics or quotes from other sites that are relevant to the topic you’re writing about. For example:

• For one of our email marketing blogs, we included a statistic about the number of email users worldwide: “In 2022, the number of global email users was forecast at 4.3 billion. In 2025, that number is expected to grow to 4.6 billion — that’s more than half the world’s population!”
• In our Social Media Platforms 101 blog, we shared a statistic about the number of active Facebook users: “With nearly 3 billion active users, Facebook is unmatched for reaching a wide audience.”

And when other sites quote or take examples from your content, they should link to you as well, like this:

• In this blog about holiday out of office messages, The Veritus Group linked to our blog as an example of funny OOO message templates.
• Ontraport, a business automation software company, included a quote from me about their services.

Best Practices for Finding and Linking To External Sources

When you’re looking for sources to quote from, you want to make sure those sources are reputable. Linking to highly regarded sites on your blog or website helps improve your SERP ranking and your Domain Authority.

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric first developed by Moz that predicts how likely a domain is to appear in a SERP compared to its competitors. While search engines don’t use this metric to determine rank, it’s a good indicator of how well your website is performing online vs. your competitors. And when other websites link to your site, it helps improve your DA.

In addition to choosing reputable websites to link to, make sure to also:

• Cite original sources as opposed to secondary sources. For example, don’t cite an article that cites a statistic: instead, find the original source of that statistic and cite that source.
• Use recent statistics. There’s no hard and fast rule for how recent statistics should be, but make sure the ones you use are the most recent information available on the topic — especially if it’s something that changes often.
• Don’t take things out of context. (We know you’d never do this, but just so we’re on the same page…) When you quote information or a statistic from another site, don’t take it out of context. Make sure the way you represent the information is accurate. 

Following these rules will help you keep your DA score high, ensure that Google and other search engines view your site as authoritative, and improve your ranking in SERPs.

Looking for More SEO Tips?

We hope this helps you understand backlinks and internal links so you can optimize your content for SEO and improve your rankings! If you’d like to explore more ways to boost your SEO, check out these blogs:

• SEO Basics Part 1: Getting Started With Keyword Research and Placement
• Want a Website That Gets Results? Track These Key SEO Metrics
• Why Do I Need SEO? 5 Ways SEO Boosts Your Digital Marketing Strategy
• How To Optimize Your Content for SEO

And if you’d like more help creating SEO-optimized content, the Wild Fig team is here to take care of your content marketing needs. Schedule an exploratory call to get started.