Recently I wrote a guest post and sent an email the the blog’s owner stating that my post was complete and ready for review. The only thing I hadn’t done within the post was deep link.

When the response came back to me, I was surprised at my own jargon and the lack of recognition to the term “deep linking” and thought, now is a great time to talk about it.

But, just for the record, the response was “I’m not sure what deep linking is but the post looks great.”

Deep Linking: Linking within posts to internal pages on your blog.

It may be something you often do or something you rarely do. But today, let’s talk about why you should do it and how it’ll help you.

If you have read more than one blog post on I’m Blogging That, you’ll see that within my posts I often link to another post that is relevant to the current post’s topic. Because I’m Blogging That is a niche blog for how to tips for bloggers, most of my posts are a follow-up to a previous post or mention subjects I have previously talked about. This combination allows me to provide you with more relevant information on any subject. But it’s more than that.

Deep linking hasn’t always been a practice I considered or was even good at. But considering what it can do, by slightly modifying my thinking when writing it’s become just as natural to me as the act of writing itself. So, let’s get into all the reasons you want to deep link within your posts.

Credibility

Of all the reasons I’ll give you for deep linking within your posts, by far I believe this is the most important.

Those who visit your blog need to know what you’re about, what your niche blog covers, and grow to become a fan of your writing style. Most importantly, they want to know that you really understand what you’re talking about and that you have some sort of authority on the subject.

By deep linking, you’re constantly showing yourself off to readers. Sources for further information on similar subjects are great for showing your coverage of a subject, your comprehension of the subject, and your passion for writing. All of which will make you a better blogger.

Page Views

From the onset of deep linking in my posts I instantly saw an increase in page views. Apparently it’s pretty safe to assume that visitors like relevant information on subjects they enjoy reading. What a concept, right? By giving relevant sources of information within my posts, I was able to increase the page views per person.

Search Relevance

Most us know that the anchor text that is used to link to our blogs is just as relevant as the link itself. The anchor text or words you use to link in your post tells search engines what the page you’re linking to is generally about. As a result, when you often link to a post or blog with the same anchor text over and over it no doubt becomes a search term.

By deep linking within your posts, you help yourself with the search engines and can stop entirely relying on other people to link out to your good content.

Example:
I have often linked to my post How to Use All In One SEO Pack Plugin. In fact, a search on my blog returns seven results for this post. Google shows that I have only 3 external links to the post yet the post itself has a PageRank of 4 and ranks #11 with Google for “all in one seo pack.”

Are they the best numbers? Not really but I have a great deal of search traffic to this post. No less than 10 Google searches per day land visitors on that post. Clearly I’ve done something right and it’s mostly been done on my own with deep linking.

When to Deep Link

Assuming you proof read and edit your posts before publishing, look for ways you can link to other blog posts that are relevant and have natural anchor text. And don’t be afraid to modify your own words for optimal anchor text as long as you’re still getting your point across.

Ensure that you’re being helpful. Don’t just link because you’ve got a good opportunity. Linking to apples when you’re talking about oranges doesn’t do anyone good. It’s not helpful for your visitors and it doesn’t increase your credibility or authority.

Within your link structure, be sure to add the title tag so that you can give the exact post name for your visitors as well. This will help to provide as much information as possible for your readers before they click. And with a lot of readers being weary of clicking, you want to provide information that is going to tell them you’re attempting to be helpful.

Good Combinations

It’s been said over and over that we should like out to other bloggers for good networking practices, exposure, and credibility. Deep linking should work with your external linking to other bloggers. And don’t go over kill. A couple of each type of link or just one method within a post is more than enough. Remember, your first goal is to be relevant. I cannot stress it enough.

Your Strategy

Do you often deep link within your posts or are you missing the opportunity? If you deep link, have you noticed any changes to your visitors activity since you started the practice? And lastly, do you click the links when a blogger deep links within their posts?