How to Boost E-Commerce SEO with Internal Linking Answers

How would you best review internal links globally for a specific website?

• Crawl a website with an SEO crawler and review page authority
• Crawl a website with an SEO crawler and review anchor text
• Turn JavaScript off in your browser on each page to see how internal links change
• Crawl a website with an SEO crawler and review crawl maps and page authority
• Crawl a website both with JavaScript on and off and compare the differences in internal links**
• Use the ‘inurl:’ command in Google to review all internal links

Explanation:

This method provides the most complete, “global” picture of your internal linking strategy for two key reasons:

1. Crawl Maps (or Link Visualization):

   • What they are: SEO crawlers like Screaming Frog or the site audit tools in Semrush and Ahrefs can generate visual diagrams of your site’s linking structure.

   • Why they are best for a “global” review: These maps allow you to see your entire website architecture at a glance. You can instantly identify:

     • Key Hubs: Pages that have many links pointing to them and linking out to other pages.

     • Silos/Clusters: Groups of closely interlinked pages about a specific topic.

     • Orphaned or Poorly Linked Pages: Pages that are disconnected from the main site structure.

     • Crawl Depth: How many “clicks” it takes to get from the homepage to any other page.

2. Page Authority (Internal PageRank/Link Score):

   • What it is: This is a metric calculated by the crawler that shows how much internal authority each page has accumulated based on the quantity and quality of internal links pointing to it.

   • Why it’s essential: It adds a quantitative layer to your visual map. You can see not just how pages are connected, but also which pages are the most powerful according to your current linking strategy. This helps you determine if authority is flowing to your most important pages or getting stuck on less important ones.

Combining the visual crawl map with the quantitative page authority data gives you the most powerful and complete understanding of your internal linking on a global scale.

Why the Other Options Are Less Effective

• Crawl a website with an SEO crawler and review page authority: This is good, but it’s only half of the best answer. It gives you the “what” (which pages are authoritative) but not the visual “how” (the structure that creates that authority).

• Crawl a website with an SEO crawler and review anchor text: This is a crucial but different task. Reviewing anchor text is about analyzing the context of your links, not the overall structure and authority flow. It’s a more granular review.

• Crawl a website both with JavaScript on and off…: This is a specific diagnostic test for JavaScript SEO issues. It’s vital for JS-heavy sites but isn’t a method for a general, global review of the entire link architecture.

• Turn JavaScript off in your browser…: This is an inefficient, manual version of the option above and is not a practical way to review an entire site.

• Use the ‘inurl:’ command in Google…: This is incorrect. The inurl: operator finds pages that have a specific word in their URL; it does not review the internal links on those pages.

What’s the difference between a page with a PageRank score of 1 and a page with a PageRank score of 100?

• A page with a PageRank of 100 has better optimised copy and images
• A page with a PageRank score of 1 is eligible to rank for more keywords
• A page with a PageRank score of 100 has more authority from internal links
• A page with a PageRank of 100 has more external links than the page with a PageRank of 1
• A page with a PageRank score of 1 ranks better than the page with a PageRank score of 100
• A PageRank score has nothing to do with internal links and only how well the page ranks in Google

Explanation:

This question refers to the “PageRank” metric found within SEO tools like Semrush, which is a simulation of how authority flows through a website’s internal links.

Here’s a breakdown of what the scores mean:

• Internal PageRank (IPR): This metric is calculated based only on your website’s internal linking structure. It has nothing to do with external backlinks or on-page content.

• How it Works: It operates on the principle that links pass authority.

  • A page receives more authority if many other pages link to it.

  • A link from a high-authority page (like your homepage) passes more “weight” than a link from a less important page.

• What the Scores Mean: The score is on a scale (typically 0-100).

  • A high score (like 100) indicates that the page is a major hub of authority within your site. It receives many powerful internal links, and the rest of your site architecture points to it as being very important. The homepage almost always has the highest score.

  • A low score (like 1) indicates the page has very little internal authority. It may be an orphaned page, or only have one or two weak internal links pointing to it.

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

• A page with a PageRank of 100 has better optimised copy and images: This is false. The metric is completely independent of the page’s content.

• A page with a PageRank score of 1 is eligible to rank for more keywords: This is the opposite of what’s true. Higher authority generally leads to better ranking potential.

• A page with a PageRank of 100 has more external links than the page with a PageRank of 1: This is false. The metric specifically measures authority from internal links, not external ones (backlinks).

• A page with a PageRank score of 1 ranks better than the page with a PageRank score of 100: This is false. A higher score is better.

• A PageRank score has nothing to do with internal links and only how well the page ranks in Google: This is false. The score has everything to do with internal links and is only an indicator of potential, not a direct measure of actual Google rankings.

How do canonical tags influence internal linking?

• Canonical tags makes it easier for Google to find all internal links on a website
• Canonical tags do not help with internal linking
• Canonical tags need to be used with robots.txt for them to work for internal linking
• Canonical tags do not impact internal linking. Using canonical tags are bad for internal links
• All internal links to canonicalised URLs all point to the canonical URL for better internal linking

Explanation:

• When multiple pages have similar or duplicate content, canonical tags tell search engines which version is the preferred (canonical) URL.

• Internal links that point to any of the duplicate or variant URLs effectively consolidate their value to the canonical URL, strengthening its SEO authority.

• This helps avoid splitting link equity and improves internal linking efficiency by focusing signals on the canonical page.

 The other options are incorrect:

• Canonical tags don’t directly help find links.

• They do impact internal linking by consolidating link value.

• They don’t need to be used with robots.txt to work.

• Using canonical tags is not bad for internal links; when used properly, they help.

Why is building internal links to non-indexable pages not a good idea?

• Internal links to non-indexable pages makes it more difficult for Google to crawl a site
• Internal links to non-indexable pages can cause the source page to be de-indexed from Google
• It forces Google to rank pages for incorrect and unintentional keywords
• Internal links to non-indexable pages doesn’t help as the pages can’t rank

Explanation:

• Non-indexable pages (like those with noindex tags or blocked by robots.txt) won’t appear in search results, so linking to them doesn’t contribute to SEO benefits like ranking or authority flow.

• While internal linking helps distribute link equity, directing it to pages that can’t rank is essentially wasted effort.

 The other options are incorrect or misleading:

• It doesn’t make crawling more difficult by itself.

• Internal links to non-indexable pages won’t cause the source page to be de-indexed.

• It doesn’t force Google to rank pages for incorrect keywords.

Do links in the header and footer of a website contribute to internal linking efforts?

• Yes
• Only for websites that use JavaScript
• Only on the home page
• No – only internal links within the body contribute to internal linking efforts

Explanation:
Links in the header and footer are considered part of a website’s internal linking structure and do contribute to SEO by helping distribute link equity and improving site navigation for both users and search engines.

They are important for:

• Consistent navigation across all pages

• Helping search engines discover important pages

• Strengthening internal linking efforts alongside body content links

The other options are incorrect because internal linking is not limited to JavaScript usage, home page only, or body content exclusively.

What does the page rank metric help to measure in Semrush?

• Whether a page is an orphaned page
• An indicator of how many outgoing internal links a page on a website has
• How authoritative a page is on a website
• How many internal links a page on a website has
• How many backlinks a page on a website has
• None of the above

Explanation:
In SEMrush, the Page Rank (often referred to as Page Authority or similar metrics) estimates how authoritative or strong a page is in terms of SEO. It’s influenced by factors like backlinks, internal links, and overall link equity.

 The other options are incorrect:

• It’s not specifically about counting orphaned pages.

• It doesn’t measure just outgoing internal links or internal links alone.

• While backlinks influence it, it’s not simply a count of backlinks.

• “None of the above” is incorrect since the metric does measure authority.