Your websites internal linking structure can be just as important as your sites inbound external links. You want to be sure, for one, that your site is using clean URLs, with no Session IDs. For example, instead of your contact form's URL reading, "http://www.example.com/node/1348thsliea?238tah1348585, you'd want it to read "http://www.example.com/contact".

Ideally, each internal page and link should be wrapped around some targeted keyword phrases. Having a clean, static URL is preferable, even more preferable is having a clean, static, keyword-rich URL.

Naming Interior Pages to Increase Organic Results
When naming HTML files, search engines prefer hyphens over underscores when using multiple compound words. Hyphens make the name more easily understood as separate words.

Google has it pretty well under control in recognizing either the same, but doing this could give you a slight advantage in some of the other engines. Another advantage is the pages'name reinforces the most relevant keywords describing it every time an internal link is created in which it is pointed.

For example, if you run a local lawncare business, you might have a new page for each area of town that you service. Assuming you work out of Dallas, some example URLs could be,

• locallawncare.com/lakewood-lawn-care
• locallawncare.com/uptown-lawn-care
• locallawncare.com/highland-park-lawn-care

And so on, you get the point.

Five Common Mistakes to Avoid with Internal Linking

• Missing alt tags on image links
• Missing hover title attributes are on images
• Not using standard HTML to create links (Flash or Javascript instead)
• Not linking to all pages (creating "orphan" pages)
• Disorganized link hierarchy & clustering

Passing PageRank from the Homepage to Interior Pages
Since your homepage is most likely where of your inbound links are linking, you'll want to make sure important interior pages are all linked into your websites homepage. Not only does this make it easier for visitors to find your interior pages, but it leverages the PageRank of your homepage to help your interior pages place well for different keyword terms.

Easy Ways to Increase Your Internal Linking for Organic Results
There are several natural and accepted ways to integrate links to deeper interior pages (more than one click deep from the homepage).
To name a few:

• Building a footer of interior links, which appears on every page
• Primary & secondary navigation links hard coded into the CSS
• "Blog style" linking words which refer to interior pages, blog posts
  onsite wiki articles, etc, throughout the homepage copy

Some more advanced tactics call for sculpting your PageRank flow to interior pages, using the "noFollow" tag. For now, just keep in mind that the better interwoven your interior links are, and the less clicks away from the homepage they are, the better chance you have for placing for not only your homepage, but for designated interior page. Go back to How to Get Better Organic Search Results.