Do Internal Links Matter for SEO and How To Build Them Systematically – LinkWhisper Review

There are some things in life you KNOW you should do, and they aren’t hard to do, but they just don’t seem to get done. Internal link building is one of these!

You finish your post, get everything ready to publish, publish and then think: ****, I should really should have built some internal links!

This post will show you how to do this in 5 minutes using this tool for your site so that you never have to worry about internal linking again.

I am going to cover…

● First: Sharing some data analysis that the guys at AuthorityHacker did which shows that YES, internal links really do matter for ranking in Google.

● Second: Showing how this can be done systematically through LinkWhisper (plus my review of this tool).

(‘Data’ and ‘systematically’… 2 of my favourite words. This will be fun…)

One of the most popular books of the year is James Clear’s Atomic Habits, which explains how small, repetitive tasks which become habits and have compounding effects to transform our lives. How does that relate to internal link building? This post covers one of those small simple tasks that will have ongoing compounding benefits to your site. By making the process of internal link building easier, faster, and automatic, you can systematize a good habit!

First: Do internal links matter for SEO?

Short answer is yes!

Internal linking matters for more than just SEO purposes, but for the purposes of this article we are focusing on the SEO benefit.

Don’t let internal link building for SEO purposes distract from the more important issue of user experience and driving traffic to your $ pages.

The guys at AuthorityHacker–specifically Michal Ugor–have created a fantastic article digging into the data of 1 million links.

See their full article here: Internal Links. Great article that goes into this topic in more detail!

Credit – https://www.authorityhacker.com/internal-links/

The bottom line:

1. Pages that rank higher in Google averaged having more internal links pointing to that page than pages that didn’t rank as highly.

2. Anchor text matters for internal links and you can be more aggressive with exact match than typically you would be for off page links.

3. A decent rule of thumb is to have 5 internal links linking out for every post and, for the pages you want to rank, up to 100 internal links pointing to them. As with most rules of thumb this will have limited application.

a. NOTE: I was shocked when I saw my average was under 1 for outbound internal links on my posts!

Second: How to Systematically Structure & Sculpt Them? LinkWhisper Review

So we know links matter and would all love to spend the time analyzing and optimizing them for every post. The reality is most of us don’t have that time.

So what is the solution? How do we get the majority of the benefit as efficiently as possible?

That is where LinkWhisper comes in, a great new tool from Spencer Hawes of NichePursuits.

Here are the steps I use, leveraging SEMRush to identify the opportunities and LinkWhisper to systematically build internal links.

Note: Any time you systematically do something it is not as ideal as fully sculpting the page rank flow with a site architecture plan. But, for the busy online entrepreneur looking for a systematic solution, I hope this helps.

Procedure for Automatically Internal Link Building

1. Identify Opportunities using SEMRush (this is optional and can all be done with LinkWhisper)

a. Note this is similar to the significant success we have had identifying the content that needs a refresh and upgrade. We are excited to combine both upgrades and internal link structure improvements to the key pages we care about and see the results!

b. Go to SEMRush and sign in

c. Enter the Domain in question

d. Go to Organic Research

e. Keyword Identification – Select metrics of ‘Position 4-20’ and ‘traffic 100+’

  • The key here is to identify low hanging fruit on keywords where a small impact in link juice being passed to them will improve their ranking.

f. Export to tracking sheet–see free copy of sheet you can copy

g. Page Identification–What are the top 10-20 pages you care about? You can use Google Analytics for this or SEMRush

h. Create final plan using judgement around what pages are low hanging fruit for boosting traffic and what pages you most care about

2. Install LinkWhisper and use the sheet you made in step 1 to set it up

a. Purchase LinkWhisper here

b. Install LinkWhisper

c. Activate LinkWhisper

d. Wait for InternalLinksReport (2-5 minutes)

e. Refer to the plan you made in step 1 and systematically go through each page adding internal links for the ones you care about

3. If LinkWhisper doesn’t have any recommended internal links

a. Search Google to identify top pages for the keyword you are wanting to rank for sitel:yourdomain.com “keyword” the results should show #1 as the page you are wanting to rank for the keyword and then the next 5 pages are likely great places to put an internal link back to your target page.

b. Edit page(s) and add link back to the main page you are wanting to rank for that keyword

Conclusion

Internal link building matters and is often neglected.

LinkWisper and some manual work is a great way to efficiently get your internal link building game back in order!

Hope this actionable article was helpful!

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The 7 Mission Critical Tools for My Online Business

Coming up with the right technology setup for your site can be tricky! I have been through many many iterations and I think I finally have one that I am happy with.

If you have even thought about starting an online business you know how complicated your tool/service selection can be. The decisions you make when selecting a service can impact your business for literally years!

In this post I talk about...

  • ​My theory on the setup for my business (modular vs monolith)
  • The 7 tools I use now
  • The 7 tools I would use if I was just starting out today

Not surprisingly a bunch of these links are affiliate links and a bunch are not affiliate links. They are mentioned here just like every other post on my site because I use or have used them. 

Multiple Services vs Single Service Running Your Online Business(Modular vs Monolith Construction)

Here is my case why I believe a modular approach to my online businesses infrastructure beats a monolithic solution.

  • What is a Modular Online Business Setup? Modular is when your business runs on multiple different services/tools for example wordpress + aweber + paypal
  • What is Monolithic Online Business Setup? Monolithic is when your business runs almost exclusivey off of one integrated tool. A couple of the most popular tools in this space is ClickFunnels (highly recommend his book) and InfusionSoft.

There is an ongoing debate online (and in my head) about if an end-end solution would be better than the modular approach I now take.

  • Benefits of Modular - You can swap out parts as you see fit to make the system better
  • Benefits of Monolithic - You don't have to worry about the interfaces fitting and often quicker/faster easier to use if you plan to stay within the limits of the system

For me in my businesses right now I am going with the bolted together modular option...

The benefit of this is when I start a new business/project (which I have been known to do from time to time) ie LE I can simply swap out one of the components and replicate the model.

For example, my LE SAAS business wouldn't work completely with ClickFunnels (a popular endend solution) due to the complexity of multiple accounts/account upgrades/cancellations/API calls blah blah blah.

So by having my business running off of modular components I can repeat everything but swap out Clickbank for Zaxaa for now to get going quickly and then a more robust solution with Stripe soon enough.

For me it is clear that a modular approach to my businesses infrastructure is my preferred approach!



The 7 Mission Critical Tools I Need To Run My Online Business

There are 7 different types of tools/services most online businesses need to have. This post talks about those 7 tools and what they were when I started out with my online business and what they are now.

First I will list all the tools and what I use them for, then will have a list of all the tools I would use if I was just starting out and finally the setup I now use after 7 years of trying/testing/tweaking...

  1. Email – Like it or not communicating with people via email is a massive part of anyones online business.
  2. Hosting – It is unlikely you are going to have an online business without a host. There are many great sites out there that try to point you in the right direction.
  3. Content Management System – I almost forgot to mention this one as the selection for this is pretty straight forward for most people – WordPress!
  4. Theme – A great looking site is what everyone wants and starting with a great theme is a good way to make this happen!
  5. Lead Generation Plugin – For most people this decision can have the biggest impact on your potential earnings. Cutting corners on your lead gen setup for your site is a huge mistake I see a lot of people making.
  6. Email Autoresponder – Assuming the intent of your website is to provide useful information, build an audience and ultimately make money in exchange for adding value than your email autoresponder will likely be your main leverage point!
  7. Order Fulfillment / Shopping Cart Solution – If you are selling something on your site than you will need to pick a solution that will allow you to sell that product/service.

My Setup I Would Use if I Was Just Starting Out:

If I was starting out today and wanted to keep costs down here is the setup I would work with. It is also very close to the setup that I used when I first got started.

  1. Email – Gmail (Free)
  2. Hosting – Inexpensive Shared Host ($5/month)
  3. Content Management System – WordPress (Free)
  4. Theme – Free Theme (Free)
  5. Key Lead Gen Plugin – SumoMe 
  6. Email Auto responder – AWeber ($19/month)
  7. Order Fulfillment – PayPal Buttons ($30)


After 7 Years My Current Setup for My Main Businesses:



What are the 7 tools you use for the following needs and how do you like them?

  1. ​Email
  2. Hosting
  3. CMS
  4. Theme
  5. Lead Gen Plugin
  6. Email Responder / Marketing Automation
  7. Order Fulfillment / Shopping Cart Solution

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