How to Use Links for Better Google Ranking 2023

Links are a crucial part of any website’s optimization strategy in 2023. Google uses links to crawl and index web pages, so it’s essential to make sure that your links are crawlable and easy for Google to understand. Here are some best practices for using links to improve your website’s Google ranking:

Make your links crawlable:

• Instead of using <span> or <div> tags for your links, use the <a> tag with the href attribute.
• Use the correct HTML markup for dynamically inserted links with JavaScript, so that Google can crawl them.

Good:

<a href="https://example.com">Click here to visit our website</a>

The link is in the correct HTML format and includes an href attribute.

Bad:

<span class="link">Click here to visit our website</span>

The link is not in the correct HTML format and Google won’t be able to crawl it.

Use descriptive anchor text:

• Use concise and descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the content on the linked page.
• For example, instead of using “click here,” use “learn more about our services” for a link to your services page.

Good:

<a href="https://example.com/marketing-strategy">Learn more about our marketing strategy</a>

The anchor text is concise, relevant, and descriptive of the content on the linked page.

Bad:

<a href="https://example.com/marketing-strategy">Click here to learn more</a>

The anchor text is generic and doesn’t provide any context for the linked page.

Use proper link placement:

• Place your anchor text within the <a> HTML element, with no other text or tags surrounding it.
• If your link is an image, use the alt attribute to provide descriptive text for Google.

Good:

<p>Our <a href="https://example.com/about">about page</a> provides more information about our company.</p>

The anchor text is placed within the <a> HTML element, with no other text or tags surrounding it.

Bad:

<p>Our about page provides more information about our company. <a href="https://example.com/about"><img src="about.png" alt="about page"></a></p>

The link is an image and is not placed within the <a> HTML element. The alt attribute is used but is not descriptive enough.

Give context to your links:

• Provide context for your links by adding some relevant text before or after the link.
• For example, instead of just saying “visit our blog,” you could say “check out our latest blog post about SEO strategies.”

Good:

<p>Check out our <a href="https://example.com/blog/marketing-tips">latest blog post on marketing tips</a> for small businesses.</p>

The words surrounding the link provide context and explain where the link is going and why it’s relevant.

Bad:

<p>We offer a range of marketing services, including <a href="https://example.com/marketing-services">digital marketing</a>, <a href="https://example.com/marketing-services">social media marketing</a>, and <a href="https://example.com/marketing-services">email marketing</a>.</p>

The links are chained up next to each other, making it difficult for readers to distinguish between them. No context is provided for each link.