You’ve heard us say it before – instead of “building backlinks,” create a user experience that encourages people to link to you.
But there’s a big problem with that. The everyday visitor doesn’t know SEO. When they link to you, they want to help you out. They want people to get the same value from your site that they did.
But usually, they’ll just copy and paste the link. Either that or they’ll put anchor text like “click here,” or “read more.”
Just a quick primer for the SEO beginners, anchor text tells Google where to rank your site (among other things). If you get a bunch of links with the keyphrase “goldfish bowls,” Google’s going to know your site likely focuses on goldfish bowls. And the more links you get for “goldfish bowls,” the higher in the rankings your website will sit.
So when people link to your site with “click here,” they’re not doing you much good. Yes, you’re still getting some link authority, but it’s not nearly as beneficial as a keyword optimized for SEO.
What can be done about it, other than asking your visitors to use the right anchor text if they enjoyed your site?
The secret lies in how your URLs are put together.
URL Structuring
Site architecture is a big deal in SEO. Unfortunately, it’s also a bit of an unknown in the world of SEO. Unless you do SEO for a living, you probably don’t spend a whole lot of time worrying about your site architecture.
But site architecture is how the Google bots find and index pages in your site. And it’s also your user experience.
Here’s are two examples of typical WordPress URLs:
http://www.yoursite.com/?p=553
http://www.yoursite.com/featured/?p=12
What’s missing from these two links? Your keywords.
URLs are the perfect place to put keywords. Now, look at these two links:
http://www.goldfishbowls.com/glass-bowls/how-to-clean-glass-fish-bowls
This is a link that’s readable by human beings. And as far as pure SEO goes, it’s a link that will do very well if copy and paste.
You have your main keyword, your category keyword, and the keyword your article is targeting. When people link to this page, it’ll automatically be optimized correctly for “goldfish bowls,” “glass bowls,” and “how to clean glass fish bowls.”
Not bad!
This is yet another example of how optimizing a site for humans will help you in the eyes of Google. Remember, the Google bots are specifically designed to act as humans would. They navigate your site through the links you post. They “read” the content for keywords and LSI key phrases.
And when you include your main keywords in your URLs, you dramatically increase the amount of targeted SEO authority you get for each link.
Sure, some of your visitors will still use “click here” for anchor text. That’s unavoidable. However, by using a good site structure, you can make the most out of your naturally built links.
Want More SEO Tips and Tricks?
If you’re still struggling to reach page #1, we offer a comprehensive site review. One of our experts will take a look at your site and assess everything that might be preventing you from reaching page #1. We compile it all into a report that tells you both the problems your website currently has, and exactly how you can fix them.
For beginner SEO’s, this is a great way to get to page #1 and stay there.
Lastly, don’t forget to run an on-page optimization check using our free tool. On-page SEO is a HUGE deal in modern-day SEO. If your pages are optimized incorrectly, it’s absolutely doing you damage.
Our tool quickly analyzes your site and points out areas where you could make a few changes. Instead of having to do your own on-page audit, we’ll deliver the results in seconds.
There could be something smallholding you back from page #1. Find out today.
Thank you for reading. Continue your journey of learning through our site SEOSiteCheckUp.com. Don’t forget to take advantage of our free SEO tools!
Join us in our daily discussions on Facebook!
