So you’ve got your business website up and running, now you’re ready to establish your online commercial real estate marketing plan. So the first thing you should do is external link building right?
Wrong.
Link building is definitely an important aspect of an effective SEO plan. However, your website is only as strong as its foundation. When it comes to SEO, internal link building is where it all starts. Without proper internal link optimization your online commercial real estate marketing plan will never reach its full potential. So taking the time to optimize the links you have already earned is the best place to start.
Back-to-Basics
So what goes into properly optimizing your internal links? And how can you make sure your website is properly optimized? Let’s start with the basics.
In order for your website to pass on the link power it receives from its external links, every page on your website must be internally connected. Think of the back-end of your website as an electrical current. If you connect the pages on your website with each other, through internal links, then that current will be able to flow through the many pages on your site and each page will benefit from the power of external links.
Having the correct internal linking can make a huge difference in your overall search engine rankings. By linking from your homepage to the various pages on your website, and then linking from the various pages on your website back to your homepage, you are able to pass the link power received from external links through your entire website.
Confused? That’s alright. Let’s clarify with an example. Let’s say you have 200 external links pointing to your homepage, these external links will definitely help rank your homepage. However they won’t help rank any of the other pages on your website if you don’t have the proper internal link structure set up. If you do have a proper internal link structure in place, these 200 external links pointing to your homepage can help rank all the other pages on your website as well.
How to Setup Proper Internal Link Building
There are many possibilities for setting up proper internal link building on your website. Let’s assume your website has 5 content pages, a simple method we recommend for setting up proper internal links is as follows:
- From your Homepage link to your content page 1
- Content page 1 link to your content page 2
- Content page 2 link to content page 3
- Content page 3 link to content page 4
- Content page 4 link to content page 5
- Content page 5 link back to the Homepage
By setting up internal links throughout your entire website, any external links that point to any page on your website will help rank not only that specific page, but all the other pages on your website as well.
Internal Linking for an Established Website
If your commercial real estate website is already established you can still benefit from the power of a proper internal link structure. Take the time to go through your entire website and make sure that each page is being sent a link from another page on your website. You should also be checking your site regularly for any broken links that may exist. By doing so you’ll make sure that the power you receive from external links will benefit your entire site, and not just that specific page.
Only once you’ve completed setting up a proper internal link structure should you begin establishing external links. Because an optimized existing link can be more valuable than a new one. Best of luck in your commercial real estate marketing endeavors and remember that any successful website begins with a solid foundation of internal links!
