You might’ve thought we’ve covered everything there is to know about internal linking.
But few dare to dig into the tricky details of tracking the success of an internal linking hierarchy. That’s because it’s messy, it’s difficult, and it’s not always straightforward – but it’s worth it.
In this guide, we’re covering the metrics that matter most when it comes to internal linking, how to track them, and what they mean in terms of the collective benefit to your website’s SEO strategy.
Is Internal Linking “Measurable”?
Yes, it is measurable, but it’s not always simple.
With something as indeterminate as “internal linking,” it’s easy to assume that the results are more subjective than objective.
For instance, it is difficult to tag individual internal links to assess how a user navigates your site — let alone determine if that results in a goal completion or conversion.
So, measuring the success of your internal linking strategy requires some creative thinking.
While the metrics may not be direct, in context, they can paint a picture of whether the internal links are benefiting your website’s SEO. You just need to know where to look!
Why Measure Your Internal Linking Results?
Internal linking is one of those SEO activities most often treated as a “best practice,” less often venturing into the realm of technical assessment and in-depth strategy.
Sure, there’s an understanding that one should link to the most important pages of their website, but how far do we go beyond that?
Glad you asked because there are a few ways to nerd out about internal linking. If you’re an SEO savant, I’m sure you will appreciate this.
- User Navigation and Intent: Auditing your internal linking strategy via Google Analytics will reveal surprising insights about how users navigate your site. It will allow you to infer what users intend to find when perusing your site content (i.e., where are they going next?).
- Page Authority: You’ll likely notice that some pages get more traffic than others. This may be a result of higher search volume keywords, volume and quality of backlinks, page authority, and a range of other factors. Internal links allow you to direct some of this authority to lower-performing pages.
- Information Architecture: Internal linking is an essential part of facilitating an intuitive and easy user experience. By directing users to relevant pages and posts, you remove friction from their navigational process, lifting barriers to purchase.
- Content Gaps: Through auditing, you will likely find gaps in your content. Have you thoroughly exhausted the topic “pillar” on your website, or are there more items to cover? Where would a user likely want to venture next? How can you take them there?
In essence, there are several benefits to auditing, analyzing, and updating your internal linking strategy.
If you’re ready to go beyond “best practices” and dig into the data, you’ve come to the right place.
Internal Linking: How To Measure Success
As we all know, in SEO, some things are subjective, and others are objective. An internal linking strategy involves a bit of both.
The metrics used to assess internal linking success are mostly objective, while observations and applications can be wholly subjective.
Feel free to interpret the data as you see fit for your own SEO strategy purposes, and know that you’re not limited to these metrics when it comes to analyzing your internal links.
1. Crawl Depth
One of my favorite metrics for analyzing internal links is crawl depth. This metric, reported by Google Search Console’s Crawl Stats report, measures how many pages search engine bots can access and index within a single crawl.
Before implementing internal link updates, I take a baseline of the site’s current crawl depth.
As internal links are added/updated, I most often see an increase in the number of pages found and indexed (assuming there was a discrepancy at the beginning).
An optimized internal linking structure can help search engines crawl deeper into the site, ensuring more pages are indexed and capable of being ranked by Google.
2. Bounce Rate
There are pros and cons to using bounce rate to measure SEO success. The metric alone can miss a lot of context.
For example, in cases of law firm SEO, a higher bounce rate might not be concerning if the end goal is a phone call rather than a user continuously navigating the site. There are many nuances to measuring and assessing the importance of bounce rate.
But when it comes to internal linking, assessing bounce rate can be informative.
Bounce rate (reported by Google Analytics) measures the percentage of website visitors who land on a website and then leave without taking any action. “Action” here could mean clicking on another page, completing a form, making a purchase, etc.
Internal links can increase the likelihood that a user will venture to another page on your website.
Again, compare the results before and after implementing your internal link improvements. A lower bounce rate may indicate that users are finding more relevant content, and are staying on your site for longer.
3. Behavior Flow
Universal Analytics’ “Behavior Flow” report was depreciated with the upgrade to GA4, but there are other ways to view a user’s navigational path through your website.
With the new “path exploration report,” you can analyze a user’s journey through your site, including the pages they land on and the actions they take.
Though not exactly a “metric,” this report does reveal data about which pages users are visiting and where they navigate to next. It also reveals where they drop off.
This is critical information when it comes to internal linking, as you can add links to pages to reduce drop-off, add visual aids to direct users to important pages, and change the placement of your links to improve click-throughs.
4. Pages Per Session
Another Google Analytics metric, Pages Per Session measures the average number of pages a visitor views during a session.
For example, if a visitor only visits two pages and then leaves, that’s not ideal. But if they visit more than two pages, indicating an intent to find information and, potentially, make a purchase, things are looking up!
This can be a helpful metric because it (in part) indicates whether your internal links are well-placed and are making it easy for visitors to navigate to additional pages.
Effective internal linking encourages users to explore more content, increasing page views per session, and signaling good user engagement.
Note that, like bounce rate, there are many nuances to assessing the importance of pages per session as an indicator of SEO performance.
For example, a business would likely prefer that a user calls them right away rather than venturing to several pages of their website. Immediate action is ideal!
5. Time On Page
While pages per session measures the number of pages a user visits within a session, time on page measures the amount of time a user spends on a single webpage before navigating to another page.
In the context of internal linking, higher time on page may indicate that your links are effective in guiding users to content that holds their attention.
Also, while not a direct ranking factor, time on page can contribute to search engines’ understanding of your site’s quality.
Pages that keep users engaged signal a positive user experience, which search engines may consider when determining your rankings.
In that way, higher time on page as a result of internal linking improvements may indicate the success of your strategy.
6. Page Authority
Page Authority is a score developed by Moz to assess how well a particular page will rank in the SERPs based on a variety of factors. Scores range from 1 to 100, with a higher score indicating a higher expected ranking.
I like to look at Page Authority when it comes to internal linking because internal links can “send” authority to the pages they link to.
Basically, when you link from high-authority pages to other pages on your site, it helps distribute “link equity” across your site. This practice can raise the authority of less visible or lower-ranking pages.
You may notice that the Page Authority of a destination page increases after you link to it from a high-authority page. Measuring this, across multiple pages, can be a strong indicator of internal linking effectiveness.
7. Conversion Rate
You can use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to track conversions from users who click on internal links.
Internal links can guide users down the sales funnel as they navigate from one page to another and, ultimately, make a purchase, submit a form, etc.
Tracking whether linked pages lead to conversions (e.g., purchases or sign-ups) is crucial for assessing the effectiveness of your internal linking strategy.
Here’s how to track internal link conversions with GTM:
- Log into Google Analytics.
- Create a conversion event representing the action you want to track (e.g., form submissions, purchases, sign-ups).
- Take note of the event name and/or parameters (you’ll use them later).
- Log into Google Tag Manager and click “Triggers” in the sidebar. Select “New” to create a new trigger.
- Name the trigger (e.g., “Internal Link Click”).
- Choose “Click – Just Links” as the trigger type.
- In the Trigger Configuration section, set the following:
- This trigger fires on: “Some Link Clicks”
- In the next section, create a condition to target only internal links. Set the condition to:
- Click URL → Matches RegEx → ^https?:\/\/(www\.)?yoursite\.com
- Replace yoursite.com with your actual domain.
- Save the trigger.
- Next, go to the Tags section in GTM and click “New.” Name the tag (e.g., “Internal Link Click Event”).
- Choose Tag Type as “Google Analytics: GA4 Event.”
- Under Tag Configuration, fill in the following:
- Configuration Tag: Select your GA4 configuration tag.
- Event Name: Name the event (e.g., “internal_link_click”).
- Event Parameters: Add additional parameters for deeper insights. Example: Parameter Name: “link_url”
- Value: {{Click URL}}
- In the Triggering section, select the “Internal Link Click” trigger you created earlier.
- Save the tag.
- Back in GA4, click on Admin.
- Under the Property column, click on Events.
- You will see a list of events that GA4 has already tracked (including any custom events like “internal_link_click” if you’ve set up your GTM tag correctly).
- Find the event you want to track as a conversion (e.g., “internal_link_click”). If it is not listed, it means the event hasn’t been triggered yet, and you’ll need to wait until it fires or manually create the event (explained below).
- Once the event appears in the list, toggle the “Mark as conversion” switch next to the event. This will now track the event as a conversion in GA4.
8. Organic Traffic
One of the clearest signs of SEO success is increased traffic. However, it can be challenging to directly link traffic growth to changes in your internal linking strategy.
But you can compare traffic stats before and after internal link updates, all else being held equal.
Be sure to track the organic traffic to your website over time using tools like Google Analytics or Semrush.
The addition of internal links can direct more traffic flow to other pages on your site, improve the rate at which pages are indexed, and distribute page authority, which can boost your overall organic traffic.
Improve Your Internal Linking Strategy With These Tips
Internal linking is an important yet oft-overlooked strategy in SEO. It’s so simple that it’s easy to forget how impactful it can be.
With the help of the metrics above and some creative thinking, you can drive better organic results for your site and your clients.
- Audit Often: Analyze your website performance every quarter (if not more) to assess your internal pages and determine whether any content gaps exist on your site. Audit your website for broken and/or redirected links, fixing these as needed to improve user experience and the crawlability of your website.
- Add Links Regularly: Any time you add new content, look for opportunities to link to existing pages or articles. Aim for at least three internal links on each page.
- Examine Your Traffic: Identify high-traffic, high-authority pages and add internal links from these to your lower-performing pages. Compare traffic before and after these changes.
- Play With Placement: Experiment with the placement and prominence of your internal links. Use different visual components, weight, and colors to make internal links more obvious and enticing.
With this guide, you can get a clear picture of how well your internal linking strategy is performing and make adjustments to improve your SEO results.
Want more user engagement and action on your website? Internal linking is one way to do that!
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