Sitewide Link
Definition
A sitewide link is a hyperlink that is present on every page of a website. Typically, they are found in website elements that are consistent across all pages, such as footers, headers, or sidebars. Examples of sitewide links include navigation buttons, such as ‘Home’, ‘About Us’, ‘Contact’, and common resources such as ‘Privacy Policy’ or ‘Terms of Service’ pages.
Sitewide Link Relevance For SEO
Sitewide links play a crucial role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They provide a way for search engines to understand and index the structure of your website efficiently. Search engines will crawl these links and acknowledge the connection between the different webpages, which can significantly impact your website’s SEO ranking. Furthermore, sitewide links ensure a smooth user experience by enabling easy navigation between pages, reducing bounce rates, and enhancing user engagement – factors that indirectly influence organic performance.
Sitewide Link Best Practices for SEO
As essential as sitewide links are, here are some best practices to optimize their use for SEO objectives:
- Sensible placement: Position your sitewide links in easily accessible and visible locations for your users, like headers or footers.
- Outbound links: Limit the number of outbound sitewide links to maintain a clean link profile and avoid spam-like behavior that could harm your SEO.
- Relevant anchor text: Use informative and related anchor text for your sitewide links. This gives both users and search engines clear information about the linked webpage’s content.
- Check for dead links: Regularly check and fix any broken or dead sitewide links. Broken links lead to poor user experiences and can negatively impact SEO.
- Boost Specific Pages: When relevant, prioritize and sitewide link to important pages. This will help with internal traffic to those pages and can potentially improve their organic rankings.