Google’s John Mueller offers his insight on internal linking and whether it makes a difference in headers, footers or content. His answer was short, but there seemed to be more to discuss.
Does the value of internal links vary by page location?
Internal links are references to links within a website from one page to another.
The person asking this question wants to know if the location of a link on a page makes a difference in the “value” of a link, which could mean SEO effectiveness.
Whether a link has more value depends on its position on the page, which is a legitimate question.
Google’s Martin Splitt made it clear that Google divides web pages into sections, and the main section where important content resides is called Centerpiece Annotation.
This is documented in the article, How Google analyzes web content and authority.
In the article, Martin explained that the main content section is what Google uses to understand the content of the page.
Also, Martin said, the “weights” are different for different parts.
Martin explained:
“And then there’s another thing here, it seems to be a link to a related product, but it’s not really the core part. It’s not really the main content here. It seems to be something extra.
Then it’s like a bunch of boilerplate, or, “Hey, we found that the menus on all of these pages and lists look pretty much the same. This looks a lot like the menus we have on all the other pages on this domain,” for example, or We’ve seen this before. We didn’t even really go by domain or like, “Oh, this looks like a menu.”
We figure out what looks like boilerplate and then get different weights. “
There are some older Google patents and old statements from Googlers who confirm that the location of content on a page can make a difference.
So the person asking the question has a good reason to ask John Mueller this specific question.
Google’s John Mueller discusses internal linking
link value
The question is about the “value” of the link.
But what exactly does “value” mean?
Does value mean the effectiveness of the message or does it mean SEO value as a ranking factor?
- Google sometimes uses information to understand the meaning of content.
For example, structured data conveys specific information about the content of a web page. Google can’t rank content it doesn’t understand, so clarity is important. Structured data isn’t a ranking factor, but it can still help Google better understand pages and boost content prominently in search results. - Google uses certain information as a ranking factor.
The anchor text of a link is called a ranking factor. It both conveys the meaning of the page and acts as a ranking-related factor.
The distinction between some information describing the content of a page and some information that is a ranking factor can become very blurry.
So when people ask what the value of a link is and John Mueller answers the question, it’s not clear what the word “value” means in the context of the question.
The value of internal links
The question posed by John Mueller is simple:
“What I’m asking today is whether the value of internal links is similar.
For example, is there a difference in the value of internal links in headers, footers, or content? “
John Mueller replied:
“It’s very similar.
I don’t think there is any quantifiable difference in internal linking to different parts of the page.
I think the content is different in different parts of the page and we try to figure out what’s unique about the page.
But regarding links, I don’t think that’s what that is. “
There is no quantifiable difference in the location of the link
the word”measurable” means something that can be measured. So when Mueller says there is no measurable difference, it means there is no measurable difference.
So in general, all things considered, the location of internal links is basically irrelevant.
Citation
The SEO Value of Internal Linking
Does it matter whether internal links are in the header, footer, or in the content?
Watch at 0:49 seconds in the video:
