Google’s John Mueller recently answered the question of whether Google uses internal links in footers or headers differently. Google’s John Mueller explains the nuances of how Google handles the main content of a page, and sheds light on how Google handles internal linking in web pages.
Internal link
Internal links are links from within a website that point to another webpage within the same website.
Examples of internal links are menu links typically found in page headers, and links to important parts of a website, such as the About Us and Contact pages that often appear in the footer of a website.
Internal links can also be links found within the site’s content to other pages within the site.
Google’s John Mueller discusses internal linking
Are all internal links equally important?
Google’s John Mueller says Internal linking is important The person asking this question wants to know if different types of internal linking are handled differently.
The man asked:
“You recently reiterated the importance of internal linking to show Google the importance of specific content on your site.
I wonder if links in some parts of the site are viewed differently.
For example, if the page is linked in a header or footer, and therefore included in every page of the website.
Does Google use these links differently than the link in the body of the thank you page? “
Internal links are not differentiated
Mueller explained that links are not treated differently based on their location on the page.
John Mueller replied:
“We didn’t really differentiate there.
So if you like, there’s something linked in the footer of the page, and they’re linked from the entire site, then from our point of view, you can have those links all over the site.
We’re not going to say, oh, like links in the footer are lighter weight or less useful, we’re going to ignore them or anything like that.
So from that perspective, when it comes to links, we basically just think of them as links on a page. “
How text is handled varies by location
Next, John Mueller clarified that the text in the main content is handled slightly differently.
He explained:
“The text there is slightly different because we’re trying to understand what the main content of the page is.
When it comes to ranking relative to other content on your site, we’ll try to focus on the main content section of the page.
But from our perspective, links just help us better understand the structure of the site, whether they’re in the header, footer, sidebar, or main content, it doesn’t really change anything for us. “
Internal linking is important
John Mueller explained that while content in the main content area is treated slightly differently, internal links in headers, footers, or main content are treated the same.
Mueller also confirmed that internal links in footers and headers have no less weight than links in page content.
Citation
Best Internal Linking: Header & Footer & In-Content Linking
Watch John Mueller answer questions at 45:09 minutes
