This is part three of the series about building internal links in order to increase your ranking in the search engines.

Part 3 is also Wordpress specific. If you have a regular site or another type of blog software, then this won’t apply. But, for those who do have a Wordpress blog, this is a must read. (If you do have a regular site, you can hardcode the concepts talked about in this post for the same benefits.)

If you have a regular site, subscribe to my RSS feed, because next week I will be discussing why using a blog on your site directly or an external blog is an excellent idea for internet marketing.

Another plug-in that is available that will help you to build more internal backlinks is the Dagon Design Sitemap Generator (available here). As the title suggests, it generates a Sitemap for your blog. This isn’t an XML sitemap, which is generated for search engines to read your site better. It is an HTML sitemap that is generated, and updated, every single time that you write a new post, or add a new static page.

The benefit of having a site-wide link to the sitemap, and having the sitemap, is that every single page will link to the Sitemap, thereby passing more link juice to the sitemap, and then the Sitemap links out to every page on your site, passing that juice back to each page. This is a very simple way to have more internal backlinks for your site.

Since we are all interested in link building, using your site’s own page rank is a fantastic way to keep that page rank within your site. Yes, it is good to link to other sites too, but if you can balance that with building some internal links, that will help your site greatly. As I find more ideas and plug-ins for internal link building, I will be sure to share them with you all.

Please check out the other posts in this Internal Link Building series….

Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Prequel
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 1
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 2
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 3
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 4
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 5
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 6

This is part two of a series about building internal links in order to increase your ranking in the search engines.

Part 2 is Wordpress specific. If you have a regular site or another type of blog software, then this won’t apply. But, for those who do have a Wordpress blog, this is a must read. (If you do have a regular site, you can hardcode the concepts talked about in this post for the same benefits.)

If you want to get some easy, relevant, and a great amount of internal backlinks, then you need to download the Related Posts plug-in, available here. What this plug-in does, is add a few links at the bottom of each of your posts, that link to other posts that are similar to the one that you just wrote. The benefits of this are great.

The first benefit is internal linking with keyword rich text. If you write your titles with keyword rich text (which you should be doing), then using the Related Posts plug-in, you will get an internal link to that post with the keyword rich text that you chose originally. This will help that page (and all others that are listed with the Related Posts plug-in) to rank higher in the search engines.

The second benefit is that it can keep people on your site longer. If they like what you read and want to read more about that particular subject, then they will probably click one of the related posts provided by the Related Posts plug-in, which will keep them on your site longer (the benefits of having them on your site longer are obvious).

The third benefit is the authority that you will get from having those links on a related page. Having any backlink on any page is good. But, if you have a backlink on a page that has a subject related to the link, then it increases the value of that link. Therefore, when the plug-in generates the links, it generates a link that is relevant, and therefore a higher value link.

If you have a Wordpress blog, you need to install this plug-in. Not only will it allow you to build internal links, build higher value links, but it also allows your readers to find other posts you have written on a similar topic, keeping them on your page longer, and exposing them to more advertisements.

Please check out the other posts in this Internal Link Building series….

Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Prequel
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 1
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 2
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 3
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 4
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 5
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 6

This is a series about how to use internal links as a quick, easy and effective way to build links back to your site and the various pages within your site.

Part 1 – Increasing your Search Engine Rankings with Internal Link Building
When most people think of link building, they think of one way link building by submitting to directories, publishing articles or press releases, commenting on blogs, or the various other ways of building links. They also may think of reciprocal links which is trading links with another website.

Another type of link building is internal link building. If you don’t know what this is, the best way for me to describe it is by showing you an example. In the previous paragraph, you may notice that “one way link building” is a link back to the main page of this website. Since that is a keyword that I am targeting, this post on my site will link back to the front page with “one way link building” as the anchor text. This is an easy, effective way to build links.

All you need to do is find keywords that you are targeting for your main site, and link back to your main site within a post, by using that keyphrase as the anchor text for your link. Don’t go overboard, but one link per page is effective.

You also don’t want to JUST target your front page. Although it is good to get many links to your front page, it is also good to get backlinks to the deeper pages in your site (called “deep linking”). This is effective for two reasons. It allows you to target other keywords than just those you are targeting with your main page. And, since you are creating a link to that page, Google (and other search engines) see that and it helps to increase your rankings. Also, Google sees this as a sign of a well-organized website. If your website is built in a way that people (and their spider) can easily find web pages, then that is a better site than one who makes it harder to find the deeper pages of a site.

So, go through your old posts and old pages of your site, and see where you can link back to some of your more popular posts, and your front page, and you’ll begin to see a little bit of increase in your search rankings for your site(and especially for some of your deep pages).

Please check out the other posts in this Internal Link Building series….

Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Prequel
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 1
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 2
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 3
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 4
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 5
Using Internal Linking to Build Backlinks – Part 6

A great way of getting backlinks to your blog/site is to be a guest poster on a blog that is about your site’s topic. Most blogs that will allow you to write a guest post, will also include something at the beginning of the post such as: “This is a guest post written by Your Name. He/she currently has his/her own blog about Your Keyword Link Here.” By including this and making the link “dofollow”, it provides another backlink to your site to help you with your link building campaigns. You will be able to choose what the anchor text is for the link back to your site, so that when the search engines crawl the site that you guest posted on, you will start to rank even higher for whatever keyword you chose as your anchor text.

Another benefit of guest posting is the increased traffic. If you are able to write a great post (all of your link building efforts should be built around providing solid content for your visitors) then you will have people clicking on your link in the introduction to the post, thereby sending targeted traffic to your website. Guest posting also helps to increase your authority in a given field. If someone likes what you wrote on a guest post they found, and if they like what you write on your blog/site, they may invite you to guest post on their blog, therefore gaining you more backlinks and even more traffic. It can be a viral effect if you write well and provide something valuable to the readers of your blog and the blog that you guest post on.

Now, go build those links!

While there are many methods for building backlinks and generating traffic, there is one method that many people don’t think of, but it can help to drive traffic to your site, and to increase your backlinks.  To do some great one way link building, all you have to do is to think about every single profile that you have online, and add your link to it.  That’s all you need to do, and soon you will start getting some backlinks and probably some traffic.

Forums
Forums are an obvious choice, because forums that allow signatures are great and widely used.  Just be sure that if you are using a forum signature, that you aren’t spamming with it.  Don’t choose the biggest font.  Also in forums, in the contact details, sometimes they ask for your homepage, so that is a great place to put your link.  Also, “Location:” is another great place.  Although “Location:” doesn’t provide any backlinks, it’s just another advertising tool.  Also, use your avatar space to have a graphic that has your URL on it.

Social Bookmarking Sites
Although you may be using places like StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, and other social bookmarking sites for generating traffic and backlinks, you may not have your URL in your profile.  Be sure to do that, because if people like what you Digg and they check your profile, they will see your URL.

Social Networking
Is your link on your facebook profile?  Is it on your pimped out MySpace page?  If not, why not?  Show your friends and others your website, and they will go to your site which means more traffic for you.

E-mail Signature
Although this method doesn’t have any link building benefit, this is a great way to increase traffic.  If you are e-mailing and networking with people in your industry, then they will see your link in the e-mail and go to your site.

Article Submission Sites
If you utilize article submission directories, make sure that your link is in your author profile.  While you include the link in every article, it is good to have the link in your profile too.

Wherever Else You Have an Online Presence
Just think of the places that you visit, and while you’re there, think if you have a way to add your link.  Although these aren’t the links that will boost you to #1 in Google, they are links nonetheless, and they will bring traffic… which probably means repeat traffic… then people linking to you… which is fantastic.

Stay tuned for more tips and link building ideas.