If you’re not already familiar with the term, a hyperlink is a word or phrase in digital content that, when clicked, redirects a user to another web page with related content. Due to the role that they play in the ranking of sites by search engines and their ability to provide a wealth of high quality information, the importance of hyperlinks is extremely high and can make a significant difference in terms of content marketing effectiveness.
How Can Links Benefit My Site?
By referencing related articles on a specific website or blog, a hyperlink within your content helps to keep readers on a website for a longer period of time. This, in turn, should also generate an increase of page views to a variety of landing pages such as pages that are either generating a significant amount of traction, pages that are looking to maintain their traffic, or pages that are struggling and are in need of a pick-me-up.
Make Your Links Stand Out!
Depending on which website platform you are using, hyperlinks are typically displayed in a number of distinctive ways. Whether they are being highlighted in a different color than your text, styled in an italicized or bolded font, or enlarged to show their significance, hyperlinks need to stand out within your writing. As a writer, it’s your job to make sure that these links are obvious to a reader and when possible, making them longer than just one word or two will go a long way in helping them pop out in a paragraph!
Fix Your Broken Links!
Another important thing to note in regards to hyperlinks is that they require some maintenance from time to time. When websites go through changes and pages are optimized, added, or deleted, it’s quite easy for hyperlinks to become “broken”. To prevent these broken links (404 errors), be sure to scan through the pages on your website every now and then to ensure that your links are functioning and redirecting properly.
To simplify this process, a variety of link-checking tools and google extensions are available online, which will scan pages or an entire website to provide a broken links report within a few minutes. Some helpful sites to utilize include:
- https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/
- https://www.deadlinkchecker.com/
- https://ahrefs.com/broken-link-checker
- https://www.drlinkcheck.com/
By now, I hope that you have a better understanding about the importance of hyperlinks, when, where, and how to use them, and why you should be fixing your broken links! For more tips regarding your digital marketing effectiveness, please be sure to visit our PCG Digital blog, which is constantly being updated to share some of our skills and knowledge with you!