What Is a Link? How to Use Different Types of Links on a Website

A link is a path that matters for SEO and for how a website is structured, and it also shapes the user experience. So how many types of links are there, what does each one do, and how do you use them well? This article MONA Media walks you through it.

What is a link?

A link is a bridge between one web page and another. Links connect pages within the same website (Internal link) or take users to a page on another website (External Link).

Links come in many formats, such as text, images or other elements, and they take users where they want to go. From a user's point of view, a link has 2 parts: The link itself and the text or element that carries it (the anchor text).

Example: if you click here you will be taken to the page "https://mona.media”. That is the link, and the words “here" are called the anchor text.

There are 2 basic types of links

To a programmer there is only one kind of link, known as the <a> tag. The structure of a basic link looks like this: <a href=”link URL”>Anchor text</a>. That's it. To a programmer, the <a> tag simply takes users somewhere other than the page they are reading.

For SEO people, though, links are a whole world. Understand the concept and how to use links, and you have already done most of the 50% work in SEO.

So in SEO there are 2 types of links we need to cover: INTERNAL and EXTERNAL LINKS.

What is an internal link?

Internal link is a link that takes users to another page on the website they are already visiting. For example, you are reading this and I add a line:

See more: What is a backlink?

Here, MONA is sending you to an article about backlinks, but that article is still on MONA's website. So this is an internal link.

So how should internal links be used in SEO?

This is extremely important and useful, so read it carefully: it is a lesson I learned the hard way over 5 years of researching and testing internal linking .

Many people who are just learning SEO top Google search , and I was no different back then, start by building a website and writing articles. While writing, almost all of us have dropped links wherever we could, linking all over the place in the article, heading… so some articles are packed with links while others have none. This is simply wrong and gets you nothing.

First, you need to plan your keywords in detail. Level 1, level 2, level 3 keywords… level N. For e-commerce or service websites, the keyword set also needs to expand into levels 1.1, 2.1, 3.1… n.N.

Next, write the level N articles first, working from the bottom up, and link the level N articles to each other. Once level N is done, move up one step and write the higher level. Then go back to level N and link up to its "parent level", and keep going like this until you have covered the whole keyword tree.

That way, the strength of the child keywords flows up to the parent keyword, and you end up with a solid internal link structure where every link has a clear direction.

In particular, note that the paragraph where you place a link must be related to the article the link points to. That is how you match the reader's search intent and keep them on your website longer.

I see a lot of people building internal links with "see more here" or "click here"… without realising they're weakening their own SEO. In this video I show you how to pick the right, most natural anchor text. Watch it and clean up your internal links.

What is an external link?

External link , also called an outbound link, is a link that sends users to a page that is not on your website. For example, you are reading this and I say:

See more: Link concepts

Here I am taking you off my website to wikipedia.org and its article on links. You really should read more of it to understand what I'm explaining in more depth. That is an external link.

A lot of people doing SEO are still afraid to place outbound links because they think it will "drain the website's strength". In reality, external links used correctly can actually help Google see your site as more trustworthy. So do outbound links weaken a website or not? Watch this video and I'll explain what really happens.

So how do you use external links effectively?

SEO is about getting your website and keywords to the top of Google, right? So you need to understand who you are dealing with and what they want.

You are dealing with Google, obviously, and what Google wants is to give users the most accurate, most useful and most satisfying answers. So if your article meets the user's need and solves their problem, your chances of reaching the top are quite high, right? So why am I pointing out something everyone already knows?

It's simple. Say your article is about “what is a link?” and you send users off to an external page about “beauty cosmetics”. That doesn't make sense, does it? When Google reads your article and sees random links that have nothing to do with each other, it judges the article as low quality and not meeting user needs, and your chances of ranking at the top drop.

At this point someone will ask: “I have done this before and still do, so why do my keywords still rank?” There are 2 outside factors that help you without you realising it:

1. If there are 10 players in the game and all 10 get it wrong, the one with the fewest mistakes still makes it to the top. If Google didn't rank anyone who was wrong, what results would users have to read?
2. Google is still behind in Southeast Asia. Its algorithms have wiped out most black hat SEO practitioners elsewhere in the world, but in Vietnam they are still around.

But what happens once Google catches up in Vietnam? Think about the user. That is the only approach that keeps you on good terms with Google, and almost every website SEO services company today is moving in this direction. 

Still, SEO has never been an easy road. Many businesses spend 1 or 2 years, even 6 or 7 years, looking for the right SEO agency for them. Some pick the wrong one and end up “paying dearly for it”, losing all their keywords and even a domain they had built up for years.  But if you find a reputable SEO partner, it will take you only a few months to reach your reputation and revenue goals. MONA Media is proud to be a leader in SEO services with more than 10 years in operation. We help businesses grow revenue sharply, with up to 300% more revenue. Projects beat their KPIs within just 3 months, with keywords reaching TOP 1-3 of the search results across many industries for 12,000 clients in Vietnam and abroad. And you too can “leo top” your revenue and Google rankings the same way. Please CONTACT US us on the hotline 1900 636 648 for a detailed consultation on your SEO plan and a fast website SEO quote .

Inbound Link

An inbound link, also called a backlink, is a link from another website pointing to yours. It is a very important factor for a website, because it directly affects brand recognition as well as rankings on search engines.

Sources of inbound links include websites with content related to the keyword that has been linked to your site, as well as review sites, comparison sites and articles PR on online news sites.

Outbound Link

An outbound link is a link that takes users to other websites with related content, helping them navigate to relevant information. This type of link not only creates backlinks for the target website but also gives users useful content.

Linking to reputable, trustworthy websites that fit your article's content gets your website rated higher for quality, which builds trust and helps your SEO.

What is anchor text? How should you use anchor text?

Anchor text is the element that represents a link inside an article. There are 2 basic types of anchor text mentioned in SEO: text anchors and image anchors.

For example, in <a href=”https://mona.media/thiet-ke-website”>thiết kế website</a>  everything inside the <a></a> tag pair is the anchor, whether it is an image or text.

MONA sees anchor text as the most important part of SEO, whether it is SEO Onpage hay SEO Offpage. The meaning of the anchor must be chosen to match the content of the page the link points to.

So if you are doing SEO for a website that offers website design service , does that mean that wherever the phrase "thiết kế website" (website design) appears on other sites, you grab it and point it back to yours?

No. Anchors need variety. I've read articles telling me to stick to exact percentages for each anchor type. My advice: forget that. Get as many anchors pointing to your site as you can, and make sure each anchor's share of your total anchors stays under 20%.

Example: Say you work in website design service, and you own 100 referring domains. Many of you would be tempted to build all 100 backlinks with the anchor web design to your moneysite. BUT THAT IS COMPLETELY WRONG.

With 100 referring domains, you can build backlinks with a wide variety of anchor texts, such as: sales website design service, "thiết kế web giá rẻ" (cheap web design), "lập trình web app" (web app development), "thiết kế website tin tức" (news website design), "thiết kế website học trực tuyến" (e-learning website design), "thiết kế website khách sạn" (hotel website design), "thiết kế web bất động sản" (real estate web design),…If you spread each of those anchor texts across 10 of your 100 referring domains, each anchor text gets a 10% share. Nice and balanced, right?

Those of you who have SEO tools Ahrefs will understand this better. If you can't afford it, don't worry; just keep this in mind: “Don't fix on any single anchor or give it too much weight”. Spread them out evenly, and the more backlinks the better. Much like keyword density, you also need to watch the density of each specific anchor so your anchors are varied and the article works better.

I hope these basics of “What is a link” help you understand links better, and how to use them to get a website to the top of Google. Build and make full use of every type of link so your website has a tight, well-organized link structure that Google rates highly and that gives users useful information. Good luck.