The Deep Link

Back in the “old days” it was a much tougher thing to get a deep link to your site.  There were no blogs and very few directories that allowed them.  If you’re wondering just what the deep link is, how it affects your site and how you get them you came to the right place. 

What are deep links?

The deep link is really just what it sounds like.  It is a link to a deep (interior) page of your website, which means it is not the main page. 

An example would be http://www.authoritydirectory.com/gallery/ pointing toward the interior gallery page of the Authority Directory.

The Use of Deep Links in Navigation

Deep links are most commonly used in helping internet traffic navigate their way around the web.  Let’s face it, there are millions upon millions of pages out there and any short cuts to finding them can only be a good thing right?

Google will occasionally use deep links in their keyword search results.  They just refer to them as site links.  If you want to see what these look like, here is an example where you can see the deep / site links listed right underneath the description.

How this helps internet traffic is by offering the ability to go directly to your destination page.  For example with Authority Directory if you were interested in submitting your site you could go directly to that page and eliminate the need for extra clicks and searching.

Other sites will also use deep links when they make references to information found on other web sites.  Just say for instance I was discussing in this article the various characteristics to look for in a quality web directory and used another article as reference.  I might say that you could read The Distinctive Traits of a Quality Web Directory for further information which represents a deep link that takes you directly to the content and eliminates the need for excessive searching.

Sometimes directories will offer deep links which appear on details pages to make navigation easier for visitors and additional reasons.

Using Deep Links for Keyword Optimization

There are really only two things that drive visitors to your site.  One of them is links and the other one is, well it is links too. 

The link may be on the search engine results page, a directory, another website or written down on a piece of paper.  Wherever they may be, links are what bring visitors to your website.

One way to bring more relevance and power from a link to your website is by optimizing the anchor text of that link to the content of the landing page.  Search engine spiders take this into account when they are indexing the web and it does play a part in ranking websites for keyword search results.

Take for example ABC Plumbing Supplies who wants to improve their search results for a key phrase of bathroom vanities.  Linking to their main index page with that keyphrase may not be in their best interest nor get optimal results.

It comes down to the relevancy of the content on the landing page to the anchor text.  Using anchor text such as ABC Plumbing Supplies would be better suited to a main page link.  While the key phrase of bathroom vanities would be better suited to a deep link directed at the page with that content.

Not to mention it makes for a less frustrating search experience for the customers.

To find the most relevant page on your site for a keyword/phrase according to Google go there and conduct the following search.

• Site:sitedomain.com keyword or key phrase

Deep Links for Deeper Site Indexing

Just like visitors use links to get to your website so do search engine spiders.  These little guys crawl the internet following link after link and indexing what they find on the other end. 

Deep links to your website will send the search engine spiders deep into your site for indexing to get a more complete picture of the content contained there. 

In addition to that the search engine robots will find a page that is relevant to the anchor text in the link that sent them there.  They will also find any additional internal links to other parts of your website on that landing page which will allow search engines to understand how that page relates to the rest of your website.

Deep links make it easier for search engines to find and index all the pages of your site.

Search Engines Factor in Deep Links

Essentially what we are talking about here is the deep link ratio.  The higher the ratio of deep links to over all links to the site, the better search engines feel about the overall importance or authority of your site.  The theory is that sites with a lot of good content will have many links pointing directly do that internal content.

To get the ratio for your site you take the number of deep links pointing towards your site divided by the number of total links pointing at your site.  You can figure out both of these numbers by using Yahoo site explorer.

Directory Submissions and Deep Links

I mentioned earlier that some directories offer deep linking options.  I also mentioned that when linking to a site it is best to use anchor text which relates to the content of the landing page.  Relevance counts when it comes to search engines and also makes sense when it comes to visitors expectations.

If you have a plumbing site like ABC Plumbing which we previously covered and are thinking of submitting to a directory.  You may have some keywords already in mind for your listing.  Just ensure that your selecting landing pages which are relevant to those particular keywords.

The main index page of your site is probably best described with anchor text along the lines of ABC Plumbing Supplies.  Anchor text such as bathroom vanities, faucets or sinks are better utilized for deep links directed at internal pages with content relevant to the anchor text.

Some directories also consider using anchor text which is unrelated to the landing page keyword spam.

This is why it is nice to have deep linking options as it allows you more flexibility in your keyword choices.  If you really want a link with the anchor text of faucets, choosing the deep linking option will make sense for everyone.