Internal Linking for Local SEO: Link Back to Your GBP Landing Page
By Clay Lawrence, Review Harvest · · 4 min video
The short version
Internal linking means the pages on your website link to each other, and above all back to your Google Business Profile landing page, which is the page listed as the website on your profile. Set up header and footer navigation that reaches every page, make sure no page you want ranked is left unlinked, and add a call to action on your blog, city and service pages that links to that landing page.
Do this, in order
- 1
Find your Google Business Profile landing page
It is whatever page you have listed as the website on your Google Business Profile. For most businesses that is the homepage.
- 2
Set up header navigation that reaches all your pages
The navigation links in your header are one of the things Google uses for internal linking. Make sure basic navigation takes a visitor to every page.
- 3
Set up a footer with links to your other relevant pages
Link your blog, service area, privacy policy and any other relevant pages from the footer.
- 4
Check for pages that nothing links to
Every page should be reachable by clicking from another page. The exception is a page you do not want to rank or show up, such as a thank-you page, which can carry a noindex tag.
- 5
Add a call to action linking back to your landing page
Go to one of your blog posts, one of your city pages and one of your service pages, and add a call to action that links to your Google Business Profile landing page. Then do the same on your other additional pages.
What is internal linking, and why does it help you rank?
Internal linking is the pages of your website linking to one another. In the local ranking factor study this series works from, it appears twice, at number 18 and number 24: once for internal links to your Google Business Profile landing page, and once for linking across the entire website.
It matters because of how Google reads a site. Google’s bots land on your first page, click over to a second page, then to your service pages, then to your city pages, and back to where they started. Those links are how the bots figure out the structure of your site and judge whether the experience is good for a visitor.
A page that nothing links to breaks that. The only way a person could reach it is by typing in the address, and Google does not like to see that.
What is your Google Business Profile landing page?
It is the page listed as the website on your Google Business Profile. Whatever that link is, that is what Google calls your Google Business Profile landing page, or GBP landing page. It is probably your homepage.
Google wants to see other pages on your site linking back to that page.
What does a good internal link look like?
Take a city page for Newport Beach on a window cleaning company’s site. The page has information about Newport Beach, which tells Google the business serves that area. In the text is a sentence saying that when it comes to home services, Newport Beach residents rely on professional services like the company, and the company name is a link. Click it and you land on the GBP landing page.
The same idea works as a short call to action, such as “professional window cleaning services”, linked straight to the main page.
Which links should you set up first?
Start with the basics, then add links from your deeper pages.
- Header navigation. The navigation links at the top of your site count as internal links. Make sure they take a visitor to all of your pages.
- Footer. Link your blog, service area, privacy policy and any other relevant pages.
- No unlinked pages. Check that every page is linked from somewhere. Skip only the pages you do not want ranking, like a thank-you page, which you can mark with a noindex tag.
- Calls to action on additional pages. Go to one of your blog posts, one of your city pages and one of your service pages. Add a call to action on each that links back to the GBP landing page.
You are likely doing a decent job of this already through your header and footer. The quick win is going through your additional pages and making sure each one links back to the page your Google Business Profile points to.
How To Rank #1 On Google Overnight: the full series
- 1What the Google Map Pack Is and How to Track Your Ranking in It
- 3How to Change Your Google Business Profile Name and Appeal If Google Reverts It
- 4How to Ask Customers for Google Reviews: Ask, Make It Easy, Remind, Automate
- 5How to Fill Out Every Section of Your Google Business Profile
- 6How to Check and Fix the H1 and Heading Tags on Your Website
- 7Link Each Google Business Profile Product to Its Own Service Page
- 8Internal Linking for Local SEO: Link Back to Your GBP Landing Page
- 9Which Citations and Backlinks Help Your Google Business Profile Rank
Common questions
What is internal linking in local SEO?
Internal linking is pages on your own website linking to each other. For local SEO the link that matters most is from your other pages, such as blog posts, city pages and service pages, back to the page listed as the website on your Google Business Profile. Header and footer navigation count as internal links too.
What is a Google Business Profile landing page?
It is the page you have entered as your website on your Google Business Profile. Whatever that link points to is what Google treats as the profile's landing page. For most businesses it is the homepage.
Why does Google care about internal links?
They let Google's bots move from your first page to your service pages, on to your city pages and back again, which shows how the site is structured. They also signal a good user experience, since a page with no links to it can only be reached by typing its address.
How do you add internal links to a city or service page?
Write a call to action on the page and link it to your Google Business Profile landing page. On a city page, for example, a sentence saying that residents rely on professional services like your company can link the company name back to the main page.
Should every page on a website be linked from another page?
Every page you want to rank should be. The exceptions are pages you do not want to come up in search, such as a thank-you page, and those can have a noindex tag instead.
