Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design experts. We work with companies and businesses across Manchester, and the North West, including those in Blackburn and Chorley, to provide stunning web design solutions. This includes practical and visually appealing websites. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about internal links and displaying these as an effective part of web design.
What are internal links?
So first things first, what exactly are internal links. Well, internal link building is all about connecting different pages and sections of your website together. The aim is for your users to be able to navigate between the pages or sections, quickly and easily. In fact, the less time it takes for a user to get where they need, the better their experience with your website will be.
Internal links can be found throughout a website, including:
- the navigation bar
- the footer
- the header
- the sidebar
- call to action buttons
- text based links
Internal links and effective web design
So to make sure your internal linking is perfect, and that your web design still looks stunning, what can you do? Well, here are some top tips for internal links and effective web design:
- Categorize effectively – for your navigation bar, categorizing your pages into distinct areas is a must. These can be a subdivision of parent pages, but should still be in a logical, obvious category. You don’t want your users to be clicking through to numerous different pages because they cant find what they need. In fact, your users will probably just bounce.
- Using effective icons – icons have a key role in internal linking. Just consider the contact details for example. A phone icon can be used to take a consumer using a mobile phone, straight to the phone app in the phone itself, with your number already keyed in. What could be easier? Icons also look effective, especially in small header and footer spaces.
- Limiting available choices – for your navigation bar especially, you don’t just need to categorize, you also need to limit choices. Too many choices will make it difficult for users to find what they need and decide where to go. So keep your navigation bar as uncomplicated as possible.
- Responsive design – make sure your links are fully prepared for use on a mobile device with a small screen. Hover menus and links will not work at all, so these will need to be re-designed for your mobile users. While links that are too small, or buttons that are too big, will not be usable either.
- Using visual buttons – for links to important pages, call to action buttons can be an important addition to your website. These are a bold and visual way to display internal links as part of your web design.
- Using images as links – another option for internal links can be to make images the link. This means that when a user clicks on the link, they will be taken to the right page. This can be useful for pages like product index pages, where the image as well as the text snippet, should be a clickable link to the specific product.
For more information or advice about web design and link building, get in touch with the professionals today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.