Internal Links - Anchor Text - Strategy

[Prime85]

Good Morning...

I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on an internal linking strategy for an e commerce website.

I was thinking about adding a link to all of the subcategory pages that says:

"View All : main keyword" and having my main keyword hyperlinked back to the home page.

This would provide users who have gotten to a subcategory page that may not be exactly what they are looking for simply click that link and go back to the home page to select a different category....

Would having an internal link with the same anchor text on roughly 30 pages hurt my rankings?  Wouldn't that help users navigate through my site?

As always, any thoughts/advice or strategy tips are appreciated.

Thanks

[KarlBantleman]

you need to be careful about the number of onpage links you have. I take it you have your categories or products in a drop down (or some sort of menu) in the top navigation?

I'd recommend using breadcrumb navigation so that if users get to a certain level and decide they need to go back, then they can using the breadcrumb navigation. Your SEO and link building efforts will help you drive people to the right pages so just concentrate on making the user experience as easy as possible.

I would use an internal linking strategy through the content on the page though, especially if the categories/products are similar. Or maybe a "you may also like" section.

[Prime85]

Thanks Karl...

I don't think i have too many on-page links (roughly 50 internal per sub-category -product listing page).  About 20 of the 50 on page links are to specific models (sizes).  Each one of these pages has text explaining about the products they would find below.  I was thinking of using the last bullet point on these pages to say something like:

"Not what you're looking for, view all: anchor text"

Do you think that is (A) helpful for the user and (B) helpful or detrimental to my rankings

Please keep in mind that many of the people that visit my site are not computer experts (or even anything remotely close to one) and have no idea what "breadcrumbs" are or that they can even click them to go back a level.

Thanks

[KarlBantleman]

I can't see it being detrimental to your rankings and I would say that as long as the list isn't too long then it'd be a helpful thing to have, if, as you say, your users aren't the most techy people!

[Prime85]

Thanks again, Karl...

Anyone else have any feedback regarding internal links and anchor texts?

[AlanMosley]

I cant see a problem here, but reading this page may be a help to sorry gave wrong link

http://thatsit.com.au/seo/tutorials/a-simple-explanation-of-pagerank

[CraigBradford]

Hi Prime,

I don't see there being a problem with this at all, as you said it's helpful for users, however, make sure that it makes sense from a grammar point of view as well, for example, "see all TV's" makes sense, but "see all car insurance" does not. Don't try to shoehorn a keyword in just for the sake of it.

I agree with Karl that breadcrumbs are a good idea both from an SEO point of view and a user point of view.

I hope this helps.

[AlanMosley]

Sorry gave wrong link

http://thatsit.com.au/seo/tutorials/a-simple-explanation-of-pagerank