guide will show you how to deep link and why it is important for SEO.

You’re likely familiar with Backlinking if you’ve ever read one of our SEO articles. You can use backlinking to send users as well as link equity towards desired pages of your website. It is the most important tool for organic search marketers. Without it, you would have trouble getting your pages to rank and driving traffic. It would also be impossible to direct users towards the areas of your website where they are most likely to become customers.

We’re going today to concentrate on the last component of backlinking. While deep linking is similar in some ways to backlinking it is fundamentally different in that deep links only link to specific pages within your website or app and never to your homepage.

What does it mean? Why is it important to distinguish between linking to specific pages and link building generally? This post will answer these questions.

This is your guide to deep links.

What is deep link?

You’ll see deep links explained in mobile app contexts when you browse the web. Deep linking is simply the practice that links to specific pages within a mobile app. This is different from a website backlink.

Other places define deep linking as any link that leads to a specific webpage on a website or mobile application. As someone who has done SEO for various businesses over the years, I believe that this inclusive definition will be more beneficial for business owners and marketing professionals to understand. Why? Not everyone has an app. Most marketers have websites and, therefore, backlinks. Sadly, the majority of them don’t do backlinking properly.

We don’t wish to ignore those who are marketers of mobile apps. Therefore, the second part of this article will focus on deep links in the contexts of mobile apps. First, let’s understand and why linking to a particular page on your site might be a great idea. Then, let’s learn how to use to increase site navigation, drive users to conversion, and spread link equity throughout your site.

Want more traffic ideas? Download the guide >> 25 ways to increase traffic to your website

Why deep links are important for your website

Let’s go into more detail about each of the three uses cases I mentioned for deep links.

1. Improve site navigation

The navigation of a site should be well thought out and carefully planned. This will help users find what they are looking for, whether it’s a product page or an educational resource. Take a look at the navigation on wordstream.com.

These deep links allow users to access deeper pages of the WordStream site. You’ll find even more deep linking in Resources. These are to specific content.

You wouldn’t be incorrect if you called them internal links. However, they are -deep because they allow users navigate from the homepage to important pages for education that may not otherwise get noticed if they weren’t prominently placed in the navigation.

2. Convert users by driving them to conversion

Conversion Rate Optimization is our next use case of deep linking. In certain situations, linking to your homepage in your paid search campaigns and email campaigns can be helpful. For example, you might want to link to your homepage if your prospecting campaign is aimed at allowing people to get familiar with your app or website before sending them to the product page. In most cases, the less clicks that a user needs to make to convert, the more likely it is for them to purchase your product or service.

Deep linking is the answer. Take a look at this email campaign by Nokia. The email could have been linked to the homepage or a collection of all their home security products. But by deep linking to product pages, they create an efficient and cohesive user experience that encourages conversion.

This concept applies to all marketing campaign types, including affiliate campaigns and referral campaign. It also applies to guest posts, display campaigns and links on one’s site. You can increase the chances of your customers taking action by being deliberate and direct with the place you send them.

3. Link equity is a great way to promote your website or app.

Number three is my favorite. I am a big proponent of and how it can increase search rankings. Link equity or link juicing is what allows your site to rank on Google, drive visitors and generate revenue for your company. This is how it works in a nutshell.


You can increase the link equity of a page by using anchor texts that are relevant to its target keyword and what people search for.

Deep linking for mobile applications

We’re now going to discuss mobile apps. Why would you deep link your mobile app to your website? Deep linking to your mobile app is for the same reasons as deep linking to your website. You want to improve navigation, encourage users to convert and increase link equity.

When we discuss mobile linking within the context of mobile applications, we are most concerned with the second use case – driving users to conversion.

Take a look at the Apps flyer for a great example.

You’ll have a number of mobile app marketing campaigns running in the ecosystem. You can run campaigns on different platforms with different messaging , targeting various types of customers. Deep linking helps users navigate to the journey within your app. This will nurture them with the right content and experience and encourage them to sign-up.

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Deep linking your mobile app

We’ll look at some of the most common uses for deep links in mobile applications and discuss why they work.

1. Abandoned checkout flow

Consider using an app such as Instacart. Instacart is used by millions of users daily for local food deliveries. How many actually complete the checkout process? A well-timed SMS message combined with a link to the cart can be very useful.

Instacart’s email can be linked directly to the cart of the abandoned cart, resulting in more sales than if the link was to the homepage.

2. User Acquisition

Take this example: You’re marketing an app for personal finance, such as Robinhood. You run a campaign to target prospects who are interested in precious-metal investing. You’re running a Facebook campaign that targets prospects who are interested in precious metal investing.

What do you tell users to do after they have downloaded the app? To the homepage? You can deep link to an assortment of popular precious metal stocks with the coupon already pre-filled into the cart. Or you can go directly to an excellent gold stock. You can then encourage them to not only download the app, but also to invest in it immediately.

3. In-app contextual education

Imagine you are marketing a sports magazine like the Athletic. If you have a great team of writers, and devoted readers, then it’s important to get them to download your mobile app so they can keep up with the latest offers and content.

You need a deep link to the article and a “read for free on our app” call-to-action.

New subscribers can access the article that they read on the web after downloading the Athletic App from the App Store. This user flow allows the Athletic to reduce friction and focus customers on the best part of the publication: producing awesome sports journalism.

When in doubt, dig deep

This is about it. This post has one important takeaway: When in doubt, deep link. Deep linking is a great way to improve navigation, provide accurate contextual content, increase link equity and boost conversions.

The post Deep Linking: Your Easy Guide (and Why it Matters to SEO) first appeared on WordStream.

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