cross linking

Many Magento stores struggle to rank important product and category pages. One of the common reasons for that is a weak internal linking strategy that keeps products buried in the catalogue. It prevents users from finding relevant content and search engines from properly indexing your store.

Magento cross links fix that by automatically linking relevant keywords to target pages. This strengthens site structure and guides visitors towards the pages that matter most. 

In this guide, you'll learn how Magento 2 cross linking works, why it matters, and how to set up cross links using the Magento 2 SEO Extension.

Cross-linking is the process of adding links to relevant keywords from one page of your website to the other. Cross-linking has immense SEO potential in terms of delivering a better customer experience and better indexing. It helps to build the page authority and allows customers to jump to the relevant content faster.

Magento cross links are a type of internal linking where links are automatically generated based on keywords. They connect products, categories, blog posts, etc. to other important pages on your website. 

Unlike manual linking that needs to be inserted for each page, cross links allow you to link one page across the entire Magento store based on the target keyword.

Once you set a target keyword (anchor text) and a page it should link to, Magento automatically inserts links to all pages where the target keyword appears. 

Cross links can connect products to categories, CMS pages to blog posts, helping people and search engines discover pages more efficiently. 

e.g. a keyword like "Magento SEO best practices" in this block post can automatically link to the other blog posts, distributing SEO value across our blog. 

Internal linking is one of the most important Magento SEO best practices. Proper cross linking helps search engines crawl and index your pages more efficiently while improving the overall authority of your website. 

  • Improve crawlability and indexing — linking less-visible pages from high-traffic ones reduces the risks of orphaned pages and makes sure that all important content is "seen" and recognised.
  • Distribute link equity — internal links pass authority from high-value pages across your entire store. Magento cross links help you direct that authority strategically and boost visibility and ranking for your target keywords.
  • Improve user experience and engagement — cross links make it easier for people to find what they're looking for. Improved navigation reduces bounce rates and boosts conversions.
  • Boost keyword relevance —linking relevant keywords to specific pages reinforces the context and topical authority for each page. This helps search engines understand the site structure and improve your ranking for specific keywords.

Adding cross-links in Magento requires you to use the Magento 2 SEO Extension, like the one from Magefan. The extension automates Magento cross linking and allows you to cover multiple pages in a few clicks.

Step 1: Enable cross linking in Magento

Navigate to Stores > Configuration > Magefan Extensions > SEO > Cross Links, enable cross links and select what to Use Auto Cross Links For. Don't forget to Save the configuration.

Cross Links in Magento 2

To add cross links in Magento, go to Marketing > SEO & Search > Cross Links and press the Add New Cross Link button.

Add Cross Links in Magento 2

Then just fill out the basic Cross Link Information.

  • Enable Keyword — enables the cross-link.
  • Keyword — defines a keyword you want to add a link to across multiple pages.

Note: to apply a link to different keyword variations, you have to create cross link for each of them.

  • URL (either relative or absolute) —  specifies the link you want to set on the target keyword.
  • URL Title — is the title of the URL visible on hover.
  • URL Target — defines whether to open the URL in a new window (New Window) or not (None).
  • Use Nofollow — specifies whether search crawlers should follow your cross link. This sets a nofollow meta robots on your link.

Note: make sure to never link to pages with noindex nofollow tags in Magento.

  • Priority — defines the priority of the keyword if two rules with the same link are applied to the same page. The smaller the number, the higher the priority of the keyword. 

e.g. you have the same Magento cross link created for the Women Jackets and Jackets keywords. Women Jackets keyword has 0 priority and Jackets keyword has 1, but the link can be placed one time within a page (according to other rule settings).

In this case, the link will be created for Women Jackets keyword since the priority number is lower.

New Cross Link

Note: you can assign links to multiple keywords at once by dividing them via |. But use that only in case the keywords you specify here don't appear on the same page or block since you'll get the same links displayed multiple times on the same page.

magento 2 cross links

Step 3: Define display settings

Here, you need to specify which Store View to add the Magento cross link to and set what sections it should be Available for. You can use the settings you've selected in the configuration or select a specific location for the cross-link.

Finally, specify Categories to apply the cross link to. The cross link will be applied to all products within those categories, but only if they are the same as the Categories field on product pages.

e.g. if you select the Women category for the cross link, but a product is assigned to lower-level categories (Tops, Bottom, Jackets, Hoodies, etc.) and not the Women category, the cross link won't be added to that product.

Cross Link Display Setting

Define the time during which the Magento cross link should be available in the Active From/Active To field and select the Occurrence. The latter defines what keywords on the page to apply the link to — first, seconds, third, or randomly — if the same keyword appears multiple times.

Then, set the Number Of Replacements to specify how many cross links to add to the keyword if there are several of them on the page. 

Pro tip: it's not recommended to add the same links multiple times across the page, so it's better to keep the default value (1) here to apply the link just once.

Cross Link in Magento 2

Once you finish, don't forget to check Magento cross links on the frontend. Based on the cross linking settings, you should see a corresponding link applied to the keyword you've set.

Here's the "gear" cross-link we've added in this example. However, there are also "jackets" and "pullover" keywords leading to different pages.

Magento 2 Cross Linking

You can add cross links in Magento to any page of your store and display them on products, categories, Magefan blog posts, CMS blocks, and pages. However, you have to follow the best practices to make the most of it.

Magento Cross Linking Best Practices

Now that you know how easy it is to apply links across the entire store, it's important to avoid the over-optimisation issues. So, here are some of the best practices for a well-optimised Magento cross linking strategy.

Use relevant anchor text

Natural anchor text helps search engines to understand relationships between your pages better. Make sure to always use the anchor text that fits naturally into the content. 

Limit the number of links per page

Too many links on the page dilute link equity. Always set a limit on how many times the same link appears per page, so your content is readable, user- and SEO-friendly.

Prioritise high-value pages

Direct link equity has the biggest SEO and revenue impact. Focus your Magento cross linking strategy on high-converting products, categories and content pages.

Use variations of keywords

Don't use the same anchor text for the same link across the entire website. Use synonyms and create keyword variations to create a more natural linking profile and increase chances of ranking for multiple related queries.

Audit cross link regularly

Products and categories get updated, deleted and disabled. Linking to disabled pages dilutes link equity and makes people land on 404 pages. Make sure to audit and update your cross link regularly and set up custom redirects in Magento to continue passing link juice across your store even if the page disappears.