Reading an article online, I was transported back over 10 years when people didn’t really know how to link properly, and it didn’t matter because search optimization was all about keywords (if that).

Today though, search ranking depends a lot on cross-linking properly. Have a look at the snippet below. It’s poor form, but also bad for SEO.

People understand what the link means, and when it’s a different color (like the link to the Wall Street Journal) they get it. Maybe that wasn’t the case back when.

The best practice is to link to a “keyword-filled reference”, not to the word “here” (which search engines can’t rank). So, in this case, I’d link the first “here” to the first paragraph’s (top line) “Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP)”. I’d link the second “here” to the second paragraph’s “column on classroom behavior”.

I’d also try to find Sue’s twitter handle or bio page on the WSJ and link her name to that. For the record, I tried and it’s not obvious if the Sue Shellenbarger on twitter that I found is the WSJ reporter… she has no bio on her Twitter account. That’s a broken best practice as well.