Internal Linking - Do Main Menu Links Count?

[Beris]

Double checking my thinking: If Page A and Page B are both pages in the main nav menu (thus already internally linked), an additional text link to Page B from Page A would add no extra "juice" value - right?

What about the value of the text anchor text? Or the value of sending readers to a page they may like?

 

[JoyHawkins]

I have found that Google often ignores links in the menu so I'd suggest linking to valuable content (content you want ranked) in the main body text on the page.

 

[Beris]

That was my gut feeling, but I've never seen it directly stated anywhere. Thank you.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Beris, they count in at least one sense, which is that Google Search Console shows nav links (under "Links" -> "Internal Links"), so clearly Google knows about them.

But I second Joy's advice: if you want Google to pay special attention to a page, you'll need also to weave in some contextual, in-line links to it (perhaps footer links, too). Creating several trails of breadcrumbs is the best way to get the right people to see the right page(s). Google knows that, and I suspect that's why - in my experience - laying down plenty of internal links seems to help rankings. (Especially if you're solid on the other areas, particularly inbound links.)

 

[CallumS]

Generally links in menu's do not work as well - for good internal linking I would suggest using links in the body paragraph, keyword anchored, surrounded by relevant text - there have been some suggestions that G is better at understanding the context of links now, including internal links.

 

[Martinus33]

Menu links should be readable and recognizable for Google (not hidden, no graphics). I'm pretty sure that Google will then count them, but it is probably not a big ranking factor.

Some months ago I asked John Müller on a webmaster hangout about two internal links on one page, both pointing to the same page. Often the first one is a menu link and the second a contextual one --> will the second one count or only the first one? In the past some SEOs stated only the first one counts, due to some tests.

His answer: They can both count and it is a good idea to use both places to insert internal links naturally. The question was, if the second counts additionally, but the first menu link always counts.

Why should Google ignore a menu link? I don't know any good reason for this. Why should Google recommend to take care of readable HTML menu links on many occasions if they don't count?