About Internal linking

Does internal linking penalizas as a crosslinking?

[condemons]

I have a doubt about internal linking.

My site has 3 levels from root. Every html in the site in the disclaimer at the botton of each page links the domain index.

The index does not link directly the third level, but of course it directly links the second (and the second in the disclaimer at the bottom page links the third level but also back again the root)

I understand I should have no problems between link from disclaimer from the third level because this is not a reciprocal linking, BUT from the second level ... Will google consider this reciprocal linking "crosslinking"? Or probably because it happens in the same domain Google wont penalize it?

I´m seriously thinking in removing this 2nd level link to the root. I really dont know if I have been penalized for years in my PR for this reason...

Any ideas?

[annej]

I think it's very natural to link back to the root page from the second level page. In fact every page on the site should link back to the homepage. That's good usability. Don't change that. It's not the same as a link exchange with an outsite site.

[europeforvisitors]

As Annej says, linking to your home page from every other page is perfectly normal. So is linking between major sections.

For example, if you have a site about baked goods with subsections on doughnuts, pies, cakes, and breads, it would be perfectly natural--and sensible--to have links for "Home," "Doughnuts," "Pies," "Cakes," and "Breads" in the navigation bar of every page on your site.

That's what I do (except for my site being about travel, not baked goods), and Google looks kindly on the main pages for all of my major subtopics.

[Ivan_Bajlo]

Unless internal linking means several hundred links on each page I would doubt it. ;-)

[wolfadeus]

I'd stick with a link to the root on every page - for the user, then for the SE. Good luck,

W.

[wmuser]

I think thats fine to link from second level or whatever unless in some cases where you are explicitly spaming

[petra]

The index does not link directly the third level, but of course it directly links the second (and the second in the disclaimer at the bottom page links the third level but also back again the root)

Seems to me like you need to have a sitemap with all your urls and link to it from your home page

[Reid]

A good SEO concept "write your pages for the users not the search engines"
You are confused between internal linking and crosslinking.
Internally every page should have a link to home (and anywhere else that is convenient to the user).
Crosslinking refers to a premeditated attempt to spam search engines by linking two domains in an unnatural fashion. (every page of one domain has a reciprical link to every page in another domain.
Just look at it this way - if it makes sense and is to provide better usability then it is not SPAM.
If it makes no sense and is only there to fool the search engine (and usually detracts from the user-experience) then it is definitely SPAM.

[g1smd]

Make sure that your ink to the root is in the format http://www.domain.com/ and that it does NOT include the index file filename.

Likewise links to any index page in a folder should be in the format http://www.domain.com/the.folder/ and NOT include the index file filename.