Having a healthy library of incoming links is crucial to effective search engine optimization. Google is now changing the way it evaluates incoming links from subdomains, counting them as internal links.

Having a healthy library of incoming links is crucial to effective search engine optimization. Google is now changing the way it evaluates incoming links from subdomains, counting them as internal links.

Previously, only links that began with the business' exact domain name would be classified as internal links. Under the new system, however, even subdomain links will be counted as internal links. For example, if a brand with a blog at news.company.com links to its main site, these will count as internal links as opposed to external links.

Susan Moskway, webmaster trends analyst at Google, explains this is because most people consider subdomains to be a part of the overarching website. “We’ve also extended this idea to include other subdomains, since many people who own a domain also own its subdomains,” she explained on the company blog.

Brands will notice an immediate change when they view their data within Google Webmaster Tools. It's unclear, however, if Google is changing the weight internal links have on a website's search rankings.

According to comScore, Google accounts for an overwhelming majority of queries conducted by Americans. In July alone, Americans conducted more than 11 billion explicit core searches on Google-owned websites.