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11.02.09
Using Anchor Text To Optimize Your Website  By Patrick Hare The proper use of Link Text, also known as "Anchor Text" plays an important role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) whether it is being used on your own site or in the links your site is getting from other places on the Internet. The basic definition of link text is any word or phrase that is hyperlinked to another page on the Internet. As an example, the phrase "SEO company" turns into link text when it is associated with our site by way of a link. Why is your link text important for search engines? Google, Yahoo, and Bing use these texts as a guide for the context of the target page. In the past, people abused this factor through a practice known as "Google Bombing" where the same link text was used repeatedly on different sites to associate it with a term that may not be on the site itself. By the same token, a search for the phrase "click here" usually returns the Adobe Acrobat Reader web page, because millions of sites that hosted PDF documents also included a link that said "click here" in association with the Adobe's free reader. This works despite the fact that the phrase "click here" is nowhere to be found on the destination page. For anyone looking to be successful in SEO, Web.com search agency recommends having a your link destination page that is as relevant to the link text as possible. Most of your link texts reside on your own site, and your choice of keywords in these texts can be critical for good SEO. Basically, you are using your link text to tell the search engines what your pages are all about. The home page is going to be seen as the roadmap for the rest of the site. Therefore, the links to interior pages should have names that clearly define the page topic, and when people/search engines get to those pages, the topics should match up with the content. A proper naming structure for the links on your own site can give you a strong head start with search engines when you are building a new website. If you're overhauling an old site, you should consider the page structure and how items are defined, since "products" is not as good of a definition as the type of products that you have to offer. How can you choose good keywords? If you're going for quantity, the Google Keyword Tool is a good place to find out which phrases get the most searches. If you have been running Google Adwords, you can also check and see which phrases are getting the best conversion rate. If you see topics in the keyword list that aren't represented on your site, you may want to consider adding extra pages, or editing those words into your site content. No matter what keywords you use, you definitely want to make sure that the text of your links matches up with the words on the page. Another important consideration in naming links is the way that interior pages link to each other and the home page. A very common mistake is to link the word "home" to your homepage. A link to the main topic of your site (or the domain name, if you've got a good exact match) can make a big difference. Suddenly, your interior pages are telling the search engines/customers what the homepage is really about, rather than telling them that the page is about "home." Alternatively, if you have a logo that is linked to the homepage on every interior page, make sure the alt text is descriptive of the homepage's top content. Variations in link texts are also important. We have seen several cases where identical link texts from multiple sources have led to lower search engine positions for that phrase. Identical inbound link texts are a classic sign of over-optimization, and search engines are more likely to give fairer treatment to sites that aren't overtly gaming the system. Therefore, adding popular variations into link texts from external sources is recommended, so a link campaign for "dog food" might contain anchors for "small dog food," "dog food with kibbles," "Gravy Train brand dog food," and even "food for dogs" as a way of breaking up the text. More advanced linking campaigns will also throw in several straight links to the domain name (dogfoodexample.com) and a hard URL link like http://www.dogfoodexample.com which will make your linking profile look more natural. You should also make sure that more relevant links go straight to interior pages, so all your links don't just land the user on the homepage. As always, search engines strongly discourage the buying of link popularity, but since it is also possible to acquire links in a White Hat way, you should follow the same guidelines. Link text is not the only part of the SEO equation, but we have seen multiple instances where changes to interior link text have greatly enhanced a site's presence in the search engines. Likewise, the proper use of link texts has even helped established sites gain a better definition in the search engines, even if they already have naturally acquired several thousand other links over time. As a topic in search engine optimization, the proper use of link text can't be underestimated. The smart use of anchor and link texts can create efficiencies that put small businesses on the same playing field as large enterprises. In the arena of first page search results, the dividend created by proper keyword and link text choices can pay off very well indeed. Comments About the Author: Patrick Hare has been managing online and offline marketing projects since 1999. From 2005 to present, he has been with Scottsdale Arizona's Web.com Search Agency (formerly Submitawebsite). Patrick provides Search Engine Optimization and Marketing advice to in-house customers and Web.com Jacksonville's web design group. |
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