Our thoughts and knowledge on all things Internet

Learn about importance of anchor text when link building

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Anchor text is the visible text in the hyperlinks on your web site. The text usually gives your visitors useful information about the content of the page you're linking to. A poor example is "click here" and "continue reading", these phrase don't tell your visitors anything about the linked page.

So why is the anchor text used so important when link building?

Like your visitors the anchor text tells the search engines what the linked page is about. The search engines use these words as a relevancy factor to rank your web page. So when link building it is important to ensure the text you use matches the keywords you want the page to rank for. Anchor text is that important it's even possible to appear in the top search results for one of your key terms, which isn't anywhere on the page.

Google's search engine scores anchor text quite heavily, so you wouldn't want to rank for "click here" would you? Follow the link and you'll see the corporates don't mind!

Make sure you vary the anchor text otherwise it could be harmful!

Over optimising you anchor text and making them look unnatural could raise a red flag and devalue some of your link popularity. So as a precaution you should vary the anchor used. There is no limit to the number of words you can use for your anchor text just make sure there are relevant and look natural.

For example if you wanted a page rank for 'desktop computers' you would create use:

1. Desktop computers
2. Cheap desktop computers
3. Desktop computer sales
4. Buy personal computers

Don't be afraid to ask for the anchor text you want when link building

Never be afraid to ask for the anchor text you would like sites to use when linking back to you. It is always a good idea to provide them with the HTML code ready to cut and paste into their page.

On a final note, remember humans will be reading your links as well as search engines, so be sure they make sense!

What is link popularity and how to increase it?

Monday, June 12, 2006

Simply link popularity is the total number of web sites that link back to your site.

Why is link popularity important for search engine visibility?

Increasing your link popularity will dramatically increase the traffic to your web site and search engine visibility. Links on relevant web sites with keyword rich anchor text will generate consistent and targeted traffic.

The four major search engines Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask, factor link popularity into their relevancy algorithms. So increasing the number of quality and relevant sites that link to your site will improve your search engine rankings. Be warned all the above search engines count and score these links differently.

Although getting these relevant links is not always an easy exercise, especially for businesses in competitive industries.

How do you increase your web site's link popularity?

In most industries there are non-commercial sites such as news and information portals, trade associations and directories that will offer you links back to your site. You find that getting links on these sites is generally quite easy, although sometimes you'll have to part with some money.

Other common sources of links are, in no particular order:

• Link baiting
  
• Buying text Ad links
• One way links purchases
• Press releases
• Directory submission
• Article writing and submission
• Forums and online communities
• Blogging and comments
• Online advertising
• Link exchange programs
• Offer valuable unique content

Not all the above are highly weighted as quality links by search engines but every quality and relative link helps. We've even noticed the Google Adsense is counted by Yahoo! which always surprises me.