Understanding Anchor Text and Using It Maximum for SEO
Getting a higher ranking on the search engines is what every business aims at, but to get that top ranking webmasters have to put in lots of efforts and build the right SEO strategy. Anchor text is an important part of SEO and has a great impact on rankings. Correct usage of it will help you to attain the top rank, but if you use it carelessly, you might lose your organic traffic and even get penalized.
Anchor text can be described as the visible portion of the link that is actually displayed in your browser. It holds great importance for on page and off page optimization. Search engines use the it to determine the relevancy and also the importance of the site. Before the Penguin update, Google used these texts, whether or not the website is relevant, but now it serves as a great means to the search engines to penalize websites for over optimization. When it is about the relationship between the anchor texts and Google, the prime rule is to follow the guidelines.
Here in this piece of writing, let’s discuss how we can optimize our anchor text for better SEO performance:
A clear understanding of the different types will surely help you to optimized them in a better manner.
Exact match: The text is the exact keyword phrase that is chosen to attain a higher ranking for content piece.
Partial match: It contains the keyword phrase that is selected for ranking
Branded: It contains the name of the brand
Generic: It is a general phrase without any targeted keyword
Naked anchor links: They are anchors that link back to the site by using the URL
LSI keywords: The anchor text is the synonym for a target keyword
Keep it real and versatile:
As per Google, each part of the site together with the links and their anchor texts should offer real value to the users. Links should be placed in such a way so that the users can see them and they are informed about something that is relevant and informative. So, you should create them without repetitive keywords and link to high quality and relevant pages.
Don’t over optimize:
Google avoids overly rich anchor texts. Any over used keyword based anchor text is always a big no from Google and it may also result in penalties. Keep it natural and spread it across inbound links in appropriate proportion.
Keep the anchors relevant:
Google always wants to offer the best and relevant information to the users. It tries its best to improve the user experience so non relevant anchors with irrelevant links and content will not be appreciated by the search engine. The more relevant your article is, the better your ranking would be.
Keep a track on your anchor texts:
While building backlinks, it is very important that you keep a track on your anchor texts. Else you may link it to spammy website or use too many keywords and have a negative impact on your profile. It is very important to be organized, so that you don’t over optimize your page with keyword dense anchors. Tracking would help you to follow a systematic process and avoid overusing those that are already used.
Distribute the anchors carefully:
The distribution of your anchor text should be proportionate because over focusing on anything would be bad. Though it is very difficult to say what is best and ideal, but it is important to avoid overstuffing with exact match keywords. You can rely on branded and website name anchor texts. Doing a thorough analysis of your competitors will help you to get a good idea of what they have used to attain a top rank.