SEO is getting tougher with each coming day. It is now mandatory for anyone to have a proper ethical strategy and implementation in order to compete against their competitors when it comes to search engine and online business, in general.
There are tons of techniques when it comes to on-page optimization and out of those the trickiest one is the use of keywords in the anchor link. Although there are tons of blogs talking about it but there are very few posts that talks about how to play safe that never let you highlight in the eye of penguins and pandas by the beloved Google.
Anchor Text and On-Page Optimization:
Any change that has been made on the website (either in the design, code or content) comes under the umbrella of on-page optimization. Anchor text is usually used within the content in order to link to some other pages, either external or internal.
The SEO value of an anchor link is that it passes link juice from that page (domain) to the linked page (domain) and at the same time gives a strong indication about the relevancy of the link to the page.
Although this is a common tactic but there are many people who are
misusing it and this is the reason, I decided to discuss the do’s and don’ts of using anchor text link in detail.
What to consider when using an Anchor Text Link
Here are the following few things that you should keep in mind while adding an anchor text link to any content or website page.
1. Use it within the Content
A common mistake that most people make is by using the anchor text out of the content may be in a form of an advertisement or something similar. This is unethical for user as well as for search engine as it seems a bit oddball.
The idea is to use anchor text within the content so that search engines as well as users can understand and consider it as a part of that content and page.
2. Link to Relevant Sites Only!
This is one of the fundamentals that one should not neglect or else there is a good chance that your website can be penalized and thrown out of Google SERPs. In order to maintain goodwill with Google it is necessary to link to relevant sites only.
For instance if your article or piece of content is about baseball so it is important to have a link related to sports (to be précis: baseball) instead of a link that points to an online dog store.
3. Use Keywords Within the Anchor Text
No rocket science, use keywords within the anchor text and this might help the linked page to rank better in Google. It is also important to understand that Google is smart enough to read and understand the content around the link so if you will try to manipulate Google, this might hurt you instead of helping you in SERPs.
4. Do NOT Use Exact Match Keywords
Google uses different complex mathematical algorithm to analyse the page for any keyword and ranks it accordingly in the SERPs. It has been observed that Google does not really like the exact matched anchor text across different websites so it is important not to use the same anchor text on link across different websites or else you might cross out Google’s defined guidelines and eventually you might face penalties, like panda or penguin.
5. Use Varied Anchor Text
This is a pitfall that many people overlook in the SEO world. We all know that penguin is very much alert and its tightening space for people and businesses that are involved in low quality and spammy SEO tactics.
In order to stay in the good books of Google penguins it is important to use varied anchor text across different websites. It is really important to do that as it gives a signal to Google that your website is getting natural green links instead of a guy adding links to directories and forums.
I believe that link is the life of internet but in order to improve your SEO tactics, stay safe and on top in the SERP listings it is important to consider the do’s and don’ts I have highlighted.
If you have any other point in mind, please feel free to share in the comment section!