Using Anchor Text

By Author: Carole Wildman
Total Articles: 16
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It is advisable to use keywords in the anchor text. The main advantage of using this is that if many people link to a web page using a set of keywords as anchor text, that page will rank very highly for those keywords. Thus it increases the rank of your page as it helps more people to link to you using those keywords as anchor text. The position of the link is also very important. For more benefit, links should usually be placed at the top left or the bottom right of the web page.

An important point to understand is how to do the Anchor Text Optimisation. This helps in showing the relevancy of your web pages to key search engines to help in ranking for desired keywords. There are two ways of doing it, first is doing it internally and second is doing it externally.

The internal anchor text optimization means optimization within a website i.e., the web pages within a website are linked from one page to another using the related keywords as anchor texts. Now if a web page has a hyperlink to another web page then instead of using generic words as the link text (anchor text). specific and related keywords can be used.

The ...
... external text optimization means optimizing anchor text in the inbound links that a site gets. In this kind of text optimization, inbound links from websites, directories, forums and blogs are made using necessary keywords as anchor texts.

The most important element in an anchor text is the keyword.

Some of the main reasons why is it important to use anchor text are:

When search engine spiders index a site, they look for anchor text.

Since the anchor text is highlighted, it makes it easier for the visitor to see the phrases to click and thus increases the readability of the site.

It enables the reader to go deeper into the site and so is a big help in increasing the interactivity of the site.

The use of relevant keywords in the anchor text makes it easier to establish links.

It helps the reader to focus to a specific topic.

Best Practices for Using Anchor Text

External links: Relevant anchor text should be used by links coming from other URLs. You can mix and match the keyword phrases targeted through anchor links to associate keyword phrases with specific internal pages.

Correct and precise anchor text phrasing. You have to use precise words to describe the contents of the site. No need to add, 'click here' as it is not required and is nondescript. The text should just be a short descriptive phrase. It should be enough to explain to the reader exactly what he is clicking on.

Navigation maps: A great place to put keyword-enriched anchor text is at the bottom of each page of the site. This is also called the navigation map. These links should be correctly phrased, as site visitors and search engine spiders will definitely use these.

Use links wherever required. Links should not be restricted to just the top and bottom but they should be found throughout the entire page wherever required.

Broad anchor text phrasing: you must use a broad topic for an anchor text link when you link the page to covers a broad topic. For example the anchor text 'online jobs' should be used in the website that links to a page with information about various jobs available online.
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