Anchor Text (also called phrase linking) can significantly improve your web pages relevance in the search engines. Optimized or keyword rich anchor text can help your web site gain positioning in the search engines as well as help drive better targeted search traffic.
What is Anchor Text
Anchor Text is the visible hyperlinked text that you see on the page, here is an example:
To read more about search engine optimization techniques, check out my Search Engine Optimization blog.
Here the words search engine optimization are hyperlinked to the hidden URL of http://seogirl.blogspot.com/. The words, visible, search engine marketing blog is the anchor text.
Anchor text should be used to indicate the subject matter of the page that it links to. If you use the example above, Search Engine Optimization Blog indicates to visitors that they can expect to find information pertaining to search engine optimization if they click on that link.
Why is Anchor Text Important
Anchor text is one of the more important elements in influencing a Web sites position in search engine result pages (SERPS). Your anchor text should include important keywords.
If the anchor text technique is used properly it will enhance the relevance of the targeted page. The page containing the anchor text will also be enhanced to some degree because you will be using relative keywords.
Optimizing Anchor Text of Inbound/External Links
Keywords within the anchor text are equally useful from links pointing to your website from other websites. (Inbound links) If you are working on a link building campaign, it is suggested that you have several title and description options for the link pointing to your website.
If you supply a webmaster with something to copy and paste they are able to set your link up within a few minutes and you get exactly what you want as far as anchor text.
2005 NMS
Nicole St. Martin is a professional search engine optimization consultant currently working in the legal industry.
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If you have questions about whether or not the Over-Optimization Penalty (OOP) exists or not, then you obviously havent pushed the limits enough with your own website optimization or organic SEO efforts to have experienced the joys of running into the OOP (Over-Optimization Penalty).
Im sure youre probably thinking: prove it. If thats what youre thinking, let me tell you about a specific example of what I call the Over-Optimization Penalty, or OOP:
Over-Optimization penalty because of too much anchor text.You decide that your site is not ranking well. So, you change the navigation on your site so that all the home page links say keyword keyword home instead of home. A few days later you lose your rankings, which is a serious blow to your traffic. Since that was the only thing you changed on your site you change those links to your home page back so it says, home instead of keyword keyword home. BINGO! All of your lost rankings and your lost traffic comes back a few days later.
If thats not proof of an over-optimization penalty then I dont know what is--I would call that an OOP: you do something to try to boost your rankings by over optimizing some element of your website, something that backfires and causes a loss of rankings.
I personally can name tons of other examples just like this that prove that theres an OOP.
One more thing--I think that you can over-optimize a web page or site without going as far as actually spamming. In the example above, I truly believe that having too much of the same anchor text isnt spamming, its just over-optimization. Spamming, in my book, would be something like keyword stuffing or something like repeating a keyword over and over again. Over optimization is different than spamming.
White Hat, Gray Hat, and Black HatWhether or not you think the OOP (an over-optimization penalty) exists depends on what type of hat you wear.
If youre a true white hat SEO that wont dare test the limits then youre going to believe that the OOP doesnt exist. After all, youll never experience any over-optimization penalties because you wont dare do anything that would possibly have a negative effect on search engine rankings.
If youre a true grey hat SEO then youve definitely experienced the OOP, just like Ive described in a previous post. For example, youve gone a little too heavy on your anchor text so you have to back off on using your keywords in the anchor text. Or, you realize that your keyword density on a page is too high--OOPS! youve just experienced the over-optimization penalty (OOP).
If youre a true black hat SEO then you definitely know that theres a difference between an over-optimization penalty and being a spammer. If youve never had a site banned in a search engine then youre not a true black hat SEO. And if youve experienced rankings that have suddenly vanished because of too much over-optimization then yes, you probably believe in the OOP, just like I do.
There is a very big difference between over-optimization and spamming. Spamming will get your site banned. Over-optimization will not. The penalty, if you will, is a loss of search engine rankings due to over-optimization. Thus, thats what gray hat and black hat Search Engine Optimization Specialists call the OOP.
Bill Hartzer is a successful writer and search engine marketing expert who has personally created hundreds of websites over the years. Bill created his first website back in 1996 to help promote his former database software business. It was then when he learned about the power of the search engines and web search, which helped potential customers find his business online.
Bill Hartzer has over 15 years of professional writing experience. He has survived stints as a writer for television, as well as a technical writer for several computer software companies in Florida and in Texas. Mr. Hartzer combines his writing and online skills to create compelling and useful websites for corporations worldwide. Mr. Hartzer focuses on the optimization in the business to business arena, but applies these optimization skills to business to consumer websites, as well. He currently is the one of the Administrators at the Search Engine Forums website.