Linking Best Practices and Anchor Text
In one of the other discussions, we were discussing anchor text and the best way to link over to someone else's blog. I thought that this was important enough to discuss more in depth.
If I were to say "read another viewpoint here," then search engines place all the importance on the word "here". The anchor text is telling it what the page is about that you are linking to. So the page you are linking to is all about the word "here." Obviously, a word that I don't want to rank high in.
Compare that to "read another book review at the Maw Books Blog." This is saying that the page you are linking to is a book review at the Maw Books Blog. Wouldn't you want to rank higher in that?
If used wisely, anchor text can raise your rankings in search engines. Use anchor text to link out to other blogs, within your own blog, navigation, etc.
For a much better explanation about anchor text read this article about anchor text. Ha, ha. See how I did that? Search engines know now that I'm linking out to a page about anchor text.
When I was poking around Google Webmaster Tools recently for my blog, the word "here" was ranked 25th as the most used anchor text from incoming links out of hundreds of other anchor texts. Obviously, my blog isn't about here. It's a book blog about book reviews, book recommendations, author interviews, etc.
When I first starting blogging, I used the word "here" a lot. I have a lot of blog posts to go back through and fix. I think it would be beneficial for all book bloggers to think again about what words they use as their anchor text when linking to other book blogs. It will improve the search ranking for everybody.
Does this make sense? Read the article and let me know if you have any questions and commit to think twice about the anchor text you use when linking to somebody else.
If I were to say "read another viewpoint here," then search engines place all the importance on the word "here". The anchor text is telling it what the page is about that you are linking to. So the page you are linking to is all about the word "here." Obviously, a word that I don't want to rank high in.
Compare that to "read another book review at the Maw Books Blog." This is saying that the page you are linking to is a book review at the Maw Books Blog. Wouldn't you want to rank higher in that?
If used wisely, anchor text can raise your rankings in search engines. Use anchor text to link out to other blogs, within your own blog, navigation, etc.
For a much better explanation about anchor text read this article about anchor text. Ha, ha. See how I did that? Search engines know now that I'm linking out to a page about anchor text.
When I was poking around Google Webmaster Tools recently for my blog, the word "here" was ranked 25th as the most used anchor text from incoming links out of hundreds of other anchor texts. Obviously, my blog isn't about here. It's a book blog about book reviews, book recommendations, author interviews, etc.
When I first starting blogging, I used the word "here" a lot. I have a lot of blog posts to go back through and fix. I think it would be beneficial for all book bloggers to think again about what words they use as their anchor text when linking to other book blogs. It will improve the search ranking for everybody.
Does this make sense? Read the article and let me know if you have any questions and commit to think twice about the anchor text you use when linking to somebody else.
Views: 123
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on -
This is one of those things I am really trying to do correctly, since I was guilty of using here a lot too.
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Permalink Reply by avisannschild on -
Same here! Thanks for bringing this article to our attention, Natasha!
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Permalink Reply by Britt C. on -
I'm trying to do better at this one. Sometimes it's hard to find a good anchor text that doesn't feel/sound awkward. (It's the CDO, I tell you.)
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Permalink Reply by avisannschild on
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I totally agree, Britt. I've gotten so used to using "here" that I don't know how to put it otherwise. (In the last couple of days, I've found myself using "review here" or something like that instead!)
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Permalink Reply by Maw Books on -
I challenge you to strip yourself of the word "here" completely! We don't even need to use it at all, even tacked onto the end of the sentence. People can see that you have something linked and are internet literate enough to know that it will take them somewhere. Here is redundant. Name the book review, the name of the blog, anything! You can do it!
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Permalink Reply by avisannschild on
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I know, it's a crutch or something! I need to go through all my posts and fix them... At least I've only been blogging for a little more than six months and not years!
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Permalink Reply by avisannschild on
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I have a question about links: I usually link to blogs twice, once to the blog's main page and once to the post in particular. So I wind up saying something like "I was happy to read Lenore’s favourable review of this book at Presenting Lenore" (which I just did today), where the "review" link is to the actual review and the "Presenting Lenore" link takes you to Lenore's site. Does this make sense? Should I not bother with linking to both? It kinda makes sense to me to (a) mention the blog name and (b) link the blog's name to the blog's main page rather than whatever specific post I'm talking about. But then sometimes it feels like I'm including too many links in the same sentence (and I don't like to have two links in a row without unlinked words in between).
I hope this question makes sense to someone! -
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