Anchor text optimization is vital to successful SEO campaigns. Whether for backlinks or internal links, your anchor text should be chosen wisely so that your site’s link profile stays with the search engines.
Anchor text optimization is essential to your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). But over-optimization or any other “blackhat” tactic can easily result in a Google Penguin penalty, and you don’t want that.
So how exactly can you optimize your anchors for the best SEO results while complying with Google’s rules? How do you make sure your anchor text improves the user experience?
Here’s a quick plan to get you started in four steps.
1. Select relevant anchor words
Search engines use anchor text to understand what a landing page is about. For example, if a page receives several backlinks with the anchor text “CRM software,” it’s safe to assume that the page is talking about CRM software. Google’s algorithms would use this (among other factors) to rank the page for the keyword “CRM software”.
Similarly, readers rely on anchor texts to know what to expect on the landing page. So, based on the example above, when users click on the anchor text “CRM software”, they expect the landing page to be about CRM software.
Therefore, it is essential to choose relevant anchor words based on what the landing page is about. Can you imagine if a user clicked on “CRM software” and ended up on a page talking about weight loss pills? This makes for a terrible user experience.
Keyword-rich anchors also provide search engine crawlers with the correct context for your pages. This ensures that your content ranks for the right keywords.
That said, you shouldn’t be spamming your pages with exact match anchor texts all the time. This would seem unnatural and unrealistic. Instead, you need anchor text type distribution during link building (I’ll talk about different types of anchor text later).
2. Look at the content around the anchor text
In 2019, Google released the BERT update, when the algorithm began using natural language processing (NLP) to understand the context around queries. The update allows the algorithm to understand the context of links based on the words or phrases surrounding them.
Basically, the anchor text may not have a target keyword, but Google can still figure out what the landing page is about based on the phrase or passages the link is placed near.
This means that you can improve the value or power of your anchor texts simply by improving the context around them. This is especially effective when you are not using exact match anchor texts.
For example, “this post” is a random phrase that could mean anything:
Source: HubSpot
However, the phrase is in a passage that makes it clear that the landing page has something to do with a content audit.
It’s not an invitation to spam a passage with your target keyword. You still have to keep an eye on yours keyword density and so write your content naturally.
3. Focus on high image tags
High image tags are more important than most marketers realize. Google developers explain that alt text works as image anchors when you add a link to an image. The alt tag helps Google’s crawlers understand the context around an image.
This means that alt tags are vital for image SEO. Adding relevant keywords to your alt tags helps your images rank for the right search queries.
However, it’s not all about rankings and traffic. High image tags are also critical for a good user experience. They help users with low bandwidth internet and those using screen readers to understand the images.
Writing keyword-rich anchor text is vital, but the top tag field isn’t a place you want to stuff keywords. Of course, you should include target keywords, especially towards the beginning of the alt tags. However, the priority should be to write super descriptive alt tags.
Here are some examples recommended by Google:
Source: Google
“Dalmatian puppy playing fetch” is a great alternative tag because it gives the image the perfect context. We can all tell what the picture is about, even if we haven’t seen it. The alt tag is also about 30 characters long, well within the recommended 125 characters.
4. Distribute anchor text types
Let’s say you’ve written an outstanding blog post titled “The Ultimate Local SEO Guide for 2022.” The post goes viral; many sellers link to it. Would it be realistic if all of these backlinks used the same anchor text from the “local seo guide?” No, it wouldn’t be.
This is why the 2012 Penguin update is unforgiving to sites with unrealistic/unnatural link profiles. In the real world, this blog post would have backlinks with a wide variety of anchor texts. They can range from “local SEO guide” and “local SEO” to random phrases like “this blog post”, “this article”, “click here”, etc.
Therefore, you should never use an anchor text type when developing yours guest posting strategy. Your profile should look natural, meaning you should strategically distribute your anchor text types.
But first, let’s quickly review the common types of anchor text:
Brand anchors use a brand name. For example, “MarketingProfs” would be brand anchor text.
Exact match anchors use the exact target keywords for this page. For example, “anchor text optimization” would be an exact match anchor text for this article.
Partial match anchors use your target keywords along with other words. “Anchor Text Optimization Tips” is a partial match anchor text for this article.
Generic anchors use calls to action and not keywords. You might have something like “click here” or “read more.”
Random anchors they are similar to generic anchors in that they do not use keywords. However, unlike generic anchors, this type of anchor text does not use action words. So the random anchor text could be “a comprehensive review”.
Long tail anchors they are like partial anchors but with more words. For example, you might have something like “see this guide on optimizing anchor text for more information.”
Bare link anchors use bare url. An example would be “www.marketingprofs.com/anchor-text-optimization/”.
Unfortunately, Google’s tightly guarded algorithm makes it difficult to identify the perfect distribution for anchor text types. But there is a way around this. Analyze the anchor texts of the top sites in your niche using tools like Majestic and Ahrefs. Calculate the averages of the different types of anchor text they use. Then use this as a guide when selecting your own anchor texts.
***
Optimizing your anchor text is as delicate as it is essential. Over-optimization carries penalties, while playing it too safe could mean poor rankings and poor user experience. You have to find the perfect balance.
In this article, you have learned how to achieve it. First, choose relevant words for your anchor texts. Second, place your anchor texts in strategic contexts. Next, pay attention to the top tags in the image. And finally, distribute anchor types appropriately.
More resources about Anchor Text
Five SEO Tactics to Optimize Your Internal Link Profile
Why you shouldn’t try to control anchor text when creating links
Five ways to improve content quality signals on landing pages
[ad_2]
Source link
