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When doing a form on unnatural link building, you try to make it look more natural. One way is to make sure to mix up your anchor text. Another way is to make sure the sites your links are on are not linking to you in an unnatural way. Maybe that means sitewide links on some sites, maybe it means the placement of the link and maybe it means the words used in the link.
A WebmasterWorld thread has one link builder asking how important it is to go long with your anchor text. Instead of using the prime keyword in your anchor text, why not extend it?
Rather than using "green widgets" as the anchor I prefer using something like "consumer guide to green widgets" embedded within a sentence. The preference is to gain SERP positions of green widgets.
The link builder asks:
Does the added text dilute the effect on the desired phrase green widgets?
Does it? Even if it does, it might be a good strategy to mix that up a bit? What would you do?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Comments:
Depesh
08/02/2010 02:26 pm
I think mixing it up is crucial. Surely the search engines recognise link building Vs link accrual (that is, placing Vs earning links) where those that are placed would generally be keyword optimised and those that are earned would not be. Another benefit is the long-tail. If you can spread the keywords then in this example you may rank higher than a competitor for 'guide to green widgets'
Michael Martinez
08/02/2010 05:20 pm
The question is a prime example of how people don't know how to test these simple concepts so they just trust to the fates and the collective wisdom of an SEO forum.
Joe Williams
08/02/2010 05:29 pm
As an isolated backlink it may get diluted but when mixed into your overall backlink profile, it's likely to add good value as diversity is key... Yer, I say mix it up!
Will smith
08/02/2010 05:31 pm
nice post. I agree that mixing up the links in text is the best way to get links to your site. Also even in forum posts your signature needs to long and include parts of english language too in the form of a sentence.
Will smith
08/02/2010 05:32 pm
nice post. I agree that mixing up the links in text is the best way to get links to your site. Also even in forum posts your signature needs to long and include parts of english language too in the form of a sentence.
Ruslan
08/02/2010 05:38 pm
you don't have other choice other than to mix anchors nowdays... so what's the point of discussing it...
Joel
08/02/2010 09:39 pm
Link builders often under-estimate the power that lays under the "long tail effect" as Googlers get savvier and search long quires such as "consumer guide to green widgets" rather than just "green widgets" the benefits of adding relative keywords may be very rewarding.
sofia
08/03/2010 12:46 am
Mixing up the link building paradigm for a site keeps the site under the radar....which is important. BTW, there a lot of SEO newbies who come to these forums for opinion and thought so it is better to be clear about the different methods when discussing links or any other topic. Great site!
Noel Proulx
08/03/2010 05:17 am
I would certainly mix up the text, I also personally prefer when I see longer anchor text. I find a link that says "How to repair your Green Widget" over just "Green Widget". It gives me a sense of the content I am heading to. If I am looking to repair my widget the latter link tells me nothing for all I know it is a page about selling you widget.
Ken Sundheim
08/03/2010 10:57 am
Mixing up the anchor text is sometimes all you have left especially when you write a lot of articles. I have roughly 115 published on Ezine and I'm running out of pages. Therefore, I just point them back to old pages, switch up the text and hope for the best. Does anyone know of any other way to do it?
Louise
08/03/2010 11:17 am
I agree with this post, that there needs to be more variety in the anchor text and can't just be on the short tail post popular terms. Nice post, straight to the point. Cheers.
Tom
08/03/2010 11:20 am
I think using longer anchor text and embedding your keyword is quite a smart idea. I mean, I'm sure you could have a few links with just your keyword as the anchor text, and then it'd probably be good to start using a different keyword all together, but if you only want to push one, then creating anchor sentences and embedding your keyword sounds like an ideal strategy to me.
Nick
08/03/2010 11:27 am
The general concensus is that mixing up is good, certainly from a user perspective, but it's also worth short tail anchor from high authority pages. It's "sculpting" in a way even though we're not allowed to use that word anymore!
Ken Sundheim
08/03/2010 11:34 am
When it comes to directory submissions, it is obvious that some directories will let you go to town on the anchor text while others (the more reputable) will limit you to 2 or 3 keywords. The factor I use to gauge the leniency is to go to the business - marketing section and see what those sites are putting forth. If they are 5 words, then the directory is, more likely than not, okay with you doing your thing. Then, there is the obvious tell if they provide deep links for you or have "SEO friendly" right on the homepage.
No Name
10/08/2010 12:24 pm
Mix it up, be creative. Create a varied link profile for the best results.
SEO Professionals
08/25/2011 03:07 am
You can use anchor text in: a. External links - links from the other sites. b. Internal links - links from your page. c. Links on your main page. A very important spot.