Google's Internal Linking Penalty?

Jan 10, 2013 - 8:43 am 35 by

anchor textA WebmasterWorld thread has one webmaster who runs about 150 web sites. Three of those web sites noticed a ranking decline in Google around the same time. He said, the only common factor amongst those three sites and not the other 147 sites were how they used anchor text on the home page to link to the home page.

The webmaster said he believes those sites were penalized because they use generic anchor text on the home page, pointing to the home page, for the site's topic.

The webmaster wrote:

Of the 150 of so i am managing currently, 3 were hit a couple of months ago, and the only thing i can see in common is they all have a home page link on their main keyword to home.

eg

Cats - anchor text to home page.

Window cleaning - anchor text to home page.

Many agree that this can cause the home page to not rank for the keyword being targeted in the anchor text being used internally.

To me, it sounds a bit strange and too simple. But hey, most of the webmasters agree with this.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 15, 2025

Sep 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console Reporting Change Since 100 Results Broke

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Bing Search

Bing Places Update Coming Soon: Navigation, Experience & More

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

PSA: Most Third Party Google Search Tracking Tools Are Broken

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Search Engine Optimization

Structured Data Does Not Help With Visibility In AI Search

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google News

FTC Investigating Google Over Ad Pricing & Terms On Websites

Sep 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Google's Database Tiers - Searching Deeper