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: February 10, 2025

Feb 10, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Super Bowl LIX Search Ranking Update

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Search AI Organized Local Events

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Local Search Results Pack - Share List Button

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google AdSense

Google AdSense Combines Marketing Email Preferences - Expect More Emails...

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Search Bugs: Google Weird Snippet Spacing & Bing URLs Cut Off

Feb 10, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google's Database Tiers - Searching Deeper