The Importance Of Anchor Text
By Graham McKenzie
You must have noticed that several web pages that there are clickable blue words that will take you to another page These are referred to as anchor texts and they can help increase your websites popularity and page rank (PR)
Anchor texts are hyperlinked words used on a webpage that when clicked they take the visitor to another link. Anchor text is often used to give a definition of a word, reveal an image, or even just to redirect the visitor to another page on your site or anywhere on the World Wide Web.
The anchor text lets the search engines know what the page is about. If you use it appropriately you can increase your page rankings within the search engines such as Google.
Some use the words click here as the clickable text but that would only tell the search engines that the page was about click here. The best method is to use is descriptive anchor text to allow the search engines to understand what your web page is about and they can organize it in the right way for searching. Anchor text can throw a site into the top ten search results in Google for using a phrase that is not shown anywhere on the webpage.
Google Bombing had became a popular prank for bloggers. They would use humorous or just random phrases that will get them noticed. If the phrase was good enough it could land them a number one position in Googles search results. If it was a competitive phrase the blogger may have to post continuous blogs to get noticed.
In 2007 Google created a new algorithm which decreased the impact of the pranks and bombs but it still acknowledges anchor texts for search result positioning. If you are using Off Page SEO techniques to obtain link popularity by using partners who are linking back to your site you may want to create a HTML code for them to copy and paste, this way you are given the opportunity to create your own anchor text.
If your website only focuses on one thing you have to be careful not to over optimize that word. If you are only selling umbrellas you do not want to create all the anchor text links to be umbrellas. You could create an unnatural pattern with the search engines.
Anchor text is used in many different ways. You can use it in external links; any links from other sites would be best if optimized with appropriate anchor text to get optimal results. Internal links are the most popular anchor links where you can create clickable text to navigate the website Two of the more important areas for anchor text is in your navigation maps and also the links to your main page.
The anchor text will be read by people as well as the search engines. You want to be sure that it is optimized for the search engines but it should be understandable to those who are looking at it. Remember to be descriptive and never vague, always make the anchor text make sense as to where the reader will be sent to when it is clicked.
About The Author
Graham McKenzie is an internationally recognised Internet Marketing expert who provides world class SEO Services to website owners. For more information visit: http://www.seorankings.co.za
