Anchor text for link building
The ultimate goal of any link building practice is to bring your potential audience from point A to point B through a hyperlink within text. Point A here being the source where the link was spotted and point B is the target destination, such as your website or a social media channel. While link building has been around since the beginning of the Internet itself, with the advance of Google's algorithms back in 2012 it became a real challenge for SEO professionals to use it effectively. The best solution for smart link building that brings natural traffic as well as pleases the all-seeing eye of the famous search engine is choosing the right words for the anchor text.
Anchor text is simply a word or several words inside the writing piece turned into a hyperlink. We come across such anchors daily with countless "click here" and "buy now", but what makes a truly powerful anchor text? Strong word selection.
Anchors can be virtually divided into 5 categories: keyword anchors, brand names, URLs, generic anchors and images. It is commonly believed that there should be an even representation of each kind. However, in reality, the best strategy is to go with what works best for you and seems to agree with your audience. Plus, there is always room for creativity since you can choose to mix and match anchor types as well as play with the wording itself.
For example, as you are building a link to your goal destination from an external source using keyword anchor text, you have an option to match the key exactly or alter it a little to add more information or more character. Like instead of the keyword "link building" you go with "link building techniques" or even "most effective link building techniques". This type of alteration is called partial match anchor text and it is capable of both meeting the SEO parameters and making the whole piece looking more human and audience-oriented. One thing to keep in mind is that the goal here is to keep it short and sweet but at the same time informative and catchy enough for the reader to be tempted to click.
Internal anchors are also very powerful tools that can serve several purposes including the within the navigation, product promotion or contact initiation. The rule of thumb when it comes to internal link building is to not overdo it with the keyword anchors and choose a path of mixing in the branded product names and even the generic "read more". This way the search engine does not interpret the total amount of anchors as spam and therefore allows your stats to go up.
Another crucial factor to keep in mind for both internal and external links is the source page and link relationship. Simply said, the link has to correctly match the overall theme of its location. This concerns both the anchor text word choice and the content of the material linked to it. Of course, this makes the job slightly trickier but it also serves as great assistance in achieving the desired outcome.
Complete the form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss your enquiry.