Monday, March 5, 2012

Anchor Texts Rule! But How Do We Get Them?

Posted by seo at 6:46 AM
My last few posts have focused on the importance of anchor text when it comes to ranking high on Google and lapping up that lovely traffic. What I haven’t really touched on in any depth is “how to get anchored links”, sure I have briefly mentioned directories and articles etc… But I wanted to dedicate a full post on anchor text.
Many people in their pursuit for the most appropriate anchor text pay for links, it’s a fairly simple affair, your paying you choose the link, easy, done and dusted right? Well firstly paid links are being clamped down on by Google and secondly, at the end of the day as SEO’s this is not what were after. What were looking for is ‘natural links’ , this is what Google tells us will assist in our SEO efforts.
OK…. Moving swiftly on, where do or should I say, how do we get these type of highly optimised links pointing back to our sites? I want to take you through some of the on and off page factors I attempt to utilise in an attempt to create the right links.
On Page Factors

1 – Pick a business name that includes your target keywords. This can be difficult for many companies that are up and running. For instance there is a local business in my area called ‘BUZZ’ they sell beauty and hair products. The majority of links to this company will be anchored with the company name, which is going to provide little assistance in the way of anchor text. In these situations I like to expand the company name for example “Buzz Hair and Beauty Co or Ltd” This will attract links that include the keywords you are looking for.
2 – Focus on your URL. I know this is becoming more and more difficult in ever competitive markets but at least attempt to get some of your major keywords in the domain, if your struggling use the ( – ) symbol as follows;
(www.buzz-hair-and-beauty.com”)
If it just isn’t possible don’t worry about it as there are other effective methods to gain quality anchor links.
3 – Use a highly optimised header and title. Even if you are unable to manipulate the company name a little there is no excuse for getting this wrong. Include your targeted keywords within your title tag. I have a lot of links as “SEO WIZZ” which is great because I am targeting SEO a little, however I also get links using “search engine optimisation”, “google seo“, “google expert” and “seo consultant” all because I optimise my title and header.
Off Page Factors
Off page factors are usually the most useful way of getting those all important back links anchored with your targeted text. This is because you are usually in control of it. However to remain compliant with the major search engines make sure any linking text is a fair insight into your page. I use a different anchor for each page of this site depending on the content, this keeps everything relevant.
1 – The old ones are always the best. Article marketing is the dinosaur of anchored link building but guess what it still works. Want an example? Type “internet marketing for free” into Google. The No.1 site there http://www.askjinger.com/ ranks at the top purely from article marketing and check out the competition 66,500,000, not bad right?
Couple of things to highlight here, only use 2 anchored text and make your main keyword the first one as Google usually only counts one, however this is not set in stone.
2 – Use directories efficiently, there are loads out there and most use the submission title as the anchored text. There is no rule that says this must be your company name so be smart and optimise it. I only really like to submit to directories that are relevant to my niche but there are loads out there. I found 200 directories relating to SEO. All differing in quality but great places to get optimised back links.
3 – Another similar way to get anchored links is through social networking sites. If you have put together some hot content that finds it’s way to the top of Digg, this is going to create a ton of links. When submitting this content there is no rule that says the title has to be the article or post name. Be smart optimise it for that page. This can be a very powerful method if used correctly.
These are some of my favourite ways to generate the right anchor text links without offending the guidelines the major search engines set out.

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