We’ve established how important anchor text is to the search engines for determining keyword ranking. We’ve also discovered that anchor text is actually more important than a site’s url and can be used to gauge your competition. Now we will look at some tips on how to effectively apply anchor text within your website in order to achieve optimum potential.

Tip #1 – The First Link Is Vital

We discovered in the previous post that the search engine spiders only consider the anchor text in the first link of a page when several links lead to a page having the same url. Therefore, you should place your target keyword or keyword phrase in that first link.

Tip #2 – Use Variety When Placing Anchor Text

With the recent changes in Google’s rules concerning smooth flowing content and natural linking, attention should be given to varying your anchor text. You will receive better treatment from Google if it appears that your visitors are making natural link selections. Therefore, use anchor text in a natural manner and don’t use the same text when linking from other properties, articles, or blogs. A good rule of thumb is to use a variety of anchor text with about 50% of them containing your target text.

Tip #3 – Use Relevant Pages When Linking

In order to get the best ranking results, use backlinks containing your anchor text for relevant pages. Not only does this practice keep visitors happy, but it also adds to that natural flow of what people would choose when reading your content and making a detour via your link, something which we’ve establish that Google smiles upon.

Tip #4 – Encourage Natural Linking

Although we can’t control which anchor text backlinks people will use, we can nudge them towards what we want. Besides using explicative, natural flowing text as links to appeal to visitors’ quest for information, you should also utilize within your anchor text the headline when considering your next blog post title as most people will naturally select the headline as a link.

The strategic placement and usage of anchor text within your website will ultimately deliver results by both attracting more visitors and moving you closer to the top in search engine rankings.

UPDATE : Tip #4 has become even more important.  Having natural anchor text like: http://www.officefurniturebiz.com vs Office Chairs as anchor text is very important.