Although anchor text hasn’t been given an extreme amount of attention in SEO circles, it is an important aspect when determining Search Engine Optimization. It is definitely worth taking a[nother] look at as understanding it can elevate page ranking and help to more effectively track competition which is critical for determining which keywords work and which do not.
Understanding Anchor Text
Anchor text is the wording which people see on a website that, when clicked, takes them to another page on your site, or to another relevant web page. These hyperlinks are usually blue, underlined texts which appear within other text on a web page.
An example of html code for anchor text:
<xmp><a href=”http://www.mywebsite.com”>Anchor Text</a></xmp>
Anchor text is used by website owners, writers and bloggers to direct attention to other pages on their own site or others’ sites which have relevant information pertaining to what is being addressed. These links can be for products, services, other posts, news items, etc. Quite often, wording is used in the anchor text to explain what the link is leading to instead of a url so that the natural flow of the writing is maintained. This allows the visitor as well as search engine spiders to easily determine the nature of the page to which the link leads.
Anchor Text and Search Engines
Search engines rely on anchor text to determine the content of the hyperlinked page. Therefore, it is important that target keywords and keyword phrases are utilized in the anchor text as they will work to raise your search engine ranking. And, in actuality, these keywords are often as important as, or more so, than the keywords in the page’s url.
A great deal of importance is placed by search engines on anchor text which is external and links other sites to yours and a lesser amount is placed on links which remain internal to other pages on your website. This is what makes acquiring anchor text backlinks with target keywords and phrases so vital to the growth and flow of traffic to your site.
However, keep in mind that search engines (Google in particular) will only consider the first link of several which incorporate the same url. Therefore, it is extremely important to establish your target anchor text within that first link.
Determining Keyword Competition via Anchor Text
Since anchor text is deemed to be highly important for ranking a keyword by the search engines, it goes without saying that it is powerful analyzing tool for determining competition over any keyword or keyword phrase. Google considers it so vital that they even provide an allinanchor operator for such searches. Simply type into the search box: allinanchor: your selected keyword phrase and you will receive all pages using that particular keyword.
This is an excellent tool which helps you to determine a couple of valuable things. First of all, you are able to tell what pages are optimized for your particular keyword or phrase. This eliminates the need to search for your keyword in other areas of the text.
Secondly, you can view your competitors’ backlinks and determine which ones are using your keyword or phrase in their anchor text as well as the link’s strength. By doing this, you will be able to better determine how big of a contender your competition is as you plan your strategy for top ranking.
By placing more attention on anchor texts and the target keywords used within them when sculpting your website, the easier it will be to achieve higher ranking in the search engines.
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