Anchor Text Experiment

[bigcat1967]

I was glad to see one of my client's sites move up 101 spots today - though, it's still not close to the first page and I know it's going to get tougher since I'm running into legitimate competition.

But how I did it really puzzles me, I guess in a good way. I would leave a few backlinks from relevant forums and then leave regular sig links from SEO forums such as this. I did however create 15 Web 2.0 properties - but - these are not indexed as of yet, so I know that they didn't help.

There is going to be a lot of ppl disagree w/ me about this - but I'm believing now since I'm moving up (so far anyway) is because I kept the anchor text the same. In the past, I would have different variances of my anchor text, but this time, I thought I would try a little experiment - and so far, it is working.

What do you guys think? If you keep your anchor texts the same - will it hurt or help? Seemed like it is helping me - but I might be bragging a little to soon...

[dburk]

Hi bigcat1967,

The only way a backlink helps you rank for a particular keyword is by it's relevance. The primary factor in your backlink's relevance is the anchor text. It's plain logic that consistent use of relevant anchor text is essential for SEO benefit.

The reason you hear people suggest varying your anchor text is to make your links look like natural organic links. I believe the thinking is to avoid detection of spamdexing campaigns. If your links are placed on relevant pages and aren't spammy then there is no need to dilute the value of your backlinks by varying the anchor text.

[Fraggler]

Yeah - your anchor text should be the keyword you are targeting at the moment. Work on one at a time. You only change your anchor text to other keywords that you now want to rank for (after the targeted one is where you want it to be in the SERPs).

One trick that I use is to make sure my targeted initial keyword phrases contains a few other keywords within. I start by backlinking for the 4 word phrase (which is easier to rank for) and backlink until I am happy with the result. I then change the anchor text to the 2 or 3 words phrase until it ranks. I then finish up by hitting the single keyword until it now ranks. Because all of the anchor text is still relevant to each keyword each link helps the other out.

For example: <a href="">where to download blue widgets</a> still helps out trying to rank for "blue widgets" so once you are where you want to be for "where to download blue widgets" you can change your anchor text to "download blue widgets" to now rank for that term. Once done you can go for the high traffic "blue widgets". You now rank for 3 terms where if you only used 1 lot of anchor text you would probably only rank for that keyword.

[shirland]

Originally Posted by Fraggler

Yeah - your anchor text should be the keyword you are targeting at the moment. Work on one at a time. You only change your anchor text to other keywords that you now want to rank for (after the targeted one is where you want it to be in the SERPs).

One trick that I use is to make sure my targeted initial keyword phrases contains a few other keywords within. I start by backlinking for the 4 word phrase (which is easier to rank for) and backlink until I am happy with the result. I then change the anchor text to the 2 or 3 words phrase until it ranks. I then finish up by hitting the single keyword until it now ranks. Because all of the anchor text is still relevant to each keyword each link helps the other out.

For example: <a href="">where to download blue widgets</a> still helps out trying to rank for "blue widgets" so once you are where you want to be for "where to download blue widgets" you can change your anchor text to "download blue widgets" to now rank for that term. Once done you can go for the high traffic "blue widgets". You now rank for 3 terms where if you only used 1 lot of anchor text you would probably only rank for that keyword.

That is a great way to break it down while using your main keyword at each variation. The main thing is making sure your back links leads back to the original article so that the Search Engines would know the originator.

[t-wins]

Originally Posted by dburk

]

The reason you hear people suggest varying your anchor text is to make your links look like natural organic links. I believe the thinking is to avoid detection of spamdexing campaigns.

Agreed. Your site's ranking increase may be temporary. It is a good idea to use various anchor text for SEO. If search engine regard your same anchor texts as spam, your rankings may drop. Use your anchor texts naturally. Remember, SEO is for the long run, not short-term gains.

[Ursa Anzur]

There is no other way than to test this. Keep your anchor text the same throughout the campaign, and see what happens.

I never vary my or my clients' anchor texts for the same page and I have great results every time. Not one website was ever sandboxed or dropped off the rankings before. Instead, we've had some amazing results by keeping the same anchor text - fast and higher rankings.

So, test and do what works for you.

[kkchoon]

I always vary a bit, although most of the time it works when I don't

90% of my keywords is the same, but I also like to rank for the other related keywords, and I still think Google like variation, so I do a bit of related keywords.

[bubaipal]

Well, this is my first post. So, Hi all.

Anyways on the topic. I also do a lot of link buildings and have seen that it is better if you put your efforts on a single keyword. There is no need to use your main keyword 50% or 70% times just for sake of keywords variation. I think its pretty okay to use same keyword 90% of time if your content is optimized for that keyword. I have seen this in my experience. So, I think it works.

[sweetfranky]

Originally Posted by Fraggler

Yeah - your anchor text should be the keyword you are targeting at the moment. Work on one at a time. You only change your anchor text to other keywords that you now want to rank for (after the targeted one is where you want it to be in the SERPs).

One trick that I use is to make sure my targeted initial keyword phrases contains a few other keywords within. I start by backlinking for the 4 word phrase (which is easier to rank for) and backlink until I am happy with the result. I then change the anchor text to the 2 or 3 words phrase until it ranks. I then finish up by hitting the single keyword until it now ranks. Because all of the anchor text is still relevant to each keyword each link helps the other out.

For example: <a href="">where to download blue widgets</a> still helps out trying to rank for "blue widgets" so once you are where you want to be for "where to download blue widgets" you can change your anchor text to "download blue widgets" to now rank for that term. Once done you can go for the high traffic "blue widgets". You now rank for 3 terms where if you only used 1 lot of anchor text you would probably only rank for that keyword.

Haha, I just posted this exact method in another thread... Great minds think alike.

[CliveG]

Have you seen the thread at:

Why Is Anchor Text So Important When..