Quick Anchor Text Question

[That Guy]

Does the exact keyword phrase need to be used in the anchor text? What if the phrase was really close to what the keyword phrase except it's missing a word, has an extra word, or is the plural? Can google recognize any other keyword phrase that might relate to the anchor texted phrase?

For example I'm going for "awesome white hat" but my anchor texts are:

• awesome white hats
• the awesome white hat
• white hat

[RayW]

Originally Posted by That Guy

Does the exact keyword phrase need to be used in the anchor text? What if the phrase was really close to what the keyword phrase except it's missing a word, has an extra word, or is the plural? Can google recognize any other keyword phrase that might relate to the anchor texted phrase?

For example I'm going for "awesome white hat" but my anchor texts are:

• awesome white hats
• the awesome white hat
• white hat

Actually, this is a good thing. If all your anchor texts were "awesome white hat", you'd probably get penalized by google. And yes, google does recognize plural/alternative versions of the keyword, and credits your site for them.

[Valera]

I agree with the response above, it is a good idea to use at least 5-10 different anchor texts when building links, but you can always change the ratio around a little and submit more anchors that you are trying to rank for and use the rest just to add in to the mix and give a little more alternation in your links profile.

[esdavis]

Just as backlinking creates a "backlinking profile", you can also create an "anchor text profile" by mixing up your keyword combinations, adding modifiers like awesome as you did, and rotating through the various combinations in your linking.

Remember that you can also follow this technique with your internal linking.

This kind of anchor text variation looks more natural, and Google also seems to get some "hints" when determining page content and relevancy by looking at the inbound link anchor text.

[John Williamson]

Originally Posted by raxr

Actually, this is a good thing. If all your anchor texts were "awesome white hat", you'd probably get penalized by google. And yes, google does recognize plural/alternative versions of the keyword, and credits your site for them.

This is not a good thing. The days of varying anchor text are gone. Stick with one single keyword phrase that you use as your anchor text. Basically, you want your anchor text to be the exact keyword phrase you want to rank for. This allows for a tightly focused, effective, efficient sniper rifle SEO campaign. And no, you will not "get penalized by Google." You will naturally begin to rank for and get traffic from other closely related phrases.

The more variations you add, the more 'diluted' your links and subsequent "link juice" become.

Originally Posted by Valera

I agree with the response above, it is a good idea to use at least 5-10 different anchor texts when building links, but you can always change the ratio around a little and submit more anchors that you are trying to rank for and use the rest just to add in to the mix and give a little more alternation in your links profile.

It is not a good idea to randomly change your anchor texts just because people say it "looks more natural."

Originally Posted by esdavis

Just as backlinking creates a "backlinking profile", you can also create an "anchor text profile" by mixing up your keyword combinations, adding modifiers like awesome as you did, and rotating through the various combinations in your linking.

Remember that you can also follow this technique with your internal linking.

This kind of anchor text variation looks more natural, and Google also seems to get some "hints" when determining page content and relevancy by looking at the inbound link anchor text.

Google's main "hint" is the anchor text itself, which is why you want it to be, as I said, tightly focused around 1 single phrase.

It used to be the case that the sensible thing to do was throw a few related anchor texts in and switch things up, but not now.

The more variations you add, the harder it becomes to rank for your single targeted phrase, thus requiring more SEO work, which is time, effort, and money that could otherwise be saved or used alternatively.

[YasirYar]

Originally Posted by John Williamson

This is not a good thing. The days of varying anchor text are gone. Stick with one single keyword phrase that you use as your anchor text. Basically, you want your anchor text to be the exact keyword phrase you want to rank for. This allows for a tightly focused, effective, efficient sniper rifle SEO campaign. And no, you will not "get penalized by Google." You will naturally begin to rank for and get traffic from other closely related phrases.

The more variations you add, the more 'diluted' your links and subsequent "link juice" become.



It is not a good idea to randomly change your anchor texts just because people say it "looks more natural."



Google's main "hint" is the anchor text itself, which is why you want it to be, as I said, tightly focused around 1 single phrase.

It used to be the case that the sensible thing to do was throw a few related anchor texts in and switch things up, but not now.

The more variations you add, the harder it becomes to rank for your single targeted phrase, thus requiring more SEO work, which is time, effort, and money that could otherwise be saved or used alternatively.

Just wanted to add that I am actually against "not changing your anchor text".

I have seen a couple of websites go down after the Panda update where the anchor text was heavily concentrated on 1-2 terms. Now, it could also be because those sites were heavily spammed using blog comments and link profiles but I would just want to be a little cautious.

I personally use atleast 3-4 keywords per page just to be safe. If I have a new website, I use more than 5.

But then again, that is just my method and my 2 cents

[Justinpage]

I also suggest you to use single word for your anchor text. I am using this kind of technique and I found it more effective.