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Text links vs. URLs

by CatherineMay
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I know I'm revealing my total lack of internet sophistication by this question, but here goes:

Why are text links in a piece of writing preferable to a regular link beginning with http:......?

Is is just because it makes the writing flow better, or is there some kind of technical reason? Does it make any difference to Google in terms of spidering the link? (I don't even know if I'm using the word "spidering" correctly, but you know what I mean.)

This issue has come up for me because I just wrote a article for ezine and had a text link in the resource box. But my text link had too many words in it to suit them (the url of the site if kind of long), so I had to use the URL instead.

This got me to thinking about this and wondering what's the real difference, anyway.

Anyone?
#links #text #urls
  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Anchor text is the secret to search engine optimization. It's all about the text link. Don't believe me? Do a google search for "click here".
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Ferraro
    It's an important way of letting Google and all the other search engines know what that specific page is about. If you have a site about red widgets, Google can probably tell by the content on the page that the site is about red widgets.

    But when you use the anchor text "red widgets" with a link to that particular page, it confirms what the page is about, so it leaves no doubt. Basically it's staple of off-page SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author KathleenHobbins
    Your anchor text should be a carefully chosen keyword phrase. You optimize the article for that keyword and you optimize your site, or a page on your site, for that keyword. Then you link that anchor text back to your site, which gives the search engines the information that your site is the place to go if you are searching that keyword.

    The link makes a connection between the keyword phrase and your site. The search engines follow the link. Not using anchor text makes the link back to your site less closely attached to that particular keyword phrase.

    And, by the way, the reason that this forum is here is so that people can ask unsophisticated questions and get answers that make them more sophisticated. So don't apologize for asking.
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    • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
      Originally Posted by KathleenHobbins View Post

      Your anchor text should be a carefully chosen keyword phrase. You optimize the article for that keyword and you optimize your site, or a page on your site, for that keyword. Then you link that anchor text back to your site, which gives the search engines the information that your site is the place to go if you are searching that keyword.

      The link makes a connection between the keyword phrase and your site. The search engines follow the link. Not using anchor text makes the link back to your site less closely attached to that particular keyword phrase.

      And, by the way, the reason that this forum is here is so that people can ask unsophisticated questions and get answers that make them more sophisticated. So don't apologize for asking.

      So, what you're saying here is that by just using a URL instead of a text link, you are not harnessing the power of your keyword.

      But if your URL also contains the keyword or keyword phrase, then does it make a difference which one you use?
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      • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Ferraro
        Originally Posted by CatherineMay View Post

        So, what you're saying here is that by just using a URL instead of a text link, you are not harnessing the power of your keyword.

        But if your URL also contains the keyword or keyword phrase, then does it make a difference which one you use?

        Well.... a backlink is backlink, so that's good. But, yes! you are definitely not getting the full power of that link just by putting your URL. It doesn't really matter what your domain name is (as far as backlinking is concerned).

        Think about it. Let's say you owned Digg. If you just just had the URL of Digg as a link, how would Google know what that's about? But if you had the link with the anchor text "social bookmark site", it lets Google know what the site is about, and it would start to rank better for it.
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        • Profile picture of the author CatherineMay
          Okay, I get the picture now.

          Thanks for all replies.


          Catherine
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          • Profile picture of the author homenotion
            Text links help you rank well for your chosen keyword phrase. If you have a dog training website and want to rank well in the search engines for 'dog training' you would use 'dog training' as your anchor text.

            However beware of over using the same keyword anchor text. You should have 2 or 3 key phrases you want to rank well for and use all of them as text links. For example:

            dog obedience training
            dog behavior training
            train your dog
            etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author euhlir
    The spiders see that link and then connect it with meaning your site should be associated with your text link. If enough sites link to your page with that text then search engines will rank you higher thinking that your site must be the best match for that phrase.
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