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Anchor Text over optimization (when is it overdone?)

by kithara
14 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I was wondering now with the latest Google algo update..

i have done exact much anchor text back linking for 1 of my order sites.. for a large volume of my backings and yet after penguin i did not see any negative effects what so ever.. So am guessing i must have not reached the number of back links to signal a red flag to google..

Now am working on another project and am doing some manual links building.. currently the site has very few backlinks .. so my question here is.. do i go for exact mach anchor text for the first back links just to get the site started and then start mixing it up ? or will the update pick up even on my first links and somehow hurt my site ?
#anchor #optimization #overdone #text
  • Profile picture of the author howto
    I think an exact figure is hard to say without conclusive evidence which I have not seen yet. Thinking about the situation in a logical way in terms of what Google want can give you a rough idea.

    Google wants real people making the links so what % of links do you think REAL people would make with the same anchor text? Personally I would say 30 - 40 % tops.


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    • Profile picture of the author kithara
      if you would start back linking now for a new site how would you go about with the anchor texts ?
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    I think a lot of people are worrying a bit too much about anchor text. Just don't go overboard and you should be fine. Lower the % based on the amount of links you have. If you've got 100, you clearly don't want all 100 to be anchor text backlinks. But 200, 300, etc? You'd probably be OK with 100 w/ anchor text.
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    • Profile picture of the author sovereignn
      Originally Posted by JSProjects View Post

      I think a lot of people are worrying a bit too much about anchor text. Just don't go overboard and you should be fine. Lower the % based on the amount of links you have. If you've got 100, you clearly don't want all 100 to be anchor text backlinks. But 200, 300, etc? You'd probably be OK with 100 w/ anchor text.
      Agreed, just don't have tunnel vision with one keyword and you'll do perfectly fine
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  • Profile picture of the author kithara
    i was not talking about 1 keyword.. i was referring to the fact that if all your initial back links are sort of keyword optimied on keywords you want to rank for.

    i see your points there i also agree with that.
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    • Profile picture of the author ilovechinesefood
      Originally Posted by kithara View Post

      i was not talking about 1 keyword.. i was referring to the fact that if all your initial back links are sort of keyword optimied on keywords you want to rank for.

      i see your points there i also agree with that.
      I think you raise a great point that many people overlook. Anchor text variation is huge. You dont want to use all of your keywords too much. That does not look natural at all.

      Instead, try click here, read more, etc. Think of how you would link to a site or article and try to make your links look like that.

      I've started to do that and I am seeing great results.
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  • Profile picture of the author elrae
    i don't think it's an exact number that triggers the "over optimized" switch. i think it's a percentage of your links. you really want to mix it up, get some links with this keyword as anchor text, and some with that keyword, and then have some that are just the url. keep it natural looking
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  • Profile picture of the author dbwebdesignz
    I would say you can't put a figure on it as i could have 100 links all the same anchor which is 100% same. Somone else could have 10,000 /1,000,000 and the % would be completely different.

    I would say around 25%-30% should be fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author RevSEO
    There's no "exact" number.

    My guess is that Google analyzes link graphs per niche/industry and looks at the statistics based on those link graphs. If your competitors have a backlink profile of 30% anchor text links, and your website has 90%, then its clear you've been artificially building links.

    The key's to create a nice natural balance, my recommendation would be keeping it around 40-50% optimized anchor texts. Also keep in mind diversity when it comes to which unoptimized anchor texts you are using AND the URLs in which you are backlinking.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesjaykelly
    I have to go back and dilute after reading all this. I have mainly keywords that relate to my main keyword as the anchor text.
    One other problem that I am having is my backlinks not showing up at all. It has been two months and I cannot find any of them on ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Open Site Explorer, and Market Samurai. I also did the social bookmarking after my backlinks were posted. I know some will just never show up and some take awhile to show up but ALL OF THEM? AND AFTER TWO MONTHS?? Anyone have any tips or ideas why?
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    • Profile picture of the author dbwebdesignz
      Originally Posted by jamesjaykelly View Post

      I have to go back and dilute after reading all this. I have mainly keywords that relate to my main keyword as the anchor text.
      One other problem that I am having is my backlinks not showing up at all. It has been two months and I cannot find any of them on ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Open Site Explorer, and Market Samurai. I also did the social bookmarking after my backlinks were posted. I know some will just never show up and some take awhile to show up but ALL OF THEM? AND AFTER TWO MONTHS?? Anyone have any tips or ideas why?
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  • Profile picture of the author patco
    You should use different anchors when you are getting backlinks. Otherwise, google can "see" your site as an unnatural backlinking process, because it would be suspicious if you use the same anchor text again and again
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  • Profile picture of the author CyborgX
    Anchor text is generally the words that are highlighted in blue, usually, and underscored within a sentence or somewhere on a web page that links to another web page. They can be quite informative for the search engines. They use them to try to figure out what to expect when they do follow and spider over to that new page to see what
    the content is that’s there. One example might be if you talk in a sentence about top content marketing agencies and content marketing is highlighted, that would be the anchor text.
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  • Profile picture of the author evilsaigon
    Vary your anchor text all the time. For instance, if you are targeting "blue wallet", you will want to vary your anchor text like "get a blue wallet", "buy a blue wallet", "blue wallet offers", etc. Of course, make sure the anchor text fits in context.

    It's all about keeping it natural.
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