10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Anchor to Naked? What's the Proper Ratio?

by net-biz
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Lately I have been receiving a lot of conflicting advice from some "SEO Gurus" concerning anchor text vs naked URL backlinks. Some have suggested that naked URL backlinks (domainname[dot]com) should equal about 40% of your total backlinks. I'm not quite sure what to believe when designing the proper backlink strategy and thought I'd ask my fellow warriors. With your great experience in SEO, what is working right now? What's the right anchor text vs naked URL backlink ratio for both new and established domains?
#anchor #anchor text #backlinks #naked #naked url #proper #ratio #what’s
  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    How can you possibly keep track? Why would you want to?
    Are you going to put a sign on your site, saying "please
    email me before linking so I know how you are doing it.
    I need to get 40% domain.com."

    Sound silly? So's the "SEO Guru" advice.

    Paul
    Signature

    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5688938].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi net-biz,

      Ignore advice from the Cargo Cult Gurus, they are ignorant to how search engines actually work and they just make up stuff that sounds plausible. There is no such trhing as a "proper ratio" for naked anchor text. It is just made up phoney baloney stuff, the modern day version of snake oil salesmen. :rolleyes:
      Signature

      * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
      *       Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5689262].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I think the proper ratio is approximately 39.7434698745632148795145

    [just playing]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5689348].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jordanberg2311
    Definitely anchor for me
    Signature
    PM Me For Your PPC AdWords Help
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5689387].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Matt281
    Do you guys think it's important to build in some naked backlinks, and vary anchor text considerably (at least before lots of other people are linking to you)?

    Some people think that over-optimizing for anchor text looks too unnatural and could get you penalized, but obviously it couldn't be that strict because then your competitors could just throw 20 perfectly anchored links at you and you'd get sandboxed.

    Thoughts?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5689483].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Brendan Mace
    I'm not going to say that Google will penalize your site for not including naked anchor text. But it DOES look more natural if you include some naked links.

    If there are 10,000 backlinks to your site, and NONE of them are naked links, then that is kind of an eyebrow raiser. I mean, if there are legitimately 10,000 websites linking to your domain, then chances are at least some of that 10,000 would link without anchor text.

    I haven't ever noticed a penalty when linking with only anchor text. But from my experience, Google is responsive to the occasional naked anchor text. I would say it's a good idea to have a small number of naked links. But there's really no reason to stay awake at night about it.
    Signature
    >>> My YouTube Channel - Loads of FREE Videos <<<
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5689669].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ricky Bobby
    Not only do naked links look more natural but, in all likelihood, they will not be devalued during future algorithm updates. At a keynote speech by the big MC over at Google during the last PubCon conference in Las Vegas, he "threatened" that Google may turn down the value of links with exact match keywords.

    So while a diverse link portfolio is always the goal, you really can't go wrong with naked links. Hopefully, you included a top keyword in your domain name so that naked links can also carry value for that keyword. To answer your question directly, there is no magic ratio number. Whatever works works ...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5690534].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author dcristo
      Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby View Post

      Hopefully, you included a top keyword in your domain name so that naked links can also carry value for that keyword.
      Are you suggesting a naked link like keyword1keyword2.com receives anchor text benefit for "keyword1 keyword2" ?
      Signature

      Are you wanting to learn all the poker lingo?

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5690585].message }}

Trending Topics