Why does Google reward exact anchor text so much (with a penalty) ;)

by Banned 22 replies
27
It's insane, Google penalizes us for using exact anchor text and at the same time it still hugely effective.

Tiny test case:

- We place 20 high PR blog posts only using branded and url anchors, result: main keyword isn't moving a single spot

- 1.5 month later we place 10 high PR blog posts using the exact money anchor, result: the keyword moves from #6 to #1 within about 2 weeks.


Second test case:

- again 20 high PR post with branded/url anchors and keyword stays stuck at #9

- 1.5 month later, 10 high PR blog post with one exact money anchor again and poof, within 4 weeks the keyword ranks at #3
#search engine optimization #anchor #exact #google #penalty #reward #text
  • Because the people who say you get penalized for exact match anchor text alone are largely morons. You don't even have to test it. Just do some research and look at sites already ranking. You will find plenty ranking just fine with barely any anchor variation.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Google said nothing about anchor text, except for one small item:
      Forum sig links. Go figure.

      Oh, and one other little item: Putting your keyword(s) as your username
      when blog commenting...

      Both of those are tip offs to spam. It's not about "varying anchor text"
      or "short anchor text."

      It's about spam. Period. Spam.

      People need to stop looking under the same rocks. People try and
      fool google and only fool themselves. They heard a guy who knew
      a guy who read a guy who lives in his mom's basement. And they all
      lived happily ever after with a penguin, panda, and a camel.

      Paul
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
    • Banned
      How about you show me some sites that have 100's of links and only a dozen different anchors while one of them (the main keyword) is used let's say more then 30% of the time.

      I see plenty of sites ranking that have 30% the same anchor but they also have 50+ different anchors in total, that's not "barely" any anchor variation.
  • Report back after penguin iteration. However, 10 posts probably won't get flagged. Especially on a site with a decent profile
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Both sites had a decent link profile already yes so 10 links with the same anchor wasn't very risky.

      I was just heavily surprised that the rankings didn't improve at all when just using url/branded anchors.
  • Hy

    I think the first experience was very useful on you case bescause you have already created 20 Unrelated anchor links and that's give you natural backlinks on google eyes ... and after a enough time you add the Exact Anchor Keys .... I Mean your first 20 Links are the key on your case !!
    your methode is a long term strategie to stay for a long time on the first page .

    ( excuse my poor english, i am not a native spaker )
  • Banned
    Maybe some of your links suck as far as relevancy to the money page?

    A backlink from a site/page focused on the same niche as the money page on another domain is stronger than a one hit wonder single web page on a completely random domain/niche.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Niko,

    They're out there. Look harder.

    You're test kind of stinks anyhow. It's 30 links. If Google was going to penalize sites for not having anchor text variety, I'm sure they would ignore it if a page only has 30 links. It's too small of a sample size for them to determine if someone really is trying to manipulate something.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Who said that I was trying to rank a brand new page with just 30 links, nice assumption you make there.

      If there were plenty of them out there you would have posted a few examples right away so don't come up with that nonsense.

      Everyone knows how important anchor diversity is these days and you remain stubborn, while in this very post you are admitting that anchor diversity matters by saying "I'm sure they would ignore it if a page only has 30 links" lol, what is there to ignore if it doesn't exist?
      • [1] reply
  • Doesn't have to be exact to get the keywords in and still be effective. 10% exact (strongest links), 20% exact variations, 20% post title, 20% synonym variations and the rest anchor text from incoming search terms. It ain't rocket science.
  • When blog commenting it's all about what looks "natural" - Google likes to see many varying links using relevant keywords or similar phrases - so if you use varying phrases that include exact and phrase text within the anchor text you'll be fine. The problem is when you use ONLY those keyword in the text. I do lots of blog commenting (for clients and my own sites), to ensure a wide variation of incoming anchor text links I write down a series of relevant phrases that include the keywords you want to rank for.

    It is also true if you use keywords on the name you can be penalised. If you were wanting to use the keywords "skin care recipes" You could use text like Mia Gordon Skin Care Recipes Author but thats about as close as you can get. The density of keywords to name is on the high side in this example.

    Hope that helps.
  • this was just a poor example... Only ten blog post is not enough to prove anything.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      yeah you're right :rolleyes:

      now go read all posts again
  • There's a difference between using 20 keyword exact anchor text links and 1000 such links. And, Google frowns on anything done to spam proportions. Just do this type of backlinking in moderation from the highest quality sites (as you have) and you should be fine.
  • I've recently found out the hard way that if your competitor reports you (it's happening in every niche I know) you'll get a manual spam action and you could have been as careful as you liked with the backlinks but you'll still get wasted. Percentages and anchor text don't even come into it. I think the big G has invested in a lot more "feet on the ground" than people give them credit (or creedence) for. Believe!
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