Keeping Your Anchor Text Natural
The Exact Match Fallacy
For years, the prevailing SEO advice was to build nothing but exact match anchor text links. If you wanted to rank on the phrase “cheap auto insurance” then you just built as many links as you could with that phrase as your anchor text.
These days, the search engines are a lot smarter and too many exact match links will almost certainly put you on the radar. So how do you future proof your anchor text strategy against the next algo update?
Partial or Phrase Matches
If your target term is “cheap auto insurance” then you should look at variations that include parts of your phrase even if these are not necessarily your main target. Some examples would be “cheap insurance” and “auto insurance”. You can also insert other terms and create new partial combinations like “best auto insurance” and “auto insurance deals”. These will still provide value and associate your linked url to relevant anchor text without using the same variation over and over again.
Synonyms
Synonyms are different words with similar or identical meanings and are a great way to expand your anchor text list and still send the right signals to the search engines. Google and Bing continue to improve their detection of synonyms as they relate to anchor text and site content. Using the example from above we can come up with a number of variants: “inexpensive car insurance”, “less expensive automobile insurance”, “low cost insurance for your car”. The list goes on.
Universal Anchors
It is also a good idea to make liberal use of generic or universal anchor text. Anchor text like “click here” or “read more” are much more natural than exact match anchor text. As long at the generic phrases are surrounded by content relevant to the url they are pointing to, they will still send the right signals to the search engines.
The URL link
It may seem contrary to most SEO advice you will read, but yes, using the url of the page as your anchor text is not only fine but should be part of your over all anchor text strategy. Again, surrounding the link with relevant content will insure that the right signals are picked up. This is also a great way to future proof your link against any future algo updates that target anchor text.
Site Names, Company Names
Using your site or company name as your anchor text is natural and also will have the added benefit of aiding in your reputation management efforts as well.
These are just a few methods that you can use to keep your anchor text natural. What techniques are you using to keep your link building natural? What techniques have gotten you in trouble? We would like to know!
- In case you missed last weeks webinar, we will be conducting another this Friday with live Q&A afterwords W00T! http://t.co/y70xLMhn
- New Post - Building a Writing Dream Team http://t.co/xo0Z1ZMk
- Is on-page SEO dead? Or is it just about timing? http://t.co/FtDxDkIF
- New Blog Post - Live Walkthrough Sneak Peek. How BMR works - http://t.co/N0QBULmk
- Have you registered for the Live BMR Walkthrough? There are still slots available but they are going fast http://t.co/Q62hudD5
Reza Farshbaf
February 28, 2012
I was always using Exact Match and Phrase/partial match variations and was aware of the other variations. This makes the links to appear naturally but in the other hand it is very tempting to have only Exact match keyword as your anchor text!
David Giang
March 3, 2012
Will this mean if you build it more natural, that it will work better?
Or is it just to avoid google dance?
Corey Ellis
March 3, 2012
This is information is becoming more and more pertinent as google gets smarter.
I have always used – what I call low grade drips to create backlinks that have generic anchor text (url, company name, click here, etc.)
And base on my small subset of testing – this does positively affect your rankings.
So just wanted to chime in.
Thanks for the post.
jburrow
March 3, 2012
Isn’t that one in the same? If you get hit with an anchor text penalty then it is fair to say your strategy is not working. Keeping a natural looking profile helps to future-proof your links and keep them indexed longer.
click here
March 3, 2012
A little bit ironic that you talked about diversifying your anchor texts and the end paragraph, your anchor text was the exact match..just pulling your leg…
jburrow
March 3, 2012
Do as I say, not as I do!
Brandenn
March 4, 2012
Is it true that the general rule is around 60% exact match and then 40% variations? Or is 50/50 better?
John Wood
March 4, 2012
Great stuff. Anchor text diversity is something I need to work on more with my BMR campaigns in the future to keep the big G guessing.
Matthew Anton
March 4, 2012
Great informative post. Varying is critical. I always use google keyword tool to get related words and mix them for clientss.
BMR is a rock solid service and you guys do a terrific job. Thanks
Matt
Mapper
March 4, 2012
I know BMR is very strict about quality of the posts so I don’t risk it here but;
I deliberately misspell the anchor text in the link occasionally elsewhere.
I presume they would n’t accept that here?
jburrow
March 4, 2012
@Brandenn I have never really thought about ratios but I know there are a lot of opinions as to what works best. Personally, I think that as soon as you start sticking to ratios you are establishing a pattern which could increase your footprint.
jburrow
March 4, 2012
@mapper We actually do accept misspelled anchor text but I am not sure how effective that is with the latest improvements in auto-complete and instant search. It seems that the last 2 years would have made this a waste of time to pursue but I personally have not tested that, so would welcome any opinions on the subject.
Chris Ervin
March 4, 2012
If I may add to this discussion, after many years in enterprise-level SEO as well as being involved with numerous start-up websites (I’ve been involved actually in creating and carrying out the link building for a “cheap car insurance” site–it was very tough getting on the first page, and Panda killed us, but we’re back), anyway, we’ve found that in the last few years since the Google Bomb updates, it’s very important to not only mix up the inlink anchor texts like you mentioned, but also to double-check the on-page keywords and optimization to make sure that you are indeed optimized for the keyword(s) you want to rank for.
It may seem like common sense, but it’s not, because either 1 or 2 things tend to happen with many sites I see where aggressive link building is taking place:
a) The site is over-optimized with on-page keywords… That is, not enough synonyms are used only the exact match keywords are used (including both the title and the page copy) and it doesn’t seem natural and these sites tend to rank 20-30% lower. (This is not proven, but it’s my observation of dozens of sites). Now the other side of the coin…
b)The site is under-optimized (in a good-faith effort to appear natural), but it’s way too cautious and it seems that the SEO in charge of the site is scared to go after the keywords they really want and use them at the beginning of the title, first paragraph of copy etc.
The problem with the first situation is Google is already devaluing these sometimes algorithmically (especially if aggressive exact match link building is taking place), and in the future might raise red flags for other action. Always try to stay under the radar in SEO, and don’t be caught up in over SEOing your site and links. So good post, OP
Now the problem with the second situation is that in efforts to play it safe, you’re actually shooting yourself in the foot and most of your links are being devalued on the basis of the “Google Bomb Algorithm”–Google thinks a 3rd party is trying to get you to rank for a keyword that you didn’t even intend. This is especially dangerous if your site is thin and doesn’t have lots of content. Text-heavy sites are exempt from this since Google is smart enough to figure out what the page is about and therefore any related links you throw at it will be fine.
Hope this helped, just somethings to keep in mind… As much as I hate following Google’s advice (you know the old saying “anything Google tells you to do, do the opposite”, in this case though it’s true… That is, to create websites for users, and not for search engines. Link building is the same advice, and it works. If you’re site is clearly aimed at certain keywords without being forced, do the same with links and do all kind of link building, not just exact match. I’m especially fond of using the page title as the anchor text (the main keywords are mentioned, plus it looks totally natural).
I’m in Europe at the moment and I’ve had a glass of wine and I’m tired so excuse me if I didn’t proofread or if something doesn’t make sense. I just felt like sharing because I like BMR, and the more people on here who create natural-looking links on the same site we’re all on, the better of this service will be in the long term. Cheers
anon
March 4, 2012
Exact anchors have always seemed to work so well for me, other anchors mean investing in links that aren’t going to help much with your ranking?
Have you been able to compare or test multiple sites to see which ones ranks best? (one with almost all exact anchors and one with a much more varied set of anchors)
I can understand, mixing the keywords up in order to protect a ranking but does it increase a ranking better than pure exact anchors?
Steve
March 5, 2012
Very true,
at the start of all projects we order a minimum of 50 BMR posts with just the url as the anchor text. This helps tip the scale in a new sites favour.
Then, around 30% exact match will do and the rest just a complete variety.
Jordan
March 5, 2012
Doesn’t anyone know how many anchor text links do you think I need now that I hear about this update?
Like how many per variation?
jburrow
March 5, 2012
@Chris You definitely bring up some great points. I absolutely agree with you; making sure your link strategy is closely related to your on-page SEO is a necessity. I think a lot of marketers and SEO’s seem to forget or ignore that crucial step. In light of Panda, having quality, optimized content is more important now than ever before.
jburrow
March 5, 2012
@anon, I don’t think it is a matter of exact match anchors not working but a matter of having your site hit with an anchor text penalty by taking it too far. Google is getting much better at looking at the text around a link to establish the intent and this will only improve with future algo updates. I consider universal anchors and variants as the cost of doing business.
Ian Ainslie
March 5, 2012
“The problem with the first situation is Google is already devaluing these sometimes algorithmically (especially if aggressive exact match link building is taking place)”
The question I have with this statement: If I want to get the competition devalued, what’s to stop me from buying some 10,000 link Xrumer blast from Fiverr using only one anchor text?
If Google is actively devaluing sites on that basis, taking out your competition should be simple. Your thoughts?
jburrow
March 5, 2012
@Ian Google is pretty good at distinguishing the differences between negative SEO and regular run of the mill over-optimization. While not impossible, it is improbable that you could do this to any effect in 2012. As early as 2007, Matt Cutts commented on this exact topic.