Best Practices for Anchor Text Optimization

Conducting SEO for any client is ultimately related to getting the most through each link.

Anchor text is a significant element that releases each link's potential - to the amount that Google had to give out its primary Penguin update in 2012, cutting tried-and-true anchor text over-optimization procedures are out of the picture.

From the last 5 years, the best understanding of anchor text optimization has significantly grown.

It is time to discover how anchor text best practices can enable you to obtain the most out of links in 2021.

1.Anchor Text and Google Penguin

The execution of Penguin 1.0 in April 2012 shocked up the SERPs, moving around 3% of all search queries in English, German, Chinese, Arabic, and other trendy languages. Since then, there have been at least five main Google Penguin updates:

· Penguin 1.1 — May 2012

· Penguin 1.2 — October 2012

· Penguin 2.0 — May 2013

· Penguin 2.1 — October 2013

· Penguin 3.0 — October 2014

· Penguin 4.0 — September 2016

As Google releases its Penguin updates occasionally, some SEO experts and marketers take benefit of the gaps, pushing up SERPs with gray-hat anchor text practices (e.g. targeted anchor texts, lower-quality link-building), and then get reprimanded for doing so.

When it concerns the bond between anchor texts and Google Penguin updates, the thumb rule is easy: Read Google’s guidelines and avoid trying to hack the system by using excessively insistent anchor text practices. Sooner or later, Google will come up with the latest update, which will harmfully affect SERPs.

2.Main Anchor Text Categories

 Before giving particular tips on anchor text optimization, let’s review the main categories of anchor text:

· Branded — your brand name with a linked site on it (e.g. Search Engine Watch)

· Naked URL — your site’s URL with the link it is indicating to (e.g. https://www.searchenginewatch.com/)

· Website Name — your site’s URL with the anchor text jotted like “YourWebsite.com” (e.g. searchenginewatch.com)

· Page/Blog Post Title — A link on a page’s title anchor text (e.g. How to future-proof your SEO for 2018)

· Exact-match Keywords — A link on a targeted keyword(e.g. guidelines for entrepreneurs)

· Partial-match Keywords — a targeted keyword with some other text and a link on it (e.g. learner tips for entrepreneurs, tips for entrepreneurs guide)

· LSI Keywords — a keyword anchor text that is related to a targeted keyword (e.g. entrepreneurship tips, business tips for entrepreneurs, startup business accomplishment stories)

· No Text — an image along with a link.

· Generic (e.g. Read more, click this link, check this out)

3.Top Practices for Anchor Text Optimization

Keep it natural… and resourceful

As per Google, each part of any website, containing links and their linked anchor text, needs to give real value to users. Links must be put only where users anticipate seeing them, so they can get well-versed about something important to them.

With Google’s algorithms getting smarter every year, you should avoid numerous recurring and keyword-based anchors in your site’s anchor text cloud. If you fail to do so will result in a penalty.

Avoid over-optimization

Google does not encourage overly rich anchor text. A spam, keyword-based anchor text cloud is a big red sign to Google. It shows blunt manipulation with backlinks, which, results in penalties.

In its place, attempt to keep your anchor text natural by expanding it across your inbound links in the correct proportions. For example, instead of placing “Software development company” in every guest post, try using something like “companies that widen software” or “the most dependable software development firms,” etc.

SEO best practices

4.SEO-friendly anchor text is:

• Succinct

• Relevant to the linked-to page

• Low keyword density (not excessively keyword-heavy)

• Not generic

Always remember that you generally don't have any authority over the anchor text that other sites utilize to link back to your content. Thus, most of these excellent practices will guide how to best utilize anchor text within your website.

Succinct anchor text

While there isn't a particular length limit for anchor text, it's a fine idea to keep your link text as concise as possible. At the end of the day, although, the terms you decide to comprise in your anchor text should believe two major factors:

• What is the most brief, precise way to describe the linked-to page?

• What word or phrase would persuade users to click on a link?

Target page relevance

As search engines have developed, they have started recognizing more metrics for deciding rankings. One metric that stands out from the crowd is link relevancy, or how connected the topic of page A is to page B if one links to the other. A highly appropriate link can advance the probability of both pages A and page B ranking for queries connected to their topic.

Link relevancy is a natural occurrence that occurs when people link out to other content on the web. It is decided by:

• The topic of the source page

• The content of anchor text on that source page

Links that point to content linked to the topic of the source page are likely to send great application signals than links pointing to not related content. For example, a page about the best lattes in Seattle is likely to pass a better significance signal to Google when it links to a coffee shop's website than it is when it connects to a site with images of baby animals.

Search engines pay concentration to the diverse anchor text variations being used to link back to the original article and utilize them as extra indicators of what that article is about - and for which search queries it might be applicable. This, in mixture with natural language processing and additional factors like link source and information hierarchy, make up the lion's share of link relevancy indicators online. To make sure your links send strong relevancy signals, keep your anchor text as eloquent of the target page as possible.

Anchor text keyword density

With the Penguin algorithm update, Google began to look more directly at keywords in anchor text. If too many of a site's inbound links have the same anchor text, it can start to emerge suspiciously and may be a sign that the links weren't obtained logically. In general, it's still the finest practice to get and use keyword- and topic-specific anchor text when probable. However, SEOs may get enhanced results by going for a variety of more natural anchor text phrases rather than a similar keyword each time.

Along those lines, one significant note: Don't exceed it with keyword-heavy internal links. Internal linking is surely a suggested best practice, but be cautious with the anchor text you use to link your pages together. If too many links to a page all use similar anchor text, even if they're on your site, Google might guess spam behavior.