Anchor Text Buoys your Blog

Links, Back Links, Link, Link, Link! Even people who know very little about Search Engine Optimization know that linking is one of the most important parts of getting ranked.  The more sites linking to you, the higher you will rank.  It was this concept that propelled Google to superstar status.  If people link to you, you must be providing value that others need and so your site, like cream, rises to the top of Search Engine results.

But guess what?  Linking isn’t enough!  Okay, Okay!  It’s true I’ll never turn down a link but good anchor text is what really makes me smile!  Anchor text is the hyper-linked words on a web page.  It’s the words you click,when you click on a link.

Those couple words mean the world to a search engine.  You see, search engines use that anchor text in their ranking algorithms. The anchor text tells the search engine what your page is about and your ranking will increase for those words.

A highly respected blogger has written a post all about your Guitar School’s Website.  The blogger gives you a chance to choose how you want to be linked.  Here are your choices:

A.  To learn more about John Smith and his Guitar School, CLICK HERE.

B.  John Smith’s Guitar School specializes in acoustic guitar lessons.

C.  John Smith’s Guitar School specializes in acoustic guitar lessons.

If you chose A, you just increased your ranking for CLICK HERE, that’s not going to help your guitar business! Choice B isn’t much better because although there are keywords in the sentence, they aren’t hyper-linked. If you chose C, you made a very wise decision.  The search engine will see not only Guitar School but also acoustic guitar lessons! Congratulations, you have just improved your ranking for those keywords!

So how can you control how people link to you?  It’s pretty simple, provide them with the HTML code so all they need to do is cut and paste into their page!  This is the best way for you to choose the anchor text. Otherwise, you may find yourself ranking for CLICK HERE!

Donna Serdula is the owner of DonnaTechDesigns: Spinning you a Home on the Web. As a Bucks County Social Media consulting firm, they are dedicated to assisting businesses’ establish and optimize their presence on the Internet through the use of affordable web technologies. Donna also specializes in creative web design in Bucks County and Blog Marketing Solutions.