Exact match anchor text is negative signal?
-
Hi all,
I am wondering if the exact match anchor text is 100% negative signal after the penguin. I mean even from relevant sites and natural use.
During the last 2 weeks I see negative SERP changes and I start to think that it is because exact match keyword anchor text is used. I also use some other anchor texts along with it all the time.. but now I think of using 100% exact match anchor free links.
Does anybody have similar observations?
Thank you in advance.
-
It's a balancing act. Google is looking for natural links, not paid or self directed. So percentages are good but you should also randamize your anchor text. If you develop a pattern, eventually the algo can determine that it is un natural. I would identify your most important keywords, maybe 5 and then mix in your brand name and the standard Click Here. Rotate them in a random way and you should be ok. Note your Brand should be the anchor text most often used. I hope this helps and good luck.
-
It depends how many exact match achors you have out there, from what sites and how relevent it is to your domain/title and content.
If your site is joeblow.com and it's content is about horse racing but you have 100 achors for "best horse racing tips" becuause that's what you want to rank for it is indicitive to google those links may not be natural and if deemed so you may lose some of the ranking juice from those links.
Devaluation of links has been a huge going on lately in the google backyard. Especially since Mr penguin migrated from the icy slopes.
-
Good point Russ, I guess the days of being able to analyze your links from a purely % point of view are numbered, if not, over.
-
I concur mostly with what Greg said, but I must add that it is no longer simply about %. Keeping a safe anchor text threshold has been a staple of quality SEO firms for the last 5 years. Instead, what is more likely going on, is that particular links get flagged based on some metric which, in turn, triggers some sort of deeper review (perhaps getting lumped into the next Penguin analysis).
Thus, it is not solely in your best interest to maintain a safe percentage, it is even more important to ensure that none of the links you acquire or have acquired in the past might be one of those triggers. This means avoiding any known networks, only doing in-content links, etc.
-
Hi Vasil,
I don't think having exact match anchor text is a negative signal in itself, as there are some sites and brands built on the back of an exact match domain name. It's more about the %'s involved, if you've focused on exact match anchor text too much over more branded terms, and more natural looking anchor text (eg. www.brandname.com, brandname.com, click here, brand name product, product name, etc.) then you may have suffered with the latest updates.
Here's some links for SEOMoz blog posts that might be of interest to you on this topic;
May 2nd, 2012 - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/penguins-pandas-and-panic-at-the-zoo
Jan 5th, 2012 - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/all-about-anchor-text-whiteboard-friday
Sep 8th, 2011 - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/beyond-exact-match-anchor-text-to-next-generation-link-signals-whiteboard-fridayHope that helps.
Greg
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Examination of Anchor Text Ratios for SEO
A new article on Search Engine Journal asks even though anchor Text Ratios are considered important by many SEOs for ranking in Google, are they really something to worry about?
Link Building | | mary314 -
Anchor text or inbound link keyword limits
With google's new algorithm, websites can get punished for keyword stuffing or too many of certain back links...so my question is, is there a limit on the keyword/anchortext used for a website containing a keyword you want the website to rank with?
Link Building | | SeobyKP0 -
Having some problems with understanding how to properly use anchor text for my keywords' better rankings. Please help!
Hello, Last week I did some work on my website's inner pages linking and some of my highly ranking keywords fell down as a result. I guess I did something wrong, please help me figure out what exactly was wrong! Here is the example of what I did. I put a link to the page that ranks for 'Thermador repair Brentwood' here: http://www.ifixappliancesla.com/blog/2016/09/12/appliance-repair-brentwood/ I put exactly same anchor text, 'Thermador repair Brentwood'. For my blog posts, I use Yoast plugin, so when adding the link, I received the message "You are linking to another page with the focus word you want this page rank for. Consider changing that if you truly want this page to rank." While this one's ranking, 'Thermador repair Brentwood', didn't fall down, others did. Could you please confirm if my understanding is right and I'd better not use the same keywords on two or more pages? If yes, what is the best practice for linking to the pages that are not in the main menu? Let's say, I decided to do blog posts for the areas my appliance repair company serves and to optimize those pages for respective keywords. So, I have pages like "Appliance Repair Service in Brentwood" (which is optimized for "appliance repair brentwood" keyword), "Appliance Repair Service in Beverly Hills" ("appliance repair beverly hills" keyword), etc. I thought that the best way to link to them is to put the same anchor texts: "appliance repair beverly hills", etc. But it looks like the best way would be to use the anchor texts like "Beverly Hills", "appliance servicemen in Beverly Hills". Please tell me if I am right? Any explanation, advise or referral would be much appreciated! Thank you!
Link Building | | kirupa0 -
Who can advise in real-time delay until rich text snippets first appear?
Community, Has anyone here implemented rich snippets for clients/own properties and can advise how long it took for them to appear in Google Thanks
Link Building | | tomypro0 -
Does focussing deep linking too much on one page have a negative impact elsewhere?
Hi, I'm just starting a backlinking campaign on a new website and am focussing on one deep page for client - focussing a lot of good quality backlinks on that one page. I'm aware that most of the other pages, including homepage, lack good backlinks. Can I go ahead and focus powerful backlinks on that one 'deep' page without a problem, or may that approach result in negative impacts on other pages' SERPs.
Link Building | | McTaggart0 -
Longer Tail Keyword for URL and Anchor text
Hello If I am trying to rank for the term blue widgets as a primary, and also the term shiny blue widgets , and big shiny blue widgets as secondary - would the url /blue-widgets or /shiny-blue-widgets or /big-shiny-blue-widgets be better (all else equal) Would the word shiny / big dilute or affect of KW in the domain for the rankings for blue widgets (all esle equal) Regarding anchor text of inbound links, if the anchor text is shiny blue widgets, is that going to help me rank for both queries "blue widgets" and "shiny blue widgets" equally? (all else equal), or would including shiny, affect my ranking for "bliue widgets" Or is it better to keep the anchor text as just blue widgets (of course we could vary it) but Im trying to get a feel for how that would work as we are builfing some links I can control the anchor text. I hope this was clear enough Thanks Sam
Link Building | | Impact-2015550 -
Natural Link Profile - Ranking Signal?
Hi, Is a natural link profile a ranking signal? What is the value in a natural link profile? What is a (natural?) link graph? Is Majestic SEO the only company capable of visualizing a link graph? (I know the answers to these questions but I want to hear what SEOMoz has to say in the quasi-official standards of SEOMoz Q/A) Regards,
Link Building | | qlkasdjfw0