Internal and external linking is an important part of effective SEO. It also means that you need to master the art of using anchor text for your advantage.
The importance of correct anchor text use is constantly increasing and it is time to start looking closely at the way you use anchor texts on your website.To help you use anchor text successfully here are five clever tips to take on board.
1. Understand Keywords
The most basic thing to know about anchor text is that it should really be all about the keyword you want to highlight. So getting some basic understanding of what keywords are is highly critical in order to succeed.
What anchor text as a keyword really means is that you should move away from anchor texts like “click here” and “this link”. If you want to direct the reader to somewhere else then use descriptive anchor texts like “best summer shoes” and “young person’s car insurance”.
2. Avoid The Homepage
It is also much better SEO to use the anchor text to locate the reader to somewhere else rather then the homepage. If you just keep directing the person onto your homepage the reader isn’t really going to benefit from it and the search engines can even penalise you.
So always think about a different site to transfer the reader to. Naturally, since your link should provide them with more detailed information on the subject you are talking about it should go somewhere on the site that deals with this dilemma further.
3. Don’t Spam The Anchor Text
You also should try to avoid using the exact same anchor text and link within your content. Search engines like Google penalise against this and therefore being original with your anchor text is highly recommended.
It doesn’t mean that the anchor text needs to be completely different. Just change a few words from here and there and you are good to go. Make sure you also keep linking to multiple different locations on your website and not just that one page.
4. Long-Tail Link Building
You shouldn’t be afraid of using long-tail anchor text on your content. Although it is a good idea to have a mixture of both you can really boost your SEO with long-tail links.
There is a good article for creating effective long-tail links at the Explicitly.me website. Give the article a thorough read and take the tips on board. Make sure that you try out long-tail links but don’t only include them on your content.
A variation of anchor texts always brings the best results for your website.
5. Context Is Everything
Above all you really need to focus on the context. The links you are using should always relate to the link and the things you are talking about. If you have a blog post on musical instrument, for instance, you don’t want to redirect the reader to read about car insurance.
Be creative with your content and the way you use links but always keep the context in mind. The search engines might not penalise you but the people reading your content will not come back.
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Irene Taylor loves to find better ways to use SEO. She likes to test the best SEO tools on the internet and is always looking for new SEO blogs to follow. She also loves to travel and is currently planning a trip to China.
