What’s an Anchor Text and Why is it Crucial to your Website’s SEO

Guest Article by Igor Kheifets

I could have started this post by providing you with an encyclopedia’s description of an “Anchor Text” and stuff related to it, but you can do it without my help by simply typing “Anchor Text” in Google or Wikipedia.

Instead, I want to explain to you, in easy-to-understand manner, what is Anchor Text and why is it so Crucial to your website’s SEO. Because when I was starting out, no one was kind enough to explain it to me and just as 90% of everything else related to SEO – I had to figure it out on my own.

So, what’s an Anchor Text? Anchor text is a Word or a Phrase that is used to “cover” the destination website’s URL. Here’s an example:

“This is an example sentence where I link to IgorHelpsYouSucceed-Internet Marketing Blog”

The Phrase “IgorHelpsYouSucceed-Internet Marketing Blog” is the Anchor Text for my blog. Note that the real URL of “IgorHelpsYouSucceed-Internet Marketing Blog” is: http://www.igorhelpsyousucceed.com

Anchor Text is also used to represent the main idea of the website/blog you want to link to from another website/blog.

I hope this explanation was clear enough, because now I want to uncover some of the SEO Voodoo Magic and explain to you why Anchor Text is a real “Big Shot” in the SEO Land:

Anchor Text affects your website’s ranking in two ways:

1. Diversity

Google is smart. In fact, Google is Mega-smart. They know exactly what tactics are being used by webmasters to promote their websites. So, if you want to rank high in the SERPs – you need to play by Google’s rules.

You should never abuse Anchor Text. By “abuse” I mean that you need to constantly change the Anchor Text you are using when building links back to your website. Google is going to flag you as a spammer if more than 60% of all the links pointing back to your website have the same anchor text.

At first, I didn’t understand this specific. Why would Google be so uptight about it? But then I figured it out (I think):

If the vast majority of your links will have the same anchor text it will let Google know that you are a self promoter or a spammer. However, if your Anchor Text database is diverse – it shows Google that you’re not the only one who is linking to your site, therefore you can’t be a spammer (or at least not a very consistent one, which is also a good thing).

2. Relevancy

The second thing Google determines using the Anchor Text is the relevancy of your website to its main theme. In other words you wouldn’t want to link to a Weight Loss website using Anchor Text “Cheap Underwear.” Catch my drift?

Your Anchor Text should always be relevant to the content you’re linking to. Preferably, try to use the Main Keyword or the Meta Title of the page you’re linking and you’ll be fine.

How To Leverage Google PageRank Using Anchor Text

Another interesting fact about Anchor Text many internet marketers have no clue about is that you can leverage PageRank using the Anchor Text. For Better understanding of what I am going to share with you right now, I recommend reading Improve PageRank By Giving Google What It Wants… first, to understand how Google PageRank is calculated.

Now, here’s a way of controlling Google PageRank flow around your website using a thing called a “No Follow Attribute:”

Here’s how a basic anchor text html code looks like:

<a href=”website URL”>Anchor Text</a>

Now here’s how to make sure the website you’re linking to is not going to get PageRank:

<a rel=”nofollow” href=”website URL”>Anchor Text</a>

By adding the No Follow Attribute you block the flow of the PageRank out of the page you’re linking from. This is genius, because now you can control which page will receive more/less PageRank which means you can control which page will rank higher/lower.

Use This Information With EXTREME Caution!

If you’re not sure, afraid or incompetent – please do not use the technique I just shared with you. You can do some serious damage to your site’s SEO if you don’t know what you’re doing. This is something that should only be used by a Moderate SEO Expert who is competent enough to understand the consequences.

To Conclude:

Anchor Text is the Phrase you use to describe the content of the URL you’re linking to. Anchor Text plays a major role in your website’s SEO and should be treated as carefully as a hot stove – you can get burned if you’re ignorant.

You need to be relevant and diverse about your Anchor Text-Link Building campaign and always remember that you need to be honest about where you’re linking to – Google’s watching You All The Time!

About the Author: Igor Kheifets is a-21 year old Internet Marketing Expert. He is the author and the creator of Igorhelpsyousucceed where he blogs about SEO, Traffic and Lead Generation, Copywriting and more. Follow Igor on Twitter or become his friend on Facebook.

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Tagged as: Blogging Tips, Guest Article, SEO