Become SEO Pro in 3 steps
2 05 2009Google is all about linking. And if you want to snatch a top spot in Google’s search results you need to link like a pro.But don’t worry. Linking is a whole lot easier today than it was a few years ago. Experience has taught us a lot and with the information in this article you won’t need to worry about endless trial and error. We have a repeatable process that anyone can do, as easy as 1, 2, 3.
That said, let’s take a look at the linking strategies that Google will give you the most credit for…
Link Strategy 1: Reap the Most Benefit from Anchor Text
You probably already know that anchor text is the clickable word or words that make up a hyperlink. But what you may not yet fully realize is just how powerful anchor text is. Want to test it yourself? Try a simple experiment…
Go to Google.com and search for “clíck here” (without quotes.) Did you get a link for Adobe Acrobat Reader at number 1? Why is that? Check out the page. They have no mention of “clíck here” anywhere on the page or in the META tags.
So why does it rank number 1 on Google for “clíck here”? It’s all thanks to anchor text. More specifically, it’s because of the countless pages that have “clíck here” as anchor text that links to Adobe’s Acrobat Reader download page.
Did you notice how many competing pages there are for “clíck here” on Google? Almost Two Billion! Anchor text is extremely important. Here are a few rules of thumb to get the most from yours…
A.) Use your three most important keywords for your anchor text. Specifically, your most important word 60% of the time; your second most important keyword 25% and your third keyword 15%. And that is for every page you link to (each page should focus on two to three keywords.)
B.) Use “long tail” keywords when appropriate (3 or more words in the keyword phrase.)
C.) If your anchor text is part of a paragraph, like a signature block, make certain the surrounding text is optimized for the keyword you want or close variations. And make sure that text is varied. You want to have plenty of versions of the surrounding text block so Google doesn’t ding it as duplicate content.
Link Strategy 2: Make Your Target URLs Laser Accurate
URL accuracy, or format consistency, is extremely important. Be sure to use the exact same URL whenever you request a link. Even though a URL link beginning with “http” or “www” (or both) might resolve to the same webpage, Google sees them as different destinations.
Want to find out for yourself? Go back to Google.com and enter “Links: http:// ” (without quotes) followed by www… any domain name you want. This will give you the inbound links for that specific domain.
OK, easy enough. Jot down the number of links. Now try it again WITHOUT the “www.” And record the number of links. Now try it
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