Backlink SEO Anchor Text Diversity

It’s easy to use anchor text to promote your website, but you risk having your links discounted if you don’t optimize those links with a little SEO anchor text magic.

What is an anchor text you ask?

The text within any HTML link you create is called the anchor text.

Here’s an example:

This link uses the anchor text “backlink SEO anchor text”:  backlink SEO anchor text

This link uses the anchor text “click here”:  click here

Essentially, if you click both, they will take you to LinksGeek.com.

However, search engine robots understand that the first link above is sending the robot to a site about “backlink SEO anchor text.”

Here’s an example of the underlying HTML code:

Here’s a generic example:

So what’s the problem then?

Let’s pretend that your site is about “building backlinks” and you want to promote your site to the search engines and you want to use anchor text to help the search engines know what the site is about.

You build backlinks, and they all say “building backlinks.”

Sounds good right?  It is to a point, but if all your links to your site are keyword based, it appears spammy and unnatural.

So what?

The links you build that are tagged by the search engines as spammy or unnatural are no longer effective.

All that work, time, and $ gone building your backlinks, and worse yet, you don’t know why you’re falling in the search engines or not rising up in the rankings to start with.

How is this spammy?

Pretend for a moment that 1,000 people built links to your website, do you think all 1,000 would use exactly “building backlinks?”

Nope.

It’s important to diversify this.

How do I diversify my anchor text code in my backlinks?

When you are building links back to your site, regardless of your method, mix it up.

Here’s an example where the keyword is “anchor text”

1. Primary keyword + related words:
    
   Anchor text
   SEO anchor text
   Anchor text diversity
   .
2. Primary Keyword + LSI / Thesaurus / Synonyms:
    
   Alt text and SEO
   Anchor-Text Optimization
   Inbound Anchor-Text
   .
3. Domain (no primary keyword)
    
   yourdomain.com
   www.yourdomain.com
   .
4. Generic (no primary keyword)
   click me/here/this/now
   click for more
   find more info
   go here
   get information
   get details
   visit site
   website
   .
5. Foreign Language
   Translate your keyword or generic text into a foreign language.

Can you show me examples?

Sure!

What percentage of each of these groups?

Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this point.  My suggestion, for best results, mix this up too.

1. 33% keyword
2. 33% LSI/synonyms/thesaurus
3. 33% domain & generic/general

Tip

If you have two links on the same page and both links link to the exact same page, most search engines only count the FIRST instance as relevant.

On the same page, if you have two links:

• Click here to go to our website.
• This link has my keyword.

Google sees the generic text “click here to go to our website” and discounts the second link to the same page that might potentially have your keyword in it.

This is helpful when thinking about onsite navigational elements, blog posts, as well as offsite link building.

Article writers:  Think about this in regards to your “resource box” when writing articles.  Most article directories and guest blogging will allow you to use links in the article and the resource box.  If you are going to have more than one link to the same domain or same page, the first of the two links you create should use the text you wish to promote, whether that is the keyword or some type of link diversity.

Descriptive Link Text

Please remember, this article is about anchor text DIVERSITY and NATURAL link building.

In comparison, a human reader finds a descriptive link easier to skim and allows them to understand far better why they may want to click the link and where they may end up.

As an example, the effectiveness for simply “click here” is less effective than “Visit Wikipedia.”

Where do I go from here?

For more info about anchor texts, visit wikipedia.

You or the business you have hired to build links for you must always build diversity in your link profile and optimize your SEO anchor text.