It is vitally important to choose the correct anchor text in your links that will help boost your website views as well as site rankings in SERPs. Anchor text is critical because it tells the search engines the theme of your site. It is so important that it can even lead you towards the top 10 in Google search page results. You can use your anchor text in:
- Internal links–links on your pages
- Navigation maps
- External links-links from other sites
- Links on your main page
The most important thing to remember is that humans are reading your text. So, your wording needs to make sense. Here, we discuss some pertinent suggestions on how to choose and create the best anchor texts for your website
Make the choice
The first step to selecting the right anchor text is to make sure you know which keywords you’d like to promote. Your keywords should be based upon words that your target audience is most likely to use for finding your products or services on Google. You also want to use keywords that will bring you the most traffic.
Next, make sure you have the URL optimized for the keyword is ranking you are trying to increase. This way, your link building campaign becomes more effective, and it helps Google to rank your website better.
Think about your brand name for anchor text. One of the major components of online marketing is brand recognition. With recognition comes to trust. The more likely the consumer is to recognize your name, the higher the probability that they will trust your company. But, it certainly takes time to build local, national and even worldwide brand recognition. Also, once you get to that level, your name might even become a verb such as using the term, “Google it.” So, why not use your brand name? An example might be: Portofino Cellars, Cowboy Bob’s Car Dealership or Roasted Bean Coffee Shop. Make sure that 25 percent of your anchors include your brand name.
You can also use the URLs of your website pages. This is important to maintain the diversity of links to your site that Google prefers. For instance, Google ranks sites higher when they have links to more than one page of their website. So, you might use http://www.Roasted-Bean.com/, Roasted-Bean.com, www.Roasted-Bean.com, http://www.Roasted-Bean.com/about, http://www.Roasted-Bean.com/coffee-shop-austin-area, etc.…At least 25 percent of your anchors should use your URL.
Another option is to use the exact keyword phrase match that you want to promote. Some ideas are a coffee shop in Austin, cafe latte in Austin, coffee drinks in Austin.
There are also long tail keywords that are beneficial as anchor text. These are illustrations of descriptive long tail keywords: the best coffee in the Austin area, buy a delicious latte in downtown Austin, get free Wi-Fi at Austin coffee shop, etc.
Also, you can use a mix of your keywords and your brand name such as The Roasted Bean Coffee Shop in Austin, gourmet coffee by the Roasted Bean, Roasted Coffee Bean–best coffee in Austin, buy coffee anytime at the Roasted Bean, etc.
Even a combination of keywords and URLs can work to your benefit. Here is some inspiration: buy coffee in Austin at www.Roasted-Bean.com/, Roasted-Bean.com – The best gourmet coffee in Austin, Learn more about frappuccinos http://www.Roasted-Bean.com/frappuccinos. Notice how this might be one of the most descriptive of all the anchor text options. You want to think from the perspective of your target audience. What type of anchor text might they find most useful and appealing?
And, you might use varying words relevant to your business, those used on your site or calls to action. Again, if you own the Roasted Bean Coffee Shop, you might use: roasted coffee beans, whipped frappuccinos, mocha lattes, click here to learn more about fair trade coffee beans, learn about the difference between light and dark roast coffee beans, American drip coffee, etc.…
The good news about anchor text is you have many options. It is essential to modify the form of the anchor text by using plural and singular variances. It also helps to make it as actionable as you can. Not to mention, by adding your brand name to the anchor text, you indeed strengthen your overall branding efforts.
Also, your phrases in your anchor text do not need to be exact to your company name. In 2018, Google made significant changes to its algorithm. As a result, it started penalizing websites and blogs that were “over-optimized.” That’s why it’s more important than ever for your linking pattern to look completely natural. So, you don’t want a huge concentration of only one type of link with one type of anchor text.
Selecting the best anchor text is a significant facet for following a successful SEO strategy. So, take the needed time to think about them and choose wisely.