Which do you guys think is a better use of your ad pool if you are targetting, for example, the KW, tomatoes. A. One ad with the anchor text tomatoes, or B. Multiple ads with varying anchor text, such as tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, tomatoe, etc... In this excersise we don't care about the other keywords, just the main one... tomatoes. My thought is that in natural linking you would probably not get the same anchor text for every link that you get, therefore B maybe the better use, but I'm not sure. What do you guys think?
I would mix it up - slight variations of the textlink, at least imo, are helpful. If nothing else, you may hit a key phrase with one of your variation links that brings some additional traffic you hadn't quite expected. Just my 2cents
My links are mixed up with variations on keywords. They also don't all link to my main page; they're spread out to be relevant to the keyword used.
If you really don't care about ranking for the variations, then in the coop I would go with option 'A' personally. I would get a handful of variations from other sources (like your other sites) with varying anchor text just as a safety precaution but I really don't think it is needed. Sort like how I walk around a ladder and not under it even though I don't believe walking under it is bad luck The network is too powerful to waste on the "mixing up" superstition, IMHO.
For this excersise I don't care at all about the variation keywords. All I want to do well for is the main keyword... tomatoes. Being no. 7 for tomatoes and no. 1 for "grape tomatoes" is not better than being no. 6 for tomatoes and no. 456 for "grape tomatoes" in this case. Interesting analogy of the situation . I wonder if it is just a "superstition" or if there really is anything in the algorithm that penalizes a site that gets all the same anchor text? It makes sense to me that there would be a penalty, but I don't have any proof that it exists. Hmmm and the confusion continues...
I found that once I started to vary up my anchor text, my rankings shot up higher... I was targetting one fairly tough key phrase, and only that key phrase.... and I could get up in the top 150... as I started to vary the anchor text used, all of a sudden I seemed to jump into the top 20 or so...
I'm personally not part of the network, but I'd go with what I'd get better success at. Meaning if I was all ready ranking fairly well (top 10) for the KW "tomatoes" then I'd try harder for that one KW and leave all my ads with that anchor text. Considering I think my page would be what people are looking for when they search "tomatoes." But if I wasn't anywhere near the top for the one KW "tomatoe" (21 or below) or if I thought people searching "tomatoes" will visit my site but not find what they are looking for, then I'd consider doing plan B. Targeting "cherry tomatoes" and "grape tomatoes" would most likely bring in more well targeted traffic anyhow. Plus it'd be easier to get top ranking for since the more KWs in the Keyphrase the better your chances of being #1. Usually. I'd also make a seperate page for "cherry tomatoes" and another for "grape tomatoes" thus being more specific in my information to the person who either clicked the ad or searched for "grape tomatoes." Does this help?
I could have been a little clearer...I think mixing up the links will help you place better for the primary term you're after. It may also bring you some unexpected benefits (such as better placement for variations of the primary term).
Hmm interesting point of view, I also believe what fishing forum says about variations in link text. This gives me an idea with the ad network you could put in 9 ads that are identical and one with a variation, sending 90% of your weight to your main KWs and 10% to the variation. That would cover all bases. Shawn, maybe that's another idea for the future, being able to divy up your weight among your ads so one would show more ie ad 1 -- 70% ad 2 -- 20% ad 3 -- 10% instead of ad 1 -- 33.33% ad 2 -- 33.33% ad 3 -- 33.33% What do you think?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but what is required to get into the advertising coop. I have around 30 themed real estate websites I might want to get into this coop if possible.
I would have loved to signed you up as a referral but ... oh well. Here is the link: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/ Good luck...
Just visit The Coop and sign up. The more real estate web sites the better. I run a large, rather popular Australian RE site myself, which features (across it's 130,000+ indexed pages) 5 ads apiece. Here's a thought.. how DO you sign someone up..
You can access your affiliate ID in the coop control panel (where you set up your ads). Look for the "How to receive weight bonuses" link on the right side of the screen.