Anchor Text and SERP's

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by gamefray, Nov 30, 2007.

  1. #1
    I know anchor text in backlinks improves SERP's. But my question is this, how does google actually view anchor text?

    For Example, lets say the anchor text is "Top Toys Guide"

    Does your SERP only improve for the whole phrase, "Top Toys Guide"

    or also for every other keyword combination, like "Top Toys", "Toys Guide", "Top Guide", and the individual keywords Top, Toys, and guide?

    Also, do the keywords in the description after the anchor text matter?
     
    gamefray, Nov 30, 2007 IP
  2. gamefray

    gamefray Peon

    Messages:
    460
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    Anyone know?
     
    gamefray, Nov 30, 2007 IP
  3. vlad230

    vlad230 Active Member

    Messages:
    544
    Likes Received:
    8
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    95
    #3
    It usually works better for the exact anchor text, but I have discovered that if you have many "Top toys Guide" anchors and you rank 5th for "top toys guide", you could rank like 50th - 60th in the search engines for "toys guide" (depending on the competition of that keyword)

    Cheers,
    Vlad
     
    vlad230, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  4. ringwraith

    ringwraith Peon

    Messages:
    436
    Likes Received:
    13
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    You can't make a rule here, as it depends a lot on the keyword and competition. But the main idea is that the anchor will help all the words combinations in you keywords, more or less.

    I didn't really get what you meant in your last sentence. What description? :)
     
    ringwraith, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  5. bobchrist

    bobchrist Active Member

    Messages:
    4,102
    Likes Received:
    95
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    88
    #5
    Most important thing is to be considered that your content must be quite relevant to the anchor text.
     
    bobchrist, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  6. thunderbolt007

    thunderbolt007 Active Member

    Messages:
    851
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #6
    Anchor text is the descriptive information of your targeted keyword and it Enhances the Relevance of the Target Page....
     
    thunderbolt007, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  7. MarcRoman

    MarcRoman Peon

    Messages:
    205
    Likes Received:
    9
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #7
    Google takes a look at two things, not only the complete phrase, but also each individual word by itself. And of course there's some overlap between singular and plural phrases. So, let me break that down in English for you.

    Let's say your phrase is "Top Toys Guide".

    You'll get the best benefit for that exact phrase Top Toys Guide, but you'll also get some SEO benefit for Top and Toys and Guide. And then you'll also get benefit for Top Toys and Toys Guide. And lastly you'll get some benefit for Top Guide, as well as the singular, ie. Top Toy Guide, and Top Toy and Toy Guide. Make sense? Kind of in that order.

    In other words, it's not all or nothing. And what you'll also find is that a powerful link with one anchor text phrase, can actually help any keyword combination that it finds on the page. I.e. if you get a PR7 link with the anchor phrase "Look at this stupid page", it will still give SEO benefit to your page if you have "Top Toys Guide" all over your webpage, and it's optimized for that phrase.

    There are hundreds of variables involved in optimization and it's not as easy as saying x = y.

    Hope this helps,

    MR
     
    MarcRoman, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  8. the_indian

    the_indian Peon

    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    Yes gamefray,

    it will improve your anchor text and also improves the other combination of phrases as well.
     
    the_indian, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  9. snowbird

    snowbird Notable Member

    Messages:
    3,036
    Likes Received:
    395
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    290
    #9
    I completely agree with MarcRoman.

    If top toys guide were my main keyphrase. I would vary anchor text something like:

    top infant toys guide
    top toddler toys guide
    top toy guide

    This way I would rank for 'infant toys,' 'toddler toys,' as well as 'top toy guide' and the other variations.

    I'd do some keyword research before moving forward so that you can target the primary keyphrases that will bring you traffic.

    Good luck.
     
    snowbird, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  10. nairbuoyevoli

    nairbuoyevoli Active Member

    Messages:
    579
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #10
    Anchor Text plays the bigger role on SERP, this are the words used within the link. Search engines use this text to determine the subject of your page and the targeted page.
     
    nairbuoyevoli, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  11. bomberman

    bomberman Peon

    Messages:
    1,082
    Likes Received:
    9
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    Maybe it can improve SERP position but the value is credited to the keyword/keyphrase that you are using. If your are using a style like this "Top toys|Toy Guide" in one anchor this is considered as two separate keywords. But if you use "Top Toys Guide", this keyphrase have gretaer value in terms of SERP positioning.
     
    bomberman, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  12. Divisive Cottonwood

    Divisive Cottonwood Peon

    Messages:
    1,674
    Likes Received:
    35
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #12
    If you want to see how Google looks at your anchor text then look in the webmaster console: statistics -- what googlebot sees
     
    Divisive Cottonwood, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  13. aspire

    aspire Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,003
    Likes Received:
    76
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    175
    #13
    And does having multiple links with similar keywords help more..
     
    aspire, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  14. gamefray

    gamefray Peon

    Messages:
    460
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #14
    Alright thx guys. Seems like there is not a definitive answer to that question.
     
    gamefray, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  15. H-bomb

    H-bomb Peon

    Messages:
    100
    Likes Received:
    4
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #15
    Good question! Does anyone know if the keywords found in the text (link description) immediately after the anchor text affects ranking?
     
    H-bomb, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  16. Robert T

    Robert T Peon

    Messages:
    105
    Likes Received:
    3
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #16
    H-bomb.

    yes. That is called latent semantic indexing. A fancy way of saying that terms related to the keyword are associated with each other through indexing links to common pages with common keyword occurrance.

    The outbound (and inbound) links on a page are really important to the anchor text you are talking about. Get a nice link on a PR6 page for dog training with other links about porn and viagra and you get no juice.

    So,

    1) right anchor text
    2) right page (common theme / no off topic links)
    3) synonyms and related keywords on the page
    4) trusted domain

    = really good link
     
    Robert T, Dec 1, 2007 IP
  17. MattUK

    MattUK Notable Member

    Messages:
    6,950
    Likes Received:
    377
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    275
    #17
    Google is semantic and uses stemming, so to an extent it also helps related phrases and plural/non-plural versions of phrases.

    It's a good idea when link building to rotate your phrases, use plural versions and related phrases as uniform anchor text is sure to raise a few flags.
     
    MattUK, Dec 2, 2007 IP
  18. Minterest

    Minterest Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,694
    Likes Received:
    39
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    180
    #18
    Anchor texts are important.... if u get backlinks with ur keywords as anchortext then it will boost ur SERPs.
     
    Minterest, Dec 2, 2007 IP