How do key words/phrases in anchor text for a link help you're site if you only come up on Google for key words that are actually on your web page? Do I want to use keywords/phrases that are on my webpage either in the anchor text or throughout the articles I write or do I want to use key words/phrases that relate to my site but aren't actually the ones I'm trying to rank for on my site? Let’s say I use keywords on a site that ranks higher than mine. Now, won't that site also be competing for those keywords against mine and have the possibility to rank higher on the first page of Google than me? Please explain.
In the past if you had enough backlinks with the same anchor text then you could rank for it. This was used in a technique called 'Google Bombing' where lots of sites linked to the White House George Bush page with the anchor text 'Miserable Failure', and this page started ranking first for the phrase 'Miserable Failure' even though the text 'Miserable Failure' was never mentioned on the White House George Bush page. Google has changed their algorithm since then to make Google Bombing much more difficult to accomplish. I would recommend using anchor text in your links that is included on your pages that the links are pointing to. If the link anchor text shows up on your page then it sends a clear signal to Google that the page really is about the anchor text and your site will have a much better chance of ranking well. If you use variations of key phrases, used on your page, in your anchor text then that will probably work well too since Google is able to determine that similar words and phrases are talking about the same topic. You want to switch up the anchor text you specify and use a variety of phrases since this looks much more natural. You do not want to use the same anchor text every time since the same anchor text does not occur normally like that across the web.