I know on some blogs & sites --- you cand have anchor text, just a link to your page Are these equally counted as a backlink? Thanks!
Anchor text is usually your keyword for which usually we do all the hard work. But a link is just a link. If it's permanent, one way, nofollow and relevant than it's definately a quality link just without keywords. It would work very much like if you link using img tag without alt.
If you get good quality links without anchor text that link also valuable like others which you get with anchor text. If your targeted keyword present in your URL then without anchor text link also help you to reach high position in SERP.
Something i have been wondering, anyone know of any guidelines on what % of anchor text should be targetted and what % should be random ?
There's no specific guidelines for this since people could easily manipulate the search engines. Throw in an occasional random anchor text such as 'click here' or just the site's hyperlink to mix it up and seem natural every once in a while.
Anchor text should be a keyword for which you want to optimize your site so always associate anchor text with link of that perticular page. it helps in optimization.
yeah it still counts since a link is a link. The only advantage of adding in the anchor text is if you need to target a specific keyword, hence why you see so many people try to make their names like: "keyword"king or "keyword"guru123 in dofollow forums and blogs. Others just put their name or something else when all they want is a backlink.