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search engine optimisation strategies & tips
search engine optimisation strategies & tips
Here’s a powerful and effective generic anchor text density hack that can work wonders when you incorporate it into your back-linking strategies. It’s safe, powerful, and flies completely under the radar when done correctly.
Interesting perspective on #backlinks & #Anchortext density. Can #keywords flow into generic anchor text?
Acceptable levels of anchor text density vary greatly from keyword to keyword, and from niche to niche. The easiest way to understand what the acceptable levels of anchor text density are for your target keyword is to simply do a search using SerpWorx.
The above image shows that Google’s threshold for anchor text density for the keyword ‘web design Sydney’ is around 10%. Although older domain names, like the ones in the above results are given more leeway when it comes to exact match anchor text density, it’s always best to play on the safe side to future proof your rankings.
You can't control what 'real' #backlinks say. #Anchortext density is nothing to worry about if your links are real
Not all keywords and niches will accept such aggressive anchor text profiles though, just take a look at the below results for the keyword ‘chiropractor Sydney’. (The image opens in a larger lightbox)
Four out of the top five sites have a 0% exact match anchor ratio for the main keyword of ‘chiropractor Sydney’. In my opinion, this is Google’s way of saying “Don’t even think about it!”. The top site which has the 7% exact match also has a domain name that is 17 years old, so that definitely throws a spanner into the analysis.
When I see results like this I never opt to build out a client’s back link profile with more than 2% exact match anchors for their main keyword. The results for this keyword search lend themselves perfectly to the ‘generic anchor text hack’ that’s described in the above video.
Sculpting your site’s anchor text ratios correctly pays huge dividends well into the future. I’ve used the above hack on many occasions and I can tell you it’s very satisfying to see your sites in the top spots, despite all of the sites below you having a more aggressive exact match back link profile.
#Anchortext rich #backlinks were always powerful... But the top 4 sites for 'Web Desgn New York' have 0% exact match links for that keyword.
When you pepper in a few good partial match links in combination with this generic anchor text hack you can really achieve some nice results. And the icing on the cake is that you never have to worry about that wretched Penguin.
15 Comments. Leave new
Hi Richard, i really liked the Anchor Text Hack article and agree it’s extremely important to stay ahead of all the Google Animal algorithm updates.
i have been using Serpworx for a few months now and am very impressed with it so far.
I love how Serpworx gives me all the keyword metrics such as TF and CF and also how it links straight to Semrush so you can see the best performing keywords your competitors are using and also how much traffic they bring them each month.
Regards,
Mark
Thanks for the feedback Mark, much appreciated mate. We’ve seen some pretty good results with the anchor text density strategy, and it’s nice and safe for clients sites as well. Makes it pretty hard for Google to ignore the surrounding keywords when you build links like that.
p.s. sounds like you’re lovin SerpWorx. Very hard to go back to the old way after using it… I’m sure your also going to enjoy the upcoming SEMRush and ahrefs upgrades that are being deployed into SerpWorx soon. Thanks again for the feedback.
Hi Richard,
I enjoyed reading the Anchor Text Hack article and agree its very important to stay up to date with all the latest Google animal algorithm updates.
I have been usong Serpworx for the last few months and love how easy it is to use for Keword metric research and replaces 4-5 different research tools that i was previously using so give it 5 stars.
Regards,
Mark
Hi Richard,
i would like to thank you for sharing this post i enjoyed the Anchor text hack article. As we know it’s a very important to work with google updated algorithm.
i have not use Serpworx yet but after read your post i must try it.
thanks one again for sharing.
Your welcome Pravin. Look at the search results for competitive keywords like ‘SEO California’ or ‘SEO sacramento’ – For both of those search terms, NOT a single site ranking in the top 10 has an exact match anchor link for those keywords.
Ranking first for your main keywords with 0% exact match ratios is just good SEO.
hey I SAW YOUR POST IN MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT THIS POST IS super fantabulous AND fantastic ITS REALLY NICE WORKING KEEP IT UP @SERPWORX
Glad you liked it Tanishq & hope it helped you.
Hey Richard
Your article is very unique and very relevant and this is a new information for me. Hope it will help me. I think Including LSI keywords will help to rank better and we can keep anchor keyword density lower.
Glad it helped Vineeth. Yes LSI and partial match anchors are nearly just as strong as exact match anyway. Getting sites ranked in 1st spot with 0% exact match anchors is very satisfying!
I like the serpworx interface and watching the hack i can see how this would work. what makes you say that Google is actually giving you relevance for the plumber words even though you have the click here hyperlinked, is this using non niche related link building where the domain url doesn’t have the keywords in either the domain or anchor txt of that said url link
Glad you enjoyed it Paul. Yes it’s especially helpful for the scenario you mentioned regarding non related sites as that’s exactly what penguin seems to be crushing at the moment. I see plenty of sites with high exact match ratios still ranking quite well, but their links are coming from high quality sites. But sites with exact match links coming from weak and unrelated sites seem to be getting punished, even with relatively low exact match ratios (5 – 12%).
No one can say for sure how much influence the words around a generic anchor text link have, but ever since Hummingbird Google has been paying more attention to the meaning behind words and sentences so it’s possible that also carries over into anchor text semantics as well. Especially if your generic links form part of a normal sentence in the content.
Good article,
I have seen in Spain keywords with thousands of searches with 60%. Incredible, but niches and keywords are different worlds for google.
Testing the new comments
Awesome stuff thanks!
Glad you liked it!