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June 11, 2007

Link Anchor Text: SEO and Relationships

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 10:39 am

Reach Out with Respect

relationships button

When we code a link, anchor text is that part people click to get where the link goes. Well-written anchor text is one more way that people and spiders know why you made the link — the relevance between your post and where you are sending them. Link anchor text is another way to reach out with respect to bloggers who offer information we value.

Here’s an example of anchor text in link as code and as the reader sees.

This code:

<a href=“http://[URL goes here]”>Link Anchor Text</a >

would look like this to readers:

Link Anchor Text

Sometimes you’ll see the name of the blog or a post as anchor text. Sometimes you’ll words such as here or click here instead. The first is relevant and SEO friendly. It builds connections and relationships. The second does not. Who wants to be referred to as “click here”?

Relationships and SEO

Strong, descriptive anchor text is a sign that we know how spiders travel links and that we care about people read and write blogs.

Search engines pay attention to what you write in your anchor text. They notice all of the text around a link — key words and descriptions. Spiders use anchor text to determine relevance and authority as they follow links from post to post. Linking with keyword-rich anchor text forms strong links to posts both within your blog and with blogs you respect.

Think about relationships. Links connect blogs and connect the bloggers who write them. Great anchor text, descriptive of what the link is leading to, offers an opportunity to feature those relationships. Spiders read and match up relevant key words in the linking posts. Search engines highlight your anchor text when they index the reference. The blogger you link to sees your descriptive text as how you named his or her blog or blog post.

It only takes a few seconds — a few words inside a link . . . to make a difference in relevance and SEO, to let readers know where you suggest they go next, and to offer the blogger at the other end a few words of respect. That’s a great way to use links to reach out.

Go for the relationship at the same time that you’re following great SEO practices.

Anchor me.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz’s help with your business, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related posts
How to Code Links for Sidebars and Posts
How to Code Accessible Links–Part 1
How to Code Accessible Links–Part 2
How to Code Accessible Links–Part 3

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44 Comments to “Link Anchor Text: SEO and Relationships”

  1. June 11th, 2007 at 11:05 am
    Ramkarthik said

    Liz,Whenever I use the anchor text,I just put the name of the site.Sometimes,I use the anchor text in between sentences.I write like this:
    I got the chance to chat with Liz today
    In that sentence I use your blog link for your name.I mostly do like this.Hope you understood what Im saying.I never knew it would be spidered.Thanks.

  2. June 11th, 2007 at 11:26 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Ramkarthik,
    That sounds like my name would be part of the anchor text. Can’t get much nicer than that as far as knowing why you are linking to my blog. :)

    Links to specific posts when you can make them in a relevant way are also great for you and the blogger in question. :)

  3. June 11th, 2007 at 11:34 am
    Ramkarthik said

    Agree with you Liz.I have now set up a personal blog under blogspot where I would be writing all my experiences(If any) and also anything I see as valuable in the net.I know of a few people npw itself to link.To name a few:
    Liz(if you would agree)
    Lynn
    Also about few whom i know but they dont
    Darren
    John Chow
    etc.
    Wouldn’t this be great?

  4. June 11th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Ramkarthik,
    Placing a link in your blogroll doesn’t require permission. Though, it’s nice of you to ask. Thank you.

  5. June 11th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
    Nic Darling said

    This is a good tip and something I need to consider more closely on my blog. I tend to just highlight a section of the referring sentence and set that as a link. This works well on some occasions, but on others it ends up being slightly generic. In the future I will be sure to take the thoughts of the site to which I’m linking into consideration.

    Golden Rule: Link onto others as you would have them link unto you.

  6. June 11th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Nic!
    It never hurts to take a second to see how that link is going to look from the other side. Yeah. I was once a “the.” It didn’t make me feel too important. :)

  7. June 11th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
    Mihaela Lica said

    Liz, in SEO terms, a “click here” is not so bad. Anchor texts should flow natural. For example: you find here news about my SEO book for WordPress blogs.

    Google likes the “here” or “click here” links too, because Google considers them as pointing to relevant content.

    You should not consider such links as disrespectful. As long as they point to content relevant for the users and deliver traffic, they are needed, natural and sure, they have a stronger “call to action” meaning than other links (which have only SEO meaning). For the user a “here” is more relevant than a keyword rich link, which is just a SEO strategy… :)

  8. June 11th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
    GP said

    nothing like descriptive link love
    GP in Montana

  9. June 11th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mihaela,
    I know that “click here” is not “so bad,” especially now that Google pays attention to the words around a link, but most times we use them we are not doing all we could to serve our readers. More description never hurts and often helps all three — our readers, the bloggers and Google. I’ll never agree that “here” is more relevant than a descriptive word. :)

  10. June 11th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
    ME Strauss said

    GP,
    You are a master at saying so much in just a few words. Bravo!

  11. June 11th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
    Ramkarthik said

    Liz,I added a page element in my blog called the “Blogs I frequently visit”(Not blogroll).I have added all the names I said before in my comment.

  12. June 11th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Cngratulations on the beginning of your blogroll! Thanks for the link love. :)

  13. June 11th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
    Ramkarthik said

    Yes Sure Liz.Ill be linking all the blogs in my other blogs also.But the thing is that my blogs are new.So it doesnot have a page rank.As a result,it maynot be any useful.Maybe few visitors might come here from there(I only get 100 visitors on an average per day).

  14. June 11th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    No Worries,
    Gardens grow and your blog will too. :)

  15. June 11th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
    Ramkarthik said

    Thanks Liz.Thanks for your encouragement.

  16. June 11th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
    ME Strauss said

    It’s easy to tell who’ll be a great blogger. It’s the person who has a good brain connected to a great heart who listens when other folks talk. You are those qualities. :)

  17. June 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
    Ramkarthik said

    Thanks Liz.I feel like as if Im floating in air.Very Nice Of you.

  18. June 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
    ME Strauss said

    You’re welcome! :)

  19. June 11th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
    Andrew Flusche said

    Liz,

    An insightful post, as always. You’ve got a great relationship view on this issue. I never really thought about it that way.

    There’s a great post from Fadtastic that includes the “click here” issue (item #3 on the page), focusing on usability:
    25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today

  20. June 11th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Andrew,
    Thanks for the link to Fadtastic. It’s been a while since I’ve been over there. It was nice that there was some support on the very same day. I sure love that blogger synchronicity. :)

  21. June 11th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
    Sheila at Family Travel said

    Wow, I’ve gotten rather lazy about this, and too flippant about whether it really mattered. Thanks for creatively explaining why it’s important.

  22. June 12th, 2007 at 12:53 am
    Jonathan-C. Phillips said

    Liz, you know how much I like it when I find my blog linked from another blog with the right anchor text! ;)

    You know, something like this! lol (kidding)

  23. June 12th, 2007 at 1:14 am
    Yoav said

    Hi Liz,

    So what will be a good anchor text for you?

  24. June 12th, 2007 at 2:32 am
    Mihaela Lica said

    I was just giving you some statistics. I rarely use “here” bur when I do, it is the most clicked link… :)
    And that’s something any other SEO will tell you. Besides, I hear you loud and clear: descriptive links are better.
    But “click here” links are really not disrespectful.

  25. June 12th, 2007 at 6:27 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sheila! It’s so easy to lose track of all of the folks the link is for. :)

    Hey Jonathan! Oh thanks! Now I have to click those links to see where they go. :0

    Hi Yoav! I guess good anchor text for me would depend on what you’re linking to.

  26. June 12th, 2007 at 6:33 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mihaela, I understand the SEO and high click rate of “here” and “click” here, but spiders aren’t my first audience. I will chose the people over the SEO.

    I don’t know what word to use instead of disrespectful, but my point is that too often “here,” “this” “click here” or links as those Jonathan did in comment #22 often don’t say where the link is going. I find that inconsiderate of readers time.

    I also think that the blogger at the other end deserves more than my clever context — I like to show the respect of some mention of their name in case a reader chooses not to follow a link to find out what blog and blogger the link is connected to. So Let me say that I think taking care to do so is more respectful in that way.

  27. June 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am
    Mihaela Lica said

    Oh, now I see what you mean. He he…
    You are right.

    The click here links make sense only if the reader knows where they lead.

  28. June 12th, 2007 at 10:57 am
    ME Strauss said

    Now you know why I like metaphors. I don’t do so swell when I try to explain myself without them. :)

  29. June 12th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
    Lorelle said

    Actually, Google gives very little credit to “here” as a pointer, just as something to ignore as it is highly overused. Putting keywords in your link helps not only your PageRank but it also helps your reader as you aren’t pointing to anything by having “here” be the pointer. Point to what you are pointing at. ;-)

    Besides, “here” is a waste of words.

    What is actually more important and missing from this conversation is the REQUIREMENT to include a “title” in the link:

    <a href="URL.html" title="This is the description and title of the link">Link Text</a>

    If SEO is your goal, then the text within the link anchor tag as well as the text within and around the link are collected. It can include keywords and explanations of what the link goes to, not just the words within the link text.

    Thus, the “here” link would be:

    Check out the article <a href="URL.html" title="Article by Fred Smith on using links to help your SEO value increase">here</a> on using links.

    If web standards and making sure your blog meets them for accessibility is important to you, then add the “title”.

    For me, making my blog accessible to everyone, disabled, web TV, cell phones, handheld computers, and any other way people access the web, is more important than the SEO value. That’s part of the responsibility I feel in creating a relationship with my readers.

  30. June 12th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Thanks Lorelle for weighing in on the finer points and for that great link. It’s a tool we all can use to keep us up an running.

    Relationships and SEO are compatible and reinforcing. Like structure and expression, both have a reason for being.

  31. June 12th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
    Lorelle said

    Wow! And well said. Can I quote you on the last paragraph? That was beautiful! Thank you.

  32. June 13th, 2007 at 4:41 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Lorelle,
    Thanks, of course, you can! :)

  33. June 14th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
    Joanna Young said

    Hi Liz, thanks for the explanation of this. I loved the way you put it in human terms - more likely to motivate me than worrying about the spiders! I try to give a clue to my readers as to what the link is to but I haven’t really thought about how it comes over to the person on the other end before. Something to add to the writing melting pot.

    Joanna

  34. June 14th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joanna!
    I never really thought much about it either until a few months ago. I’ve turned my view inside out and it’s most interesting where my ideas go now. :)

  35. June 14th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
    Joanna Young said

    And I am loving following your most interesting ideas :)

  36. June 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Thank you, Joanna. Some days I like them too. :)

  37. July 2nd, 2007 at 12:29 pm
    David Airey :: Creative Design :: said

    Great article Liz.

    I’ll include this in my latest post, using relevant anchor text of course.

  38. July 2nd, 2007 at 12:34 pm
    3000th commenter wins free feature : David Airey :: Creative Design :: said

    […] If you want to read more about anchor text, check out Liz Strauss’ article, “Link Anchor Text: SEO and Relationships“. […]

  39. July 2nd, 2007 at 2:00 pm
    rob said

    Found your blog over at David Airey’s Liz.

    Nie article on anchor text, love the reach out with respect heading too!

    Cheers

    Rob

  40. July 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi David!
    That’s so cool. Thank you!

  41. July 2nd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
    ME Strauss said

    hi Rob!
    Welcome. Thanks for coming. It’s great to meet you. Glad you liked the title. I did too. :)

  42. August 13th, 2007 at 10:08 am
    Writing Challenge: Joanna’s Thematic Link Post! - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    […] A List Becomes 301 Links in Story — Chapter 1. Link Anchor Text: SEO and Relationships How to Code Links for Sidebars and Posts How to Code Accessible Links–Part 1 How to Code […]

  43. August 28th, 2007 at 5:22 am
    Eva Zumwinkel said

    Thank you!

  44. October 29th, 2007 at 10:26 am
    Dear Google, I’m the Relationship Blogger - Liz Strauss at Successful Blog - Thinking, writing, business ideas . . . You’re only a stranger once. said

    […] Links and relationships are intertwined and inseparable to me. It’s about people and connections that last. […]

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