It's not just being
linked,
but how you link - anchor text
We're all pretty aware these days that having links from quality
sites pointing into your own site is a very important factor in
gaining good rankings on some of the major engines.
The other point that has become increasingly important is that
relevant anchor text should be used in links. This applies not
just to external links pointing into your site, but internal
linkages throughout your web site.
What is anchor text?
Anchor text is the text that is visible in a link to a web page
e.g.:
.. which (of course) contains information about optimizing web
sites for search engines.
Relevancy is the key
The whole issue of successful search engine optimization can
really be summed up in this statement:
Relevant quality site using
Relevant anchor text ->
Relevant domain name ->
Relevant file/folder name ->
Relevant page title tags ->
Relevant content and headings = better rankings.
It's as simple as that. Where it becomes a little more challenging
is when your domain name, such as ours, is totally non-relevant to
your web site theme. If you haven't purchased a domain name for
your new project yet, it's well worthwhile giving your name
careful consideration purely for this reason:
people will tend to link to your site using the name of your web
site as the anchor text.
If you are selling Flombles, then you are better off purchasing a
domain name that contains the word Flombles. It should be
something like cool-flombles.com and not coolflombles.com.
The issue of hyphens is something else that you'll need to
consider as a domain name without a hyphen is easier for people to
remember.
Your folders should have flomble related names, as should your
individual pages; e.g:
cool-flombles.com/buy/white-flomble.htm.
This way, you'll not only benefit straight off on any relevancy
points that may be applied for your naming structure, but each
time someone links to you, the chances are that they'll use
beneficial anchor text!
Reciprocal link requests
When approaching other webmasters to link to your site; it's
really important to "suggest" suitable text for them to use; i.e
link code that will have the most suitable link text for your
site. For further information about link requests, see the added
resources at the end of this article.
It's also a good strategy to approach everyone who may be linking
to you 'naturally' if they aren't using suitable link text. It's
very important to be ultra-polite in these requests as these
webmasters have linked to you of their own accord. They are under
no obligation whatsoever to you - bear in mind that a link that
isn't quite what you wanted is better than none at all.
Don't "over-optimize"
No doubt over recent months, you would have noticed in SERP's
(search engine results pages) that many spammers have been
exploiting this with 50+ character hyphenated domain names,
followed by file paths a mile long. I'm definitely not suggesting
emulating this strategy.. all things in moderation.
I went a bit overboard naming a couple of pages a couple of years
ago as an experiment and I really wish I hadn't - looks ridiculous
and gave me no benefit. I also wish I had paid more attention to
file naming when I first started publishing articles on
development and marketing a couple of years ago - we live and we
learn - but I am glad that I can pass on what I have learned to
others. Optimization is a rapidly changing environment - gotta
move with the times.
Right, now I'm off to make a stack of changes to my pages - only
400 to go ;).
Here's some other updated articles on search engine optimization
that you may find of benefit:
Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
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