Comments on: Better Anchor Text = Better Search Results

By: Rob O.

Rob O. — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:13:52 +0000

Good info here but what about the TITLE tag in your links? I like the little extra info that it gives a reader about the link they’re about to click.

And it seems like I had read that the TITLE attribute (both in link and image tags) also boost your site’s searhability. Can anyone confirm this?

By: Joneh

Joneh — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 07:45:41 +0000

thanks so much. this category is a must to every newbie like me. i come to this site once a month but whenever im here, i end up reading like 1 week direct. geez. thats addcitive! thanks John!

By: Webmaster Labor

Webmaster Labor — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:43:31 +0000

My quick addition to this: when determining which keywords to use for your anchor text, consult with Overture’s keyword selector tool. http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ While this is NOT a perfect tool (there are other paid services out there), it is FREE and does give one a semblance of how people search your terms online.

One more tip: When it comes to keywords, most of the time “less is more”. Sure it may sound like a tired Taoist mantra from the 60’s but it is very true. Why get slaughtered by your competition shooting for the “big” keywords when building a large network that snares the traffic from tons of “smaller” words will do?

To paraphrase Sun Tzu-win your battles before you lift a finger.

By: Targeted Web Traffic

Targeted Web Traffic — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:17:00 +0000

Thanks for this great article, nice read.

By: Make Easy Money » Blog Archive » Earning Money Blog Reading Tips - 19 February 2007

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:57:41 +0000

[...] John Chow teaches you how to write better anchor text. [...]

By: Earning Money Blog Reading Tips - 19 February 2007

Earning Money Blog Reading Tips - 19 February 2007 — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:23:43 +0000

[...] John Chow teaches you how to write better anchor text. [...]

By: mister scruff

mister scruff — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:57:07 +0000

but i’d like to add that John’s previous statements about “live by google , die by google” is spot on. Dont depend on the google serps. A visit over to the Google forums at webmasterworld.com is proove positive of that. (”hey i was earning $10k last month, now its down to $500 and i’ve had to lay off staff…”). Build your brand. Build your content. Serps are nice - but user bookmarks are even better, in the long term. His statement on anchor text is correct,but you have to be aware that its not everything (hence my latin poetry example…). “click here” is definitely a big no-no nowadays.

By: mister scruff

mister scruff — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:49:55 +0000

what i meant to say is that relevancy is huge in Google right now. Anchor text was all the rage previously, but Google has clamped down (or tried to) hard on link farms and googlebombs.

You wont give johnchow.com much Google link love if your site is to do with Latin poetry. And in reverse - if you have lots of tech sites linking to your Latin poetry site, that can actually *damage* your Google serps, as it will appear to Google algorithms as if you are involved in a link farm.

By: mister scruff

mister scruff — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:45:34 +0000

testing testing 123… (submitted a comment but it didnt go through)

By: mister scruff

mister scruff — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:39:19 +0000

anchor text big about a year or two ago, but now relevancy in Google is big. very big.

linking to a tech site from your Latin Poetry site wont give that tech site much of Google linky love boost.

having lots of non-relevant sites linking to yours using good anchor text can actually *damage* your Google serps.

Google actually have a full time webspam team - check out Matt Cutt’s blog for the info on this and other things.

But John’s overall point is right - if you are a Latin poetry site and wanna link to another Latin poetry site - dont use “click here” or “more info” or “over here”. Describe what you are linking to like this:

Andrew Smith has released a new book on Latin poetry entitled The Best Works of Cicero and its available to purchase from his Fantastic Latin site. Be sure to check it out.