After doing extensive research about anchor text links, I’ve found that there is quite a bit of conflicting information on the matter. Furthermore, I’ve found that many people, much like myself, know what anchor text links are, recognize their algorithmic importance, but aren’t confident about there answers to some questions that have very serious implications. I’m hoping that some of you can help us clear this issue up for everyone.
1.) When implementing anchor text links, should you (as in everyone) use various keywords you use or should you use the same anchor text over and over again?
2.) At what point should you change the keyword that you are targeting? Should it just be based on search engine rankings for that specific keyword?
3.) I have a recent quote of Rand Fishkin saying that relevance has little to no impact on site rankings from SEOmoz Pro Q&A. I have a hard time not believing him, yet at the same time there is so much talk of relevance I don’t know what to think. Does anyone have any additional insights on the matter?
4.) According to a new study published on SEOmoz comparing Bing and Google ranking criteria, having an “exact match anchor text” is a very important ranking factor. (Check out this study if you’re a SEOmoz Pro member…It’s phenomenal!) Does this mean that I should try to anticipate what someone is going to search for and mirror that in my anchor text?
5.) To make things a little less blurry, I’ll give you an example. It would be great if everyone that reads this post will at the very least vote for A, B, C, D, or E. I will compute the data and do a follow up post that has the results. Assuming that “apartment”, “loft”, “studio”, and “rental” are all competitive keywords for an Atlanta based company, which is the best use of anchor text links?
A.) “Atlanta loft, apartment, and studio rentals”
B.) “ rent lofts in Atlanta”
C.) “Atlanta lofts”
D.) “lofts”
I hope that many of you will participate so we can get some solid answers about anchor text links.
Thanks ahead of time!
Spencer