The Best Way To Anchor Correctly

One of my best online friends has always been Griz. Griz has many great websites helping people all around the world with their niches and their knowledge about making money online with Adsense.

Over the years I have been online I have learned a lot from Grizzly and even though I don’t know the guy in person, I trust him. Rarely has a blogger been more helpful than Griz and even though I know that he will probably blush if he reads this, I say “thanks Griz, you simply rock man!”.

The reason though I wrote this post is not to sing praises about Griz and his Make Money Online websites. Instead I wanted to touch on the subject of linking to others and why there is a right and not so right way.

I understand that many online users couldn’t care less about how they link and that is fine. But for those of you who do and endeavor to rank your sites on search engines, take a minute to think about the others like you who have the same target in mind.

The best way you can show your appreciation to another blogger or website owner is by using the correct anchor links when linking to that person’s site.

If you link to Sue with her name only, chances are that this link will not help Sue to gain better search engine rankings because nobody searches for Sue (except herself or her friends and family). In SEO terms, this anchor text means nothing and won’t do jack to help Sue get ranked for her target keyword which in our example is “home cooking“.

Here is what Griz says about proper anchored backlinks:

Anchored Backlinks = backlinks that use your keyword (main or long tails) in the text portion of the backlink. The term “anchor” refers to the actual text used in the link. The link below is a backlink pointing from this blog to my Make Money Online with Grizzly blog. It is linked to a page on the site that I want to rank well in the serp’s for the term “niche support”. As you can see the text used (the anchor text) in the link is for the term I want to rank for. If I had just used the words “Grizzly’s blog” in the anchor then I would get help ranking for that term instead. I don’t want to rank for terms that people don’t search for – like “Grizzly’s Blog”. Who would use that term in the search query if they were looking for help with their niches?

Therefore you want to use the other person’s target keyword (or a variation of it) when you link to them, especially if they helped you, inspired you or are your friends.

Some people might not do this out of spite because they think they are better off without competition but for starters, it is one link you are giving and not hundreds and seconds, we can all do with a little proper link love from time to time.

I write about this because I still see so many people linking to others the wrong way and I figure that they might need a little help from a friend to get their education right. Every blogger that learns about SEO is a blogger that helps others achieve a small step toward their goal.

So, you are not sure how to link with proper anchor text?

I understand. If you are new to the online circus (hehehe…it can be trust me) you probably have no clue on how to link correctly to other bloggers. Here are some tips to point you in the right direction:

1. Look for their title tag keyword/s: The title tag is the very top bar in your Internet browser. On there you see text, also called title tag. This tag often contains the bloggers targeted keyword/s and is a good starting placed if you are not sure what to use in your anchor link text.
2. Ask them. Chances are that they will be overjoyed that you care enough to link to them correctly (in their eyes and search engine eyes anyway).
3. Look at the keyword in the actual title of their post. Sometimes they are used and at others they are not. You know they are being used if the keyword coincides with the posts content.
4. Check their blog description. If their home page title tag and their description contain the same keyword you are sure to be onto a winner – usually anyway.

Linking correctly with proper anchor text mustn’t be hard, complicated or hard to do. It is dead easy and only requires a minute of your time in checking the other bloggers title tag. Try it, you will be guaranteed to make some new friends using this tactic.

Monika