As you may already know, linking is an essential part of an Internet Marketing plan. But what you might not know is that just getting a link from a well positioned web site isn’t enough…

The use of keywords in linking text and how your site is listed is hugely important. Linking text, sometimes called anchor text is the clickable text that takes people to another page or resource. You need to choose that text carefully. You should also consider how you can add keyword phrases before and after the anchor text also, because search engines look at that too!

Having a link to your site that shows your company name or web site name in the anchor text will only help your listing for that text. Using keyword phrases in linking text is a much better option and Adding keyword text before and after your “keyword phrased” anchor text is even better option!

There are two reasons:

  • Keyword rich text is more attractive to humans. A casual reader may see “Achieve Web Design” and say so what? By using the title “Denver Web Design & Internet Marketing” I’ve told the visitor what the site is about and offered two hooks that they might be interested in – ‘Web Design’ and ‘Internet Marketing’, not to mention, I’ve targeted my placement for search results in the Denver area. As a result the click through rate will be higher. 
  • The text that links to a particular page gives Google and other search engines clues as to what the page is about. “Web Design & Internet Marketing” provides little information while giving a location for these service.

In highly competitive situations the extra “points” that Google gives can mean the difference from appearing on the first page of results and appearing nowhere.

Therefore to embark on an effective link building campaign you must be aware of your important keyword phrases and incorporate them into your titles and linking text. You also need to influence the words external webmasters use to link to you.

Title text

Including keywords in title text is attractive to human visitors as well as being a fundamental search engine marketing tactic. Your title also has the opportunity to influence the words that an external webmaster may use when linking to your site.

If your title is meaningful and useful, another webmaster is likely copy it, or at least edit it rather than go to the trouble of creating their own linking text.

Linking text

There are two types of linking text to consider – internal and external. As far as Google is concerned, internal and external linking text are both important.

The internal linking text that you use is completely within your control so you have opportunities to use keyword rich linking text. Yet many people overlook this and use lazy phrases such as “home”, “click here” and/or “read more”. Avoid these phrases and use keyword rich linking text instead.

Introducing variety into linking text is also a good tactic. Good writing in English uses a variety of different ways to say the same thing and keep the reader interested.

Likewise in linking text, use variety. This keeps readers interested and also provides additional information for search engines.

External linking text

This is the linking text that sits on external sites and links to your web site. You may think that you’re at the mercy of other webmasters in how they link to your site, but there are many situations where you can control the external text that links to you.

These include:

  • Reciprocal links where you can ask for specific linking text to be used.
  • Directory listings where you have editorial control and can specify the exact linking text that points to your site.
  • Listing on subsidiary and partner sites
  • In bylines to articles that you publish. Many sites will allow you to specify not only the linking text but the text that surrounds the link.
  • Links that you buy will always allow you to specify linking text and will nearly always allow you extra descriptive text.
  • Add your link page We are interested in trading links with all sites of “related” content. We first ask that you place our link and listing as shown below on your site before sending us yours.Please use the following code when adding our link and listing:

     

    <b><a href=”http://www.achieveweb.com/” title=”Denver Web Design & Internet Marketing” target=”new”>Denver Web Page Design & Internet Marketing Company:</a><br> <font size=”-1″> Achieve Web Design & Internet Marketing offers <a href=”http://www.achieveweb.com/services”>professional Web design</a> and <a href=”http://www.achieveweb.com/marketing”>aggressive Internet marketing</a></font></b>

    Our link listing will look like this:

    Denver Web Design & Internet Marketing:
    Achieve Web Design & Internet Marketing offers professional Web design and aggressive Internet marketing

    Once we have vistited your site and see our link, we will then add yours to our site.

Once you other sites begin linking to your site using this type of linking techique, you’ll start seeing the results!