Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Changing backlinks anchor text
-
Hi,
I've read a few blog post here that suggests the strength of building links using your brand as an anchor text. This supposedly gives the site authority. Currently a chunck of the back links to my homepage are on generic terms i'm trying to rank for which doesn't seem to be working very well. I was thinking of contacting the various webmasters to change the anchor text to that of the site brand name but wondering if this will signal a manipulation of links to the search engines and potentially could be flagged as paid links?
Has anybody done this before and what is the danger of doing this?
Thanks
Duke
-
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated guys.
Duke
-
What's your percentage of exact match links in your overall link landscape? Is it over 20% (I would assume lower, but this is the number I've been hearing)? If so, you are probably over-optimized for your phrase. The best action would be to change the links to either your brand, or more preferably, to a similar phrase.
However, if you have less than 10% exact matching links, I wouldn't change those at all. Exact match is still beneficial for ranking (but I doubt it will be forever), and you would actually have some room to grow with them.
With that in mind, remember to:
- Not focus on just one keyword at a time. Gaining 50 Exact links in a row makes it obvious they aren't natural
- Use variations of your keyword, as well as exact.
- If it's your homepage, get a bunch of Brand links.
- Keep a couple poorly optimized links in there (unless they are from high quality sites!)
-
Hi Duke
Thanks for the further info.
As the objective is to not rank better for brand terms, so rather it is to rank better for Non-brand terms, then it doesn't make any sense to focus inbound links on brand terms within the anchor text. That can be counter-productive towards those important Non-brand terms.
Brand is one of many factors when it comes to Search, which you seem to know already. The more brand mentions and links on brand terms, the more authority that brand acquires, in theory.
However that doesn't necessarily benefit Non-brand search.
So all-in-all, my advice is to focus link efforts on a natural blend of Brand and Non-brand links, catering for both is important. Don't worry too much about changing existing branded links to non-brand, instead, focus on both types of links and anchor text moving forwards.
With best regards
Simon
-
Hi Simon,
Many thanks for your answer. The objective is not actually to rank better for the brand term. I thinking along the lines of the link profile and how many of the achor text used are the brand compared to generic terms that we are trying to rank for. Apparently, there is the move towards rewarding inbound links on brand terms than generic term so the advise to webmasters is to build more links on their brand terms.
Hope this clears my question up.
Best regards
Duke
-
Hi there
Changing the anchor text of inbound links that's already optimized for your non-brand target keywords will risk in reducing your rankings for those keywords; obviously depends on factors such as the quality of those inbound links, competition...
If you are already ranking top for your brand, then this doesn't seem like a worthwhile exercise to do, unless Brand is everything to your business. If your brand is not ranking well, then by all means go for it for some existing inbound links.
If you can identify any inbound links on anchor text such as 'click here' or 'visit the website' then by all means try to get that anchor text changed, if the link is worth it.
In most cases, I'd suggest focusing on acquiring new relevant medium & high quality inbound links (natural links that is, not paid) with a variety of relevant anchor text, including both brand and non-brand. This would be time better spent compared to changing existing links that may not help to achieve your goals; increasing the number of relevant visitors to your site.
Hope that helps,
Regards
Simon
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Blog post outreach for backlinks
Hi all, My understanding of obtaining backlinks by way of blogpost outreach is that it's best to include several outbound links to related high domain websites within blog post copy (as well as a link to the website you're marketing, obviously) such as this post https://www.scoopearth.com/why-should-you-use-royalty-free-music-for-youtube-videos/ or this one https://small-bizsense.com/how-to-create-quality-content-for-your-business/. However, I've recently read a few articles that suggest that from a human perspective only having one clear link in the copy, such as this post https://www.clichemag.com/entertainment/movies/the-benefits-of-royalty-free-cinematic-music-for-your-videos/, increases the chance of the reader visiting the site in question. I guess the thinking is that if there's only one link to be clicked on it increases the chances of click-thru, as opposed to the reader possibly clicking on another external link that's only there because of current SEO advice. So is it best to follow SEO guidelines and include several outbound links within guest blog posts, or is it better to only have the one link to your client's site (to focus the readers attention on it)?
Link Building | | JCN-SBWD0 -
Can Foreign Language Backlinks Be Valuable?
I've done a lot of searching on this subject, but I keep seeing conflicting answers. Are backlinks from foreign language websites valuable? For example, a travel website in English picks up a couple backlinks in Indonesian language (and other languages) from foreign sites that have a DA of 60-70 or higher. The topic is partially related, but the language is totally different. Would those links still be valuable for the English website's DA? Has this ever been answered conclusively? Thanks
Link Building | | David56751 -
Nofollow backlinks - are they worth it?
As we all attempt to get backlinks for the sites we manage, I have to wonder if it's worth it at all to get a nofollow backlink. Does Google give and positive credit for a link to a site if it is a nofollow link? Obviously, the follow links are worth pursuing. I'm just trying to gain some perspective. Thanks, Wick
Link Building | | wcksmith10 -
Are Sidebar Backlinks worth for SEO?
Hello! Let's use the following example: I have a blog (let's call it Blog A) and I find another blog in the same niche (this will be Blog B) that has higher DA and PA than mine. Will Google penalize me if the Blog B puts a link to my blog in their sidebar? Remember, the Blog A and Blog B are from the same niche. I ask this because Google says that links on sidebars appears in every page and in some pages the link may be useless. But if both blogs are from the same niche, there won't be pages where the links will be from different themes and with less relevance. So, is my thought correct: we can use sidebar links without caring about penalization ONLY if the blogs are from the same niche? Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | btqkelvin0 -
Does iframe itself count as a backlink?
Our situation is similar to YouTube. We have an original content on every subpage that is genuinely useful when embedded as a widget on 3r party websites. That is why we offer an embeddable widget that shows slightly simplified version of the content - exactly like a YouTube video embedded on your blog. The embed code is simply an iframe sourcing from our subpage: <iframe src="wikibudgets.org/subpage"></p> </blockquote> <p>1/ Does the iframe itself pass any link value at all to the subpage?</p> <p>2/ If yes, what would be the equivalent of anchor text in iframe?</p> <p>3/ If not, will any link in the subpage pass link value from the 3rd party website to my domain/subpage?</p> <p>4/ If not, will I be punished/rewarded if I ask users to put a visible, unobfuscated link to the subpage below the iframe?</p> <blockquote style="background: #f7f7f7; padding-top: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-bottom: 5px; white-space: nowrap; overflow-y: auto; font-family: monospace;"> <p><iframe src="wikibudgets.org/subpage" /><a href="wikibudgets.org/subpage">rich anchor text</a></p> </blockquote></iframe>
Link Building | | wikiBudgets0 -
Does backlinks in images equal naked backlinks?
I've discovered few backlinks in images came from websites points to my home page. What is the value of these links?
Link Building | | Eslam-yosef0 -
Trading Backlinks a good idea?
New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry. We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links. Is this a good link building practice anymore? Thanks!
Link Building | | asa-php0 -
What is the best pinging service for my backlinks?
I am looking for a good pinging service that indexes my backlinks fast. After doing some research I found linklicious, backlinksindexer and pingfarm among others. My quesiton: do those services still work and if yes, which one is the best one out there at the moment. Thanks for the help.
Link Building | | Romaine0