Does the page title keyword count in anchor text when link is web address?
-
If someone links to my plumbing site with this link as the anchor text:
http://www.plumbers.com/austin-plumbers.html
does the key phrase "austin plumbers" get counted in the anchor text by google or is this a sample of anchor text that google ignores?
Thanks mozzers!
Ron
-
Yes, Its count. I remember once Matt had explained about (-) and (_) in to the URL formation. It means there is something for URL formation. It's also true by logic of search engines.
-
I think everybody has made valid points. I would suggest what you need to take away from the discussion is this:
- Google is placing more and more focus on natural links - therefor there are some SEOs suggesting that anchor text 'Click here' or 'www.domain.com' holds more authority than 'PLUMBING PLUMBERS PLUMB'. Extreme example... but you see my point
- It's true that keywords in domains are getting less and less emphasis, partly to combat keyword stuffing in URLs but predominantly because there's no reason why www.chris.com should be any less of a plumbing authority than www.plumbing.com.
Alas, I'm rambling... the keywords in that particular anchor text wont do a great deal assuming modern theories are correct, but using the URL as the anchor text appears natural and will have positive influence.
Like all SEO, these are just opinions though! good luck
-
The article is quoted as a resource for the op to catch up on the subject, and since Seomoz's Ranking Factors edition is biennial, 2011's edition is the closest we've got.
And sure external link's anchors and URL keywords importance has declined over time, but they still are heavy ranking factors (not even Cutts would deny that ;).
-
You always gotta pay attention to posts like that. Personally, if an SEO-related post isn't dated, I don't pay attention to it. In the case of this undated post on seochat, you can see that it's referencing Rand's post of 2011 which put's it way, way out of date, or at least, it's referencing very old material. However, if you look at the big graphic on the referenced Rand Fishkin post of 2011, it is making a prediction of the future of search and in it, you'll see that, he was predicting that as a ranking factor, the value of kewords in the URL would drop significantly.
I think most SEO's who are up to date with their info would agree that the value anchor text in links like you describe is diminishing in value and looking into the future, you're better of not making widespread use of it.
-
Sure it counts, that's one of the reasons that give value to keyword rich domain names, people tend to link using the URL as anchor text, and in this case they would be using your targeted keyword (besides having it in every URL).
Check here for more info: http://www.seochat.com/c/a/google-optimization-help/keywords-in-domain-and-links-as-google-ranking-factors/
-
Those words in the URL can add some relevance to the link but I suspect it's not much. You're not likely to get a whole lot of links like that, though.
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
-
Keyword cannibalization or linking structure?
Hi all, Recently I got an answer from this community about "why our login page is ranking but not my homepage for primary keyword"? Possibilities are keyword cannibalization or linking structure. In our case, our homepage is not ranking for "primary keyword" but ranking for other keywords. If it is linking structure, what might be wrong? Like do we need to unlink login page from many internal links? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Schema Mark up - Product Listing Pages
Hi I know you can add product schema to a product page, but can you add mark up to a product listing/category page? If so, which one would you use? I saw the item list mark up but didn't think this was relevant. Thank you
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
I thought META KEYWORDS tag was dead?
http://www.wpkube.com/wordpress-seo-plugin/ this article just came out as a one of the many guides to Yoast's Wordpress SEO. I am surprised it mentioned: Use meta keywords tag: Google reportedly doesn’t use the keywords that your enter for your posts but as Google isn’t the only show in town, you might want to check this box.Recommendation: check I stopped using meta keywords tag because Google doesn't use it any more, plus if you are in a competitive field by using keywords you are giving free keyword research to your competitors? Does any one still use meta keywords here? If so why? Google doesn't use keyword tags, has anyone experienced a dis-benefit to meta-keywords tag from Google ie. dropped rankings etc.?
Algorithm Updates | | vmialik2 -
Giving Follow Links is good for SEO ?
Hi Friends, In my website I am having PR 5 for my home page and I am giving 25 external links as follow link. Reason is all links are natural links so I gave as follow links. Will my website will be decrease PR in future. 1) Should I need to give as nofollow links? 2) Can I update only for reciprocal links as nofollow? In total 25 links I have 3 reciprocal links only. Your suggestions on this are important for me. I had watched couple of videos from Matt Cutts on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4UJS-LFRTU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g37bwBlifnk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg1A5wF3Ac4 Thanks for your valuable time.
Algorithm Updates | | zco_seo0 -
Direct Domain Name Anchor Text Spammy Links
Hello! I have a website that has been hit with around 120-150 spammy bookmarking sites which I believe are just scraping content from one another or were added by someone that was hired earlier or maybe some other action, but that really doesn't matter. My question is whether I should be worried about that many domains linking to the site in question with anchor text that is "www.domainname.com" and linking to the domain itself? I have done quite a few researches on this issue and the general conclusion is these don't help, but they don't hurt your rankings either. I wanted to hear from the SEOMoz community about it though. My opinion is Google doesn't take them seriously and we shouldn't worry about them, try to take them off and we should simply work on our content, guest posts, produce our generally great deals on our services and move on. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | Njave_MCP0 -
Does Word Order Matter in Local Keywords?
We do a lot of local SEO, and we're wondering if it's better to target "keyword location" or "location keyword"? Does it affect ranking and keyword difficulty if we're trying to rank for "plumbing appleton" or "appleton plumbing"? Any insight would be great.
Algorithm Updates | | optimalwebinc0 -
Not sure whether to update existing page or create a new one
Hello guys, So far I have found this Q&A to be very helpful. I have a couple of product pages on my website which rank very low in the search results. This was because in the past they were not at all optimized in terms of title, description, etc. I would like to now optimize these pages, get some inbound links to them, etc. I'm not sure whether to do this with the existing product pages or create new ones. I'm afraid that if I optimize the current pages, the low ranking from before will carry over. Would it be better to start fresh? Thank you, Pravin
Algorithm Updates | | goforgreen0 -
When did Google include display results per page into their ranking algorithm?
It looks like the change took place approx. 1-2 weeks ago. Example: A search for "business credit cards" with search settings at "never show instant results" and "50 results per page", the SERP has a total of 5 different domains in the top 10 (4 domains have multiple results). With the slider set at "10 results per page", there are 9 different domains with only 1 having multiple results. I haven't seen any mention of this change, did I just miss it? Are they becoming that blatant about forcing as many page views as possible for the sake of serving more ads?
Algorithm Updates | | BrianCC0