Subject: Brand anchor text distribution. Does the HP url classify as brand anchor?

[Turkey]

Hi guys, I just wanted to know what your take is on this and whether anyone knows if google has published any info on this.

I am wanting to analyse a fairly large backlink profile. The idea is to discover how far it correlates alongside recent SERPS ranking data (based on anchor text distribution) information that has been published across the web.

There is so much data to categorise and segment. This is due to overlaps in categorisation, (which is possibly a good thing as it appears more natural) though I often it difficult to decide which goes where.

My question today relates to brand anchor text - in determining the % of overall brand distribution for a backlink profile -

Which out of the below do you think rings true?

1.) Should I be considering the homepage url anchor text as a branded link anchor?

2.) Should the brand % just be 'pure brand' anchor text?

3.) Should it contain partial brand + KWD data?

4.) Should it comprise of all of the above elements?

5.) Should I divvy up / segment partial brand, pure brand, brand + kwd, citations etc into new sub categories and see how this individual data correlates to current ranking factors in the SERPS? (Not sure if there is any recent published data in this amount of detail)

Anyway, I just wondered what you guys thought about this in the eyes of Google., and also to find out how you go about classifying and segmenting backlink profile data.

Thanks for now

[Turkey]

Thanks Dana, I just needed a bit of affirmation really - which you certainly provided.

I believe the brand anchor should be segmented under the umbrella - the difficulty is getting an accurate % that may correlate with rankings across multiple niches - a bit of an algo chase admittedly(well a small part of it anyhow!)

I survived thanksgiving this year! I hope that you didn't feast on any relations.

[danatanseo]

Hi Turkey! (that's a fun username for this weekend for us folks in the USA!)

I saw this question a couple of days ago and just noticed that no one has responded so I'm jumping in. I am just going to first answer each question one at a time:

1.) Should I be considering the homepage url anchor text as a branded link anchor?

Yes, definitely.

2.) Should the brand % just be 'pure brand' anchor text?

Not necessarily. That is going to depend on how you handle your organization based on these next questions.

3.) Should it contain partial brand + KWD data?

Yes, definitely.

4.) Should it comprise of all of the above elements?

Yes, definitely.

5.) Should I divvy up / segment partial brand, pure brand, brand + kwd, citations etc into new sub categories....

Your last question I would take on a case by case basis depending on the depth and breadth of the brand itself, the size of the website, number of SKUs (if e-commerce), etc. If you have a brand like "Chevrolet," for example, of course you are going to have categorized subrands like "Corvette" etc. On the other hand if your brand is a smaller family-run business, maybe doing business in a particular location, you might be able to consolidate all of your "branded" terms to simply be anything that includes the brand name + anything else (including the URL). This will also depend on your resources. Obviously if you have a smaller company with limited resources, breaking all your branded terms into subcategories may just be too much to manage. Again that will be a decision dependent on your business size and business model.

I hope that helps get the discussion started! Good luch,

Dana