Impact of slight character variations in anchor text
-
Does anyone have experience of how Google deals with slight character variations, e.g. Facade v Façade?
From an SEO perspective, are these treated as two completely separate words or is Google clever enough to determine the intent of the searcher & the site?
-
I watched a few SEOmoz webinars and Rand Fishkin mentions a bit about keyword vectors, which were explained to be a matrix of sorts that groups keywords with related words. The example given was a key word snowboard is associated with mountain, snow, cabin, etc., so I'm sure Facade and Façade are closely associated, but they're apparently treated as different terms when it comes to search results--just try searching for both Facade and Façade separately (and together) and you'll get different results. I'd venture to guess that versions of words like cafe and café, resume and résumé are prioritized by location and local language, but I'll need someone to confirm that.
I write copy in Chinese and English, but since I am not a native Chinese speaker, I creatively include all versions of questionable terms in anchor text and the content body at least once. To find the variation of the term I want to use consistently, I first check the local dictionary, ask my target audience, and then do a search of all variations in different search engines to decide where I want to rank highest. I've been happy with the long term results.
-
I did a quick search for Facade and Façade and Google is able to understand the difference and display the correct results and it didn't asked me to correct the word. Google's language detection technology is pretty good. If you use Google translation then there might be some instances where you may not get 1x1 translation of the sentence but it is better than other tools available.
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
-
Negative SEO impact of two Similar Domains on Same IP
Our ecommerce company has acquired a former competitor which has similar content & largely sells the same set of products. Both domains run on the same ecommerce platform version and do well organically on an overlapping set of keywords. Currently the websites are separate instances which are hosted separately. There is no interlinking or cross branding between the sites. Since each brand has strong equity & SEO, there are no plans to combine brands or domains. For several reasons, it would be ideal to combine platform instances and hosting, but we are concerned about potential SEO impact of shared IP addresses. Is it likely that moving the sites to the same IP/C-Block could have a negative SEO impact since they rank on the same keywords. Would Google devalue one site if they were seen to be connected or owned by the same company? I know this issue has been addressed for domains with more variance between products and content, but since there is a large overlap (but not duplicate content) between our two domains, we wanted additional insight. Obviously there are other SEO factors when you move a site, but we are currently trying to understand this specific factor. Thanks Community for your help! -Amber
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AmberHanson0 -
SEO impact: Link categories on the description of the products
Hi, Is there any positive or negative SEO impact if I link product categories on the description of the products? Ex: At the product page of the Passenger Car Blue, a link to the Passenger Car category of the website on the product description. Or this is more a UX question?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Tiedemann_Anselm
The product page already has a breadcrumb on top. Thanks!0 -
Linking Same Page using Important Keyword as Anchor?
I have came across sites that links to same page from a textual part using their topmost keywords. What is the benefit of linking same page using anchor as keywords to the same page? Does it give SEO benefits?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | welcomecure0 -
Suspected hacking - Google has detected that some of your pages may contain hidden text or cloaking
I got below message from google, But I did not see any hidden text, Please check it. http://www.astrologerravisharma.com/: Suspected hacking Google has detected that some of your pages may contain hidden text or cloaking, techniques that are outside our Webmaster Guidelines. Specifically, we detected that your site may have been modified by a third party. Typically, the offending party gains access to an insecure directory that has open permissions. Many times, they will upload files or modify existing ones, which then show up as spam in our index. Sample URLs: http://www.astrologerravisharma.com/ http://www.astrologerravisharma.com/about-us/ http://www.astrologerravisharma.com/achievements/ Recommended action Clean up the hacked content so that your site meets Google's Webmaster Guidelines.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bondhoward0 -
Are these Bad Internal Links/Anchor Text?
Hi my site www.over50choices.co.uk is 4 months old and I wondered whether my "Quick Links" section (right hand column) on 95% of my pages with the same/similar anchor text was not best practice ie should I vary the anchor text & the target locations more? ( they tend to point to my top 6 pages) They were set up originally to make the customer experience easy to find things but from what i have read Google doesnt like too many links looking the same ! I also have 3 Graphics (cross sales messages) just above the foot of most (not the home page) pages, linking to my 3 key value pages, all with similar Alt Text tags, again should i vary the alt text or is not a good idea to have this type of link on every page? What is best practice, as i am trying to balance the visual/customer experience whilst optimising for search? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AshShep1
Ash0 -
Do Internal Link Anchor Text Count Towards Overall Ratio?
I have a few pages that have dropped in rankings recently. I suspect it is because of the ratio of the anchor text. For example, you have 20 links pointing to page site.com/mens-jeans.html, and 15 have the anchor text "mens jeans". If I am looking to dilute the exact match anchor text, will the internal links count? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | inhouseseo0 -
Convert keyword rich PDFs to web pages (text & images)
SteriPEN is a portable water purifier that kills viruses, protozoa, e-coli, etc. Because of the technical and safety requirements nature of the product, our website has much documentation of testing, organisms affected, and more. These are in pdf form and can often be found through google search (and through links on specific pages). Because of the keyword-richness of these documents pertaining to microbes SteriPEN kills, etc. does it make sense to convert these pdf's into html text and images? Then I was thinking perhaps writing a blog post AND generating key links on important landing pages to these documents (as html). Removing pdfs may be harmful? Not a clue as to the cost/benefit.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Timmmmy0 -
How can we minimize the SEO impact during a major platform migration?
We are preparing for a major platform migration with an ecommerce client. The website is in the range of 7000 pages. During this migration, all URLs will change due to differences in the platform and improvements to the site structure. Unfortunately, they run on a Microsoft server, so doing 301 redirects also tends to be a painful process. What can we do to minimize the initial dent this puts in the website traffic? We are prepared to submit XML sitemaps to Google and Bing as soon as the new site is live. writing 301 redirects for all pages which have inbound links (this is tough to automate due to the URL structures). In the long run, we expect the new platform, URL structure, and site architecture to be a huge improvement for our organic rankings. The client and we are worried about the transition period though! Any tips or advice to help us through it? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | outofboundsdigital0