Should I request backlinks to use anchor text that is page specific?
-
I work for a community college, with fairly high seo for the college in general. We have no budget for advertising specific programs, so we are trying to optimize individual pages on the website, e.g., physical therapy assistant, welding, etc. Does it make a difference if other websites use our main url, college name, or the college name plus specific program as the anchor text?
Also, I'm seeing some posts here recommending to avoid lots of directory listings. I assume that doesn't apply to industry specific directories, like nursing school directories, right?
I'm still a very new newbie and appreciate your advice.
-
Sure. It make sense. You can and should suggest the page and yes, that will channel the Page Rank to that page so it will bring the needed SEO value.
Google is on a big crusade right now related with links - you just need to be careful not to overdo anything (over optimization and so on) but if you keep everything in a natural way - you are safe no matter what.
-
Thanks! It is ok to ask them to link to a specific page, though, right? So for instance, if we find a site with info about how to become a firefighter, we could ask them to link directly to our fire training program. That would help our seo of that specific page, wouldn't it?
-
Hi,
I would always go with a link that I am not able to influence the anchor text - that is what Google can calla natural link.
If you start optimizing anchor texts you will end up with an un-natural link profile and it can backfire.
Ask for a link, but let them decide how to implement it - you will end up with a health link profile in this way.
As for the directories - there are only a few that can be considered ok. Specific directories could be good as long as are not made for SEO. If you go with a submit ion make sure you assess the directory first: if it's under penalty, if you do get any value for that link (ref feral or/and SEO value and mor importantly what are your neighbors - other links hosted on the directory). Some time however doing the assessment in order toe tay safe can result in a negative ROI with the time spent on it. But if you don't really have other options it can be a good place to start. Again, don't over do it - have a good , low ratio of directory links.
One last thing about directories: if they let you choose an anchor text for the link - don't use that directory It's a made for SEO one and even if it's not penalized now - it will in the future.:)
Hope it helps as a general overview.
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
-
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 -
Landing pages rank higher thank home page
Ive been tasked to work on several sites from a client that had some shady past seo work done for them. Weak content, tons of useless links all pointing to home page, etc. Ive gone through site and given a total re-write and worked on removing and dissavowing links. Majority of the sites home page ranked high on first page google. Now the sites are closer to 100 rank than first page, and the odd thing is that home page cant be found but pages like terms and conditions or disclaimer are ranking. These pages have hardly no content compared to home pages, and while they are still ranked 80 to 100 positions back they are ranking while the home page cant be found. We have tried changing anchor text to "click here", and "for more info" instead of keyword and nothing much changed yet. Competition still has pretty much keyword anchor text and worthless links and they still rank well. Am I wasting time with rewrites and link dissavows or should I continue and eventually get the sites home page to come back on the radar? We have added social media presence and a blog that we post to regularly and for 6 months of work have hardly seen a dent for improved rankings. Am I on the right page or spinning my wheels? Any advise is appreciated.
Link Building | | anthonytjm0 -
Using Schema markup for backlinks
Hi, Is there any benefits for using schema markup for backlinks. Using for Article directory submission,Drupal Submission etc.. mUz1umK.png?1
Link Building | | ruddyhapiq0 -
Home Page & Most Important Category Page Cannibalizing Each Other
OK, so here goes. We have an odd situation on our hands. Our website sells a product technically known as "nail polish strips". We are a small player at the moment, but the reviews we've gotten in "side-by-side" comparisons vs. the big boys have been crazy, and literally always in our favor. Now the issue..... The best way to describe our product as mentioned above is they are Nail Polish Strips. Our domain name includes the term "Nail Strips" in it. Of the 200+ bloggers that have done reviews and provided us links, about 80% or so have linked to the home page, most just using our websites name, some have been nice enough to actually use keyword terms like nail polish strips. Moral of the story, for the term nail polish strips, our link profile would indicate to the google machine that our home page is stronger for this term. THE BIG ISSUE HOWEVER...... Our main category on the site that shows products is the page we originally intended to optimize for the term Nail Polish Strips. And our aim was going to be to optimize our home page for something else, like maybe plain old Nail Strips. THE BIGGER ISSUE...... At any given moment, Google is having a hard time figuring it out. Based on our link profile, we should be on page one, but what we're seeing is today, it's our Nail Polish Strips category page that ranks for that term, and tomorrow that listing will be replaced with our home page. Literally, last night the home page was on the top of page two, and today, the category page is on the middle of page two. They keep flip flopping. Sometimes they both appear within the first 3 pages, sometimes only one appears on page two, the other drops out of the top 10 pages. OUR THINKING IS....... Our home page obviously has more strength and if the google machine is even implying they like it for that term, we might as well accommodate that. Keyword spy shows this term has a volume of around 18,000 searches. The term isn't hugely competitive, so we planned to 301-redirect the current category page URL that is competing with the home page, to the home page, and re-create and optimize the category page for something different, like Nail Polish Stickers or something to that effect. THE FINAL ISSUE....... The term stickers in this industry as it relates to our product has been the victim of a negative PR campaign because the big boys (or girls) are trying to say "Nail Stickers" are garbage as opposed to "Nail Polish Strips". The problem is Nail Stickers gets a lot more traffic. So we figured, we'd optimize the category page for Nail Polish Stickers, and explain in the text, that despite what some of our competitors say, just because we're using the word "stickers" to describe them, doesn't mean they are bad, so on and so forth. I ONLY MENTION THIS SO YOU SEE WHY I'M HESITANT TO PULL THE TRIGGER ON OUR ABOVE FIX. I know this is long, and I'm not doing a great job of putting it in to words, but any insight will help. I'm supposed to pull the trigger today or tomorrow on this re-direct and new strategy, but don't want to do so until I get some of my fellow ninja's opinions.
Link Building | | AarcMediaGroup0 -
All on-page and off-page tips are appreciated
http://www.business-baltics.com what would you change in terms of on page seo? Should all categories have a longer introduction text + an image that reflect that category? Most companies don't have any text in their profile for example: http://www.business-baltics.com/baltmar-trade-ou-503456 All content is paid (if they don't pay they don't get a chance to introduce themselves) ... how would you improve the rankings of companies like that? By the way I cannot change that, it is the company policy. Should we make a chance for people to "vote" for a company that google would have the stars next to all companies. Would that help to get more visits from Google? How should we rank better in Yandex and Baidu? (Baidu sent 1 visitor in last month). And yes we have the chinese language... Yandex is improving but we are not getting the results we want. Thank you for all your tips.
Link Building | | MarkasKR0 -
How do I find what backlinks have disappeared?
I have seen a decrease in backlinks, how do I figure out which ones are no longer there?
Link Building | | EcommerceSite0 -
Does google really care if anchor text is the "brand name"?
I have read a lot about how it is a good idea to build links with your "brand name" as the anchor text. I am somewhat skeptical about all this. I suspect that the only thing that you need to do is have a wide variety of anchor text, some no follow links, and some links without any anchor text at all or just your URL. IDoes anyone have an opinion on this? Also I am somewhat confused about what a "brand name" is anyway. Obviolusly it applies to words like "Apple Computers" or seomoz but can I "make" my own name, i.e. Paul W. Matthews, into a "brand Name" aulby putting it in the title of my home page and just using it a lot as anchor text? If yes, is this a good idea? thanks, Paul
Link Building | | diogenes0 -
I have a Question about open site explorer.Specifically the top pages tab
When i hover the little question mark icon it says "target the best pages to maximize link building.See top pages on the subdomain according to Page authority." Could someone explain this to me.And how do i target the best pages.I'm beginning my second trial week of SEO moz so please excuse me if I sound like a beginner! Thanks in advance PCtechGuy2012
Link Building | | PCTechGuy20120