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the case of this undated post on seochat, you can see that it's referencing Rand's post of 2011 which put's it way, way out of date, or at least, it's referencing very old material.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
-
Log-in page ranking instead of homepage due to high traffic on login page! How to avoid?
Hi all, Our log-in page is ranking in SERP instead of homepage and some times both pages rank for the primary keyword we targeted. We have even dropped. I am looking for a solution for this. Three points here to consider is: Our log-in page is the most visited page and landing page on the website. Even there is the primary keyword in this page or not; same scenario continues Log-in page is the first link bots touch when they crawling any page of our website as log-in page is linked on top navigation menu If we move login page to sub-domain, will it works? I am worrying that we loose so much traffic to our website which will be taken away from log-in page sub domain Please guide with your valuable suggestions. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Agency footer link, do we keep it ?
Hello ! I was wondering if it's still a good idea to let a do-follow link on the bottom of agency released websites. Because they obvisouly come from different websites with no link with a web marketing agency. Do we have to keep them in the footer in no-follow ? If we do so, how to get some link juice from the different websites ? It sounds a bit stupid but one of my partners went from PR7 to PR5 recently. I guess Penguin 2.0 did not like all its links from its customers' website. Tks a lot !
Algorithm Updates | | AymanH0 -
How on earth is a site with ONE LINK ranking so well for a competitive keyword?
Ok, so I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm asking about in my question. The query is 'diy kitchens' in Google UK and the website is kitchens4diy[dot]com - which is ranking in third from my viewing. The thing is, the site has just ONE BACKLINK and has done for a good while. Yet, it's ranking really well. What gives?
Algorithm Updates | | Webrevolve0 -
Can Ecommerce help with Keyword Rankings?
I am curious to know if an ecommerce website plays a role in higher rankings. we have been struggling for some time on a term and all of our competitors have an online shopping cart. we have a custom magento website with a request a quote form as our products are very costly. (range from $500 - $250,000). Is there something we can add to the code to help boost our rankings?
Algorithm Updates | | hfranz0 -
Will we no longer need Location + Keyword? Do we even need it at all?
Prepare yourselves. This is a long question. With the rise of schema and Google Local+, do you think Google will now have enough data about where a business is located, so that when someone searches for, a keyword such as "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" a business in Atlanta that's website: has been properly marked up with schema (or microdata for business location) has claimed its Google Local+ has done enough downstream work in Local Search listings for its NAP (name, address, phone number) will no longer have to incorporate variations of "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" in the text on the website? Could they just write enough great content about how they're a Hyundai dealership without the abuse of the Atlanta portion? Or if they're in Boston and they're a dentist or lawyer, could the content be just about the services they provided without so much emphasis tied to location? I'm talking about removing the location of the business from the text in all places other than the schema markup or the contact page on the website. Maybe still keep a main location in the title tags or meta description if it would benefit the customer. I work in an industry where location + keywords has reached such a point of saturation, that it makes the text on the website read very poorly, and I'd like to learn more about alternate methods to keep the text more pure, read better and still achieve the same success when it comes to local search. Also, I haven't seen other sites penalized for all the location stuffing on their websites, which is bizarre because it reads so spammy you can't recognize where the geotargeted keywords end and where the regular text begins. I've been working gradually in this general direction (more emphasis on NAP, researching schema, and vastly improving the content on clients' websites so it's not so heavy with geo-targeted keywords). I also ask because though the niche I work in is still pretty hell-bent on using geo-targeted keywords, whenever I check Analytics, the majority of traffic is branded and geo-targeted keywords make up only a small fraction of traffic. Any thoughts? What are other people doing in this regard?
Algorithm Updates | | EEE30 -
How to Link a Network of Sites w/o Penguin Penalties (header links)
I work for a network of sites that offer up country exclusive content. The content for the US will be different than Canada, Australia, Uk, etc.… but with the same subjects. Now to make navigation easy we have included in the header of every page a drop down that has links to the other countries, like what most of you do with facebook/twitter buttons. Now every page on every site has the same link, with the same anchor text. Example: Penguins in Canada Penguins in Australia Penguins in the USA Because every page of every site has the same links (it's in the header) the "links containing this anchor text" ratio is through the roof in Open Site Explorer. Do you think this would be a reason for penguin penalization? If you think this would hurt you, what would you suggest? no follow links? Remove the links entirely and create a single page of links? other suggestions?
Algorithm Updates | | BeTheBoss0 -
Keyword density and meta tags
Hi, I've just checked the number of keywords appearing on my website's pages. On some of them the keyword density was way too high (7-10%) if you included the meta tags, but all under 3.5% if I didn't include the keywords and description meta tags. So my question is - when looking at number of keywords used per page, do I have to worry about what's in those meta tags? Do the keywords in there count towards keyword density / number of keywords per page? Thanks, Luke
Algorithm Updates | | McTaggart0