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Duplicate anchor text vs poor relevance in internal links
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We're writing a number of blog posts, all based around a particular head-term (call it "women's widgets"). Each post will be centered around a different long-tail keyword (e.g. "women's brandA widgets", "women's brandB widgets", "women's type1 widgets", etc.). We want to link from the blog posts back to the main "women's widgets" category-level page on our site. Should we:
a) Use the words "women's widgets" in each blog post and link that to the "women's widgets" page? This would be the most relevant, but it also seems like using the same anchor text on all of the posts, and linking to the main page, is not good since Google doesn't like seeing the same exact anchor text all the time, right?
b) Link the long-tail keyword ("women's brandA widgets") to the main "women's widgets" page? That would solve the anchor text duplication issue, but then the anchor text doesn't seem relevant to the page being linked to (it might never mention "brandA" on that main page at all), and I think it would also hurt the blog post's chances of ranking for the long-tail keyword since we're basically saying that there's a more relevant page for that keyword somewhere else (i.e. you shouldn't link out from a page using the phrase you're trying to optimize that page for).
c) Link a nearby word/phrase instead? For example, we could say "Trust Companyname.com for your women's widget needs", and link "Companyname.com" to the "women's widget" page. By proximity to the keyword phrase, that may help a bit, but again the relevancy of the anchor text to the page being linked to is fairly low. I'd hate to have a bunch of "click here", "read this" or "company name" anchor texts being used, just in the name of not overusing the head-term in the anchor text.
Are we just missing something, or misunderstanding Google's preferences? What do you do when you don't want to overuse a keyword in anchor text, but you still want to link to a main category-level page using the head-term in order to tell Google that that is the most relevant, best page for that keyword? Is anchor text duplication more of a problem for external backlinks, and less of an issue for internal interlinking? Do you have a different suggestion, other than what I outlined above?
Thanks for the help!
John -
Those are good ways to add variant keyword links to those pages.
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That's basically what I was thinking as well, and I appreciate knowing I'm on the right track. What do you think about varying the anchor text by including nearby words like this (links would be the underlined text)?:
Brandname is one of the many brands who make women’s widgets.
For more information, visit our page about women’s widgets and check out the other brands.
If you’re considering buying women’s widgets, you can’t go wrong with Brandname widgets.
Thanks!
John -
A) Is it Women's Widgets used naturally in the posts? If you are going to use the phrase you might as well link with it. While you don't want every link on the site to have the same exact anchor text, the threshold for onsite is very, very high. It's when you get to offsite links where things get messy quickly.
B) I would not link with the long tail. This would be like claiming that you are the best golfer in the room, but then telling everyone that this other person is the best golfer in the roof. Doing it once probably wouldn't be a big deal, but I always aim to keep on the safe side of things.
C) I wouldn't use your company name as the link, but you could use words in close proximity. This could help keep things well rounded.
Another thing to consider is the overall frequency. If you have 5 pages using the exact match link, assuming it can be used naturally, then it isn't a big deal. If you have 20+, then I would definitely consider keeping things well rounded with proximity links.
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