Summary of Anchor Text and Hash Tags
-
This a summary of my understanding of anchor text and hash tags, along with a question. I'm looking for confirmation of my assumptions and an answer to the question. Here we go:
- Given these two links on a page in order, Google will use the anchor text "first"
a) First
b) a) Second
- Given these two links on a page in order, Google will use the anchor text "Second"
a) First
b) Second
- Given these three links on a page in order, Google will use the anchor text "Second" and "Third"
a) First
b) Second
c) Third
Is this consistent with your understanding of using hash tags to get around the first link rule?
Here's my question:
If I have the following 4 links on a page, does 50% of the link juice go to Page A and 50% to Page B; OR 25% to Page A and 75% to page B; OR something else?
www.example.com/Page-B.html#anchor1
www.example.com/Page-B.html#anchor2
www.example.com/Page-B.html#anchor3
Thanks in advance.
-
First of all, great question. The problem is that anchor text optimization isn't tested nearly enough by search engine professionals, and that Google evolves quickly, so it's hard to know what the best practice is or what benefits can be gained by this type of tweaking.
To address your individual examples, there is conflicting evidence.
1. This is correct
2. This experiment showed that both anchors would count in this example. But this experiment showed the opposite as did this one - indicating Google would index both anchors
3. A similar situation with this example. My best guess is all anchors would count, but it's hard to say.
There are some nuances in your question worth exploring. We can't really say how Google will flow link juice through these 4 links. (my pure guess is that pure PageRank will be spread equal among the 2, but this is only speculation.) But more importantly, there are other factors that will determine the value of these links, including:
- Position on the page - Links higher up tend to pass more weight than links further down
- Navigation vs. Content links - Where links placed in the body of context carry more weight than boilerplate (repeated links)
- Context of the links. For example, a link contained within an advertising block may not carry very much weight.
- And more... This article by Rand lays it out pretty good.
These factors have the potential to far outweigh traditional PageRank sculpting techniques you may consider. It's a fascinating area of study, and I hope we can quantify it better in the future with more experimentation.
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
-
Is it okay to leave off H1 tags?
I know that SEO uses H1 and H2 mainly and there should only be one H1 and there can be multiple H2 tags. But the site I’m reviewing generally has no H1 on a page and multiple H2 tags. The Page Title reflects the title of the page, so maybe this is okay as is? They have the styling down just so, so I don’t want to make them change it if it’s okay.
On-Page Optimization | | amybethmegjo0 -
Cannonical tag not working
I have put canonical tags on most of my pages as I'm slowly fixing the website errors that cause me to lose my rankings last July. However, when I search google for "graphene nanoplatelets" i find it shows the non canonical version. see below cut from the 2nd page of organic results. Graphene Nanoplatelets-GNPs - Cheap Tubes Inc. <cite class="_Hd">cheaptubes.com/graphene-nanoplatelets.htm</cite>High quality, low cost Graphene Nanoplatelets-GNPs.I know I put the canonical tag on the page, see code below. I do not see an error but I am an SEO rookie <title>Graphene Nanoplatelets-GNPs</title> If anyone can find an error in my canonical tag, please tell me where it is so I can fix. I know its affecting other pages as well and most should have the tag. Some non product pages don't have it yet but will as I continue fixing it.
On-Page Optimization | | cheaptubes0 -
Title Tag and Company Name
Hello everyone! The company I work for has an e-commerce site that needs to be optimized. I am starting from the title tags which are too long and need optimized for specific keywords. Thing is that each title tag contains the specific keywords for the page and the company name. My question is should I keep the company name within the title tags or should I just keep the keywords I target for those pages? How will it affect my rank? Cheers Oscar
On-Page Optimization | | PremioOscar0 -
Trying to SEO a site that used Header Tags for Design
I am trying to SEO a website that was built years ago and uses Header tags for design. The site must have 25 and tags used for design purpose. Is there any way to work around this problem? Perhaps a code that tells Google to ignore these as Headers? The web designers say that they are looking to fix the problem sometime this summer but you never know if that means it a month away or years away. I really want to help this website but I believe that the Header tags are one of the reasons that his site does not show in the top 100 rankings for any keywords. Any help would be great. www.wallybuysell.com Chris.K
On-Page Optimization | | CKerr0 -
Using H3-4 tags in the footer or sidebars: good or not?
Howdy SEOmoz fans! Is it considered a good / bad / neutral practice to include H tags in the footer, as a mean to group a few links? Take http://www.seomoz.org/ for instance: - Voted Best SEO Tool 2010! = H2
On-Page Optimization | | AxialDev
- Looking for SEO consulting? = H3
- Product and Tools = H3 Company = H3 etc. I often see the same principle applied to sidebars. I feel like because they don't contribute to the actual content structure and because they are repeated from page to page, we should avoid them, but I have nothing to back my intuition. [+] Perhaps they are helpful for usability (screen readers) and thin added value (i.e. category names that carry more weight than if they weren't headers). What do you think? Thanks for your time.1 -
Jquery in top of page vs text on bottom page
Is it the best way to use jquery sliders on the top of your page to still get all your text above the fold and score in search engines? for example: http://www.wolf-howl.com/wp-conte... is much better to score high ranks in search engines than http://www.wolf-howl.com/wp-conte... ?? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | HMK-NL0 -
Anchor text filters
I am using text replace on a blog to automatically link keywords in posts and pages back to the homepage. Sometimes the same KEYWORD links back 2/3 times in one post, can this harm rankings or cause an anchor text filter? thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | babyjane0 -
Related keywords in title/H1 tag
Hi, I am trying to improve our rankings for pages with photos/images. For the title is it benificial to include keywords that are almost identical in nature? For example: "Brad Pitt Photos and Images" In Google trends photos and images are both commonly used words so including both seems like it would help. When I search for each one separately in Google (Brad Pitt Photos vs Brad Pitt Images) different sites are returned (except for the ones that include both image and photos keywords). I had read that Google knows that Images and Photos mean the same thing, but the search results do vary. I know stuffing all related combinations isn't good, but selective phrases seem to make a difference. Just want to verify if this makes sense. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | NicB10