Keywords and Google Bombs
Lets discuss the importance of putting keywords
into your link's anchor texts. The fact is you can have high PageRank pages but
if they're not well optimized they still won't rank well.
PageRank merely tells the search engines that your site is popular but keywords in the links tell the search engines why. They tell the search engines what your site is about.
PageRank can't do the why. If we were to search for “canvas shoe design” we would find pages listed from the organic search results. If we were to look at the PageRank you can see starting at the top we have a variety of PageRanks and you'll notice that they're not in sequential order. There's no direct correlation between search engine listing order and PageRank. Clearly, something else is going on.
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| Keyword Anchor Text |
th shoe design. The text in links is usually closely associated with the subject matter of the reference page. It's such a simple thing but when you think about it it makes perfect sense.
The text in the link can be calls to actions such as click
here. They can be the name of the website or the company that owns the website.
The link text can be a URL that's common in many directories or listings of
websites. Or they can be words that are somehow related to what the reference
page is about. So it makes perfect sense that Google and all other major search
engines should examine links for clues about the subject matter of the
reference page.
If a search engine sees a company name in the link it's fair
to assume that the reference page has something to do with that company. If the
link contains the words “5k running”, it's reasonable for it to believe the
page has something to do with running. And if it sees dozens or hundreds of
links with the words 5k running pointing
to that page, it's convinced and it figures that the page is one that many
people think is a good match for the phrase “5k running”. The search engine has
in effect recruited website owners or gone social to help it find a good match
for the phrase.
Even if the search engine sees a call to action, it's going
to associate the page with that call to action. What happens if you search
Google for the phrase click here? At or near the top you'll find the Adobe
Reader download page. Open that page and search the source code for the phrase
click here. You won't find it. This page is a truly terrible match for the
phrase except for the hundreds of thousands of pages around the web saying
something like if you need to download Adobe Reader, CLICK HERE.
This is an example of what has become known as a Google
bomb. A Google bomb is created by linking to a specific web page using a
particular keyword phrase often for political or humorous purposes. Sometimes
it's used to associate an unpleasant or insulting phrase with a particular
person or perhaps to cause a site to attacking someone to rise high in the
search results.
Google bombs are alive and well and if you stop thinking of
them as a mere trick you'll realize they're a technique. Your task is to Google
bomb your own site with the keywords for which you want to rank well. So why is
my competitors ranking higher than me? Your client's website might be better
optimized. A link analysis will give you the clues as to why the competitor is
ranked above you.
Call it what you want. Key worded links or Google bombing or keyword anchor text,
the fact is it works. It's an extremely powerful mechanism for convincing
search engines that your site is related to a particular keyword phrase that is
the best match. What it means is you want to make sure that many of the links
pointing to your site have useful anchor texts. Anchor text in the form of
relevant keyword.
Steve Steinberger
561-281-8330
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