When Paypal's official Web site no longer ranked #1 in Google on a search for "paypal," it was obvious that Google had become more aggressive in penalizing sites with "unnatural" backlink anchor text. Although the high-profile Paypal example has since been rectified, thousands of webmasters are suffering the consequences of not ranking for even their official company name, let alone their top keywords. It is important for search engine optimizers to understand both how anchor text penalties are being applied and how LSI ensures that anchor text variance will not dilute a link popularity building campaign.
Anchor Text Penalties
In the past year, webmasters have found that the aggressive link popularity building tactics that work well in search engines such as Yahoo! do not fare well in Google. Google has implemented several features to filter out sites that appear to have an unnatural backlink structure; one of these features seems to be specifically penalizing sites with unnatural backlink anchor text.
It has always been an SEO best practice to use descriptive anchor text in both external and internal links. But search engine optimizers have often focused on a single keyword phrase when choosing anchor text, especially if their topic has one keyword that receives vastly more traffic than any secondary keywords. Since good links are hard to come by, they do not want to "waste" any of those backlinks with anchor text that does not contain their main keyword.
The drawback to this approach is that it can be interpreted as unnatural by a search engine. A site with organic, passively-obtained backlinks will have a wide variety of backlink anchor text variations such as: "official site title," "keyword," "keyword synonym," "www.thesite.com" and even "click here." If the vast majority of a site's backlink anchor text is simply "keyword," it is obvious to an algorithm that the link popularity was not obtained organically.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Basics
Let's now touch upon the myth I mentioned before, that if a backlink's anchor text does not contain your Web site's main keyword, its power is wasted. The concept of latent semantic indexing, which may be more fully implemented by major search engines in the near future, will prove this myth to be false.
Latent semantic indexing can help overcome the "vocabulary mismatch" problem when a human uses a search engine. Individual words do not always provide reliable evidence about the conceptual meaning of a document. For instance, a Web page that is highly relevant to the term "laptop" may never use the term "notebook," however it is clear to a human being that "notebook" is often used as a synonym for "laptop."
While it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the mathematics behind LSI, its implications for search algorithms are simple. LSI can use statistical techniques to create a semantic analysis for any given query topic. In practice, this means that a page can be considered relevant for a particular keyword, even if it does not contain that keyword. For instance, a page that is considered relevant for "laptop" can also be considered relevant for "notebook" even if it does not contain the word "notebook," if LSI determines that "notebook" is semantically related to "laptop."
The principle can be applied to backlinks as well. Backlinks with anchor text that do not contain your Web site's main keyword, but instead contain a synonym or related word, may still be giving your site a bonus for the main keyword.
Link Popularity Building Best Practice: Vary Your Anchor Text
The recent increase in penalties given to sites with unnatural backlink anchor text, along with the possible implementation of LSI, should give webmasters motivation to vary their backlink anchor text heavily. Rather than seeking to only obtain links using their main keyword, webmasters should include synonyms, variations and related words. Certainly no single keyword variation should be used the majority of the time; rather, the text of all links should vary widely, just as they would if the links were obtained passively. This will ensure a site's improvement in the SERPs, without drawing a penalty flag.
Andy Hagans is a search engine optimization consultant who specializes in link popularity building and risk management. Visit http://www.andyhagans.com for more information. See http://www.andyhagans.com/link-building.php for more information on Mr. Hagans' link building services.
When it comes to search engine optimization strategy, there are... Read More
Everyone should realize that the search engines (sponsored ads aside)are... Read More
Onpage search engine optimization are things that you can change... Read More
Search engines will be a way for you to generate... Read More
So you need a domain name for your brand new... Read More
Last week a client called me excitedly exclaiming that their... Read More
As my readers know, I've been one of Google's harshest... Read More
You've got a cool new website with all the works:... Read More
When exploring good keyword choices there are several steps one... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something you should be aware... Read More
Trillions of Billions of content pages make up the wide... Read More
The importance to the algorithmic web crawlers that speed throughout... Read More
#1 question when it comes to web advertising is how... Read More
For so many web surfers, it's almost automatic to type... Read More
Like all things, theft is theft, misery loves company, negative... Read More
With all the recent publicity given to Google as the... Read More
I hear this all the time. "I can get you... Read More
It's still happening. "Florida," "Boston," "Ginger," and "Brandy" are just... Read More
For a long time now, marketing gurus all over the... Read More
Google this, Google that, Google Google Google.......My name is Debbie... Read More
You built that content rich web page optimized for your... Read More
"Owning your business category online is more than just a... Read More
Being listed in search engines and ranked high on searches... Read More
I want to touch base with selecting the title of... Read More
Sometimes, the search engines act really strange. And this story... Read More
Welcome to part seven in this ten-part search engine positioning... Read More
We all know that the lion's share of web traffic... Read More
For more than 4 years now I have been modifying... Read More
There are millions of web sites trying to get listed... Read More
Having greatly benefited from my relationship with Google in the... Read More
Keywords are terms or words related to particular topic. Keyword... Read More
Smartpages are highly optimized pages which draw stampeded of search... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) doctrine states that you should always... Read More
This is another one of the controversial questions in many... Read More
If you are a webmaster and you review your logs,... Read More
Launching a new website with enough acceleration to rise above... Read More
News broke this week that Yahoo has purchased the Inktomi... Read More
If you're like most other CEOs, the term "search engine... Read More
What's all the talk about links we hear about? Reciprocal... Read More
This article is actually the summary to a book soon... Read More
Selecting the right keyword phrases is the key to a... Read More
Search Engine Optimization popularly known as SEO.SEO is the process... Read More
With the Internet beginning to stand up and be counted... Read More
IntroductionThe Google Sandbox is a term applied to the phenomenon... Read More
This is the second part of an article series in... Read More
When Paypal's official Web site no longer ranked #1 in... Read More
Good overall optimization, the right keyword phrases and quality content... Read More
I tried out Microsoft's new search engine (beta version) the... Read More
Content Management Systems and search engine optimization (SEO) used to... Read More
Last week a client called me excitedly exclaiming that their... Read More
In the process of designing a website for clients the... Read More
Through search engines and directories, the Internet provides a quick... Read More
According to the dictionary, the definition of the word "overture"... Read More
There's an old saying that goes, "God takes care of... Read More
IntroductionWhy does a FLASH intro need SEO? Flash, the great... Read More
Are Meta Tags Really Dead?Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells... Read More
Thanks to a unique algorithm that produces most relevant results... Read More
Web users turn to search engines for answers to their... Read More
Previously...In our article on Understanding Google's Algorithm,... Read More
You need to be extremely careful with keyword research so... Read More
You can rank number one (Or at least in the... Read More
When it comes to search engine optimization there is a... Read More
Google applied for a patent on their ranking algorithm as... Read More
Ever see a website that seems to speak a foreign... Read More
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is... Read More
'Are Google's Days in the Dominant Position in Search Technology... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |