Is this an algorithmic anchor text penalty? Not manual, fixable?

[Oimachi2]

I've been doing a lot of research.

And I am looking for confirmation.

This is the situation:

- "blue widget" has excessive incoming anchor text "blue widgets", it has dropped about 20 positions

- "buy widgets that are blue", no incoming anchor text or very few exact anchor text, no drop

So it seems like the penalty is on exact match anchor text, not a penguin sitewide penalty?

Only the pages that were targeted with exact anchor text were penalized, the ones that weren't are ranking fine.

So I'm thinking that instead of doing a mass deletion of links, just go and change/delete exact match anchor text.

Would that be my best bet? The site ranks fine also in Bing and Yahoo.

[Wilburforce]

So I'm thinking that instead of doing a mass deletion of links, just go and change/delete exact match anchor text.

I wouldn't advise doing anything to a large number of offsite links simultaneously, as it will almost certainly be flagged as manipulation. Quite how far and how fast you should go is a judgment call, but tread carefully!