Question about anchor text links

how are phrases counted

[mfishy]

If you have links pointing to your site that read "cheap widgets", will Google count this positively for both widgets, and cheap widgets?

[Dante_Maure]

Yes.

[fathom]

"cheap widgets", will Google count this positively for both widgets, and cheap widgets?

Agree - but on >> widgets << the link anchor part "cheap" would delute the weighing value of "widgets".

To illustrate (all other things being equal) two web site (a page) from 10 link anchors pointing to it:

1. >widgets<

2. >cheap widgets<

query string >> widgets <<

site #1 would rank higher because precise matching is more relevant than partial matching (carries more weight).

Real world - a well back I attempted to target >> widgets << but not matter how hard I tried couldn't get into top 30.

I chose however, to go after >> online widgets << which was a more reasonable target, and sadly watch >> widgets drop from 50 to 200, but >> online widgets << went #1.

Over time widgets started to slowly crawl up to just more than 100.

At this time I changed back to widgets -- now both are #1 along with most other widgets at least in the top 10.

Anchors are the difference and to start "cheap widgets" will definitely be easier to rank but as off-page anchors develop targeting the more competitive keyword becomes make easier -- while hanging onto the phrase.

[mfishy]

Thanks Fathom,

That was one of the best responses I've got here.

This is what I suspected from observation. I fight this battle all the time. It's a lot easier to have online widgets than widgets, but widgets sure is tempting :)