Countering dilution of keywords in anchor text

split off from a longer more general thread

[JayC]

In this recent thread [webmasterworld.com] (message #15) fathom made the following point regarding dilution of the effect of keywords used in anchor text:

You may want something like >> blue widgets UK << but where the anchors with >> blue widgets UK << is highly relevant to the query >> blue widgets UK << so the greater number of anchors that actually used this keyphrase >> the greater chance you will rank.

But this is a double-edged sword. Most sites are not just relevant to one specific phrase therefore each anchor you develop for >> blue widgets UK << is less relevant to >> blue widgets<< or just >> widgets << as well as any other type or style of widget, or place within the "UK" or world thus binding you to a single keyphrase or less competitive phrases using >> blue widgets UK << like >> blue widgets UK brighton << but not so relevant to >> blue widgets brighton << because the "UK" dilutes the relevancy.

All of which makes perfect sense. But here's a twist: if your most important keyword phrase is "blue widgets," but "blue widgets UK" is a close second, you might want to avoid diluting the effect of "blue widgets" and so not use "blue widgets UK" as your anchor text...

But... what effect would the longer anchor text string "blue widgets, blue widgets UK" have? Would it strengthen "blue widget" but further weaken "uk"? Would having "blue widget" twice in the string be of any benefit? I realize there's no hard and fast "always the best way" and am going to try to experiment with this idea, but was wondering if anyone has a feeling for the relative pros and cons of:

blue widgets
blue widgets uk
blue widgets, blue widgets uk

[clueless]

I would really like to get some input on this topic as well. I have been lurking here a while, and have done searches on this topic, but haven't found exactly what I am looking for.
Our url is www.affordablebluewidgets.com and so we usually get the anchor text of Affordable Blue Widgets on incoming links. However, the terms /dark blue widget/ and /men's blue widget/ are also highly relevent, but we have never tried for anything beyond /blue widget/. Are we going to lose our advantage for blue widgets if we try for an anchor text of say: /affordable men's dark blue widgets/? Our incoming link description has /dark blue widget/ and /men's blue widget/ in it, but what I have read about incoming links and anchor text makes me think that we probably won't get much advantage from the description.
What about anchor text of /blue widget, dark blue widget, men's blue widget/? (with the real terms it doesn't sound quite as stuffed)
Would that help blue widget or hurt?
Any opinions on the best way to go?
Thanks in advance,
btw, we are just a little family shop, no webmaster as such, and I was put in charge of handling our links. I was just going along my merry way until I discovered all these factors I knew nothing about, and worse yet, ways I can get in trouble without knowing it. Ignorance was bliss.

[Oaf357]

By all means experiment. It should be very interesting to see what you can come up with.

[buckworks]

My experience has been that if you target a certain phrase in the text for a bunch of links, you will not lose whatever you gain from that if you later target a somewhat different phrase in other links. Variations in link text will support your main target phrase as long as there's some overlap in wording.

One of my pages has done well for the target phrase "pink widget repairs" for months. I started asking for the link text "pink widget fixes" and the page is now #1 for that too. It ranks #5 for "pink widget" although I have never targeted that phrase by itself. It also ranks well for assorted "pink widget this" and "pink widget that" phrases.

[Oaf357]

buckworks,

Very helpful information.

The question is if you started targeting "pink widgets" specifically, would your ranking move up?

[paynt]

This is a great discussion. I have worked my anchor text in several ways, with varying results. As with any discussion on linking I’d like to qualify this and remind folks that each industry is different. Some require a very focused attack while with others it may need a broader campaign. It comes down to research and knowing your industry. Find your holes. Every industry online isn’t wrapped up, there are plenty of openings to be found, just takes a bit of digging.

I have found that it’s worked for me to rotate 8 variations of my title, slightly changing the keywords from one to three and four word phrases. It really depends on if I have the content available on the page to support it. I’ve also found it helps when I’m focusing on a single keyword in the anchor text if I to support that keyword with the related keywords, not linked but on either side.

Watch your logs. You may want to work a single keyword for a month or two, follow your logs and see how the results are then add a variation and watch your logs, see what that does and so on. I find my logs eventually direct me. I see keyword combinations coming in that I may not have thought of yet or may want to put more focus on.

[buckworks]

Presumably if I targeted just "pink widget" by itself the page would rise in the ranks for that term, but for the particular category of product three-word search phrases are more common so I've never worried about it.

When I'm working to create and promote a new page, I make extensive use of WordTracker. I look for the most obvious terms that it would be good to rank well for, but also look for longer phrases that include those terms. As many have commented around here, it's often easier to target longer phrases when you're getting started. My goal is to come up with one or two main terms to target, plus a basket of somewhat overlapping phrases to weave into the page, so that whatever link development work is done to target a certain phrase will have spillover benefits for other phrases as well.

As time goes on, I'll also tweak things to incorporate nuggets that turn up in the logs, too, but I'm not as good at paying attention to that as I should be!