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My confusion relates to internal links....please bear with me
Certain pages within my site target, for example, 3 separate keyword phrases that interlink in a "theme". These are in the title tags, meta descriptions, headers, body text, alt tags, etc
other pages focus on just one keyphrase as that keyphrase is more competetive
Anyway, I was originally going along inserting anchor text links from page A to page B that contained the exact phrase match for the kw/s on page B
eg. I am on page A, "keyword phrase" and want to link to page B, whose title is "9 words"
and so, every time i wanted to link to the "keyword" page i would slip in that exact phrase as the anchor link :
eg you may also like to browse the menu for our [specifics removed], for... bla bla
i might use that exact link 10 or so times throughout the site, on different pages
BUT i have read it advisable to VARY the text in your internal links
so i should instead have something like
link one- three words
link 2- six words
link 3- five words
[Moderator Note: Removed specifics per the TOS. Since this topic progressed quickly, I feel the general idea has been addressed and the specifics can go. If they were to remain, you'd probably find this topic outranking your site very shortly. ;)]
and so forth
So, I was about to re-do the internal links for all my various subjects according to this "principle of variation"
BUT
I have now read that in an anchor link, unless your anchor text includes ALL the keywords/phrases of the page it is directing the user to, then the spiders won't read it properly...so in the above example, although i have varied the text, the text doesn't contain ALL three keyphrases- there is not room
So the "variation" principe would pose a big problem for the anchor text i am trying to come up with for pages that target several keyphrases, like the "keyword" page, which targets "keyword phrase 1", "keyword phrase 2" and "keyword phrase 3"
What am i meant to do as to try and vary that yet manage to include ALL THREE KEYPHRASES as seems to be advised, would result in a REALLY long anchor text link that looks ridiculous!
Surely, if you are using the EXACT same text in an anchor link no more than 15 or so times ,spread around the site, this would be ok? i can see the problem if you had 100 of the same text links, but not 15 or so?
pages targeting one KW phrase, like "keyword phrase" can be varied easily enough, eg [specifics removed], etc....so can handle that
But my natural inclination was to simply use the SAME anchor text when targetting page "X" from page a, b, c, d, e and f....it's certainly simpler for me to keep track of and implement!
So please could someone advise me about what to do and bear in mind i an referring to INTERNAL site links, not anchor text external sites use to get to mine
thanks in advance
[edited by: pageoneresults at 5:10 pm (utc) on Aug. 29, 2007]
For internal links, the 'SEO' issues are not particularly significant - unless you really obsess about how internal page rank is distributed. If the pages are indexed, searches will find all the relevant content, for sure. And I never heard of anybody, ever, being penalized in any way shape or form over internal links. :)
It is far more important to have navigation that is logical (easier to maintain and no accidental orphans), consistent (no confused visitors being sent to the same page twice with different link text), and, of course, fully functional.
View the site from a visitor POV, and be guided by that.
Internal links have no "exemption" from the guidelines, create a spammy internal link structure and it will count against you, IMO.....
What kind of thing do you think Big G would get upset about?
Manipulation of internal link text, as you say it won't get you dumped per se but if there are other linkage irons in the fire it's one more pointer towards "intent"....
considering normal navigational menu text links that you often find at the bottom of web pages usually have the same text links on every single one of the web pages then why do so many websites do that, because the principle of being "spammy" should then apply to that kind of thing too?
many sites have a footer naviagtional menu across every page of the site- that could be a 100 page site. so if they have "blue widgets" as one link, then "blue widgets" appears 100 times just due to the footer ....but no-one tells you not to do that? loads of sites to do that, it makes for easier site navigation. people don't VARY the text in those footer links, so why should one vary the anchor text within descriptive text?
what is the difference between having "blue widgets" as a text only link in a footer and having "blue widgets" appear as a link in amongst descriptive text?
Apart from you no one here mentioned varying the anchor text....
i never suggested anyone DID mention varying anchor text on this forum. if you read my first post properly you would understand that the issue is one i have come across through my research elsewhere. I came on this board basically to see if anyone experienced in these matters had opinions about that. I just wanted a definitive answer before proceeding with my page text, to save wasting my time making mistakes. The issue is still not clear to me to be honest.
Back in the day when you could see changes in the SERP's within days of fixes, this issue was widely discussed at least among those paying attention at that time.
It's also a sliding scale. The more powerful a site, the more it can get away with and this component is no exception, IMO.
And, like so many on-site factors, it relates to other on-site and off-site factors (e.g., external backlinks).
More importantly: cosmicpixie, there is NO one right answer here. To be safe, use core keywords in links and deploy them conservatively: kw's that are easily understood by users, and give the SE's an important, unique term to chew on.
Also, to expand on my comment above about lots of other factors, watch out for making the nav anchor text, title of target page, META Description, and H1 all the same kw, or even starting with the same kw. It's possible to get away with that. But I would not do it on any site I own. Then again, I don't own any PR9's. ;-)
With incoming links varying the anchor text is supposed to help "mask" artificial link acquisition/rank the page for different terms/prevent "Googlebowling".
With internal links varying the anchor text is a major pointer towards manipulation and if it HAS to be done is best from within topical page content that can help "justify" the change, IMO.
so,stick with unmanipulated anchor text...that's what i was going to do to begin with, and it's not as if I'll have hundreds of the same ones anyway
Caveman- you advise against using the same keyphrases in title tags, page url's, page header, meta descripion.....i find this strange, as everything i have read in SEO articles (and i've read heaps in the last month), suggests doing just that, for continuity. If I have a page geared towards "tarot card readings", quite naturally that would be the keyphrase in my page url, and would definately be part of the other stuff too! why would i omit it in any part of the visible/invisible SEO process? i thought that was the half the idea...continuity..consistency. I'm not sure why you come from the opposite angle to just about all the SEO articles I've read?
Can you explain your reasoning as it seems to go against the general consensus, I am curious!
and yes, i still am a little fish, but aiming for bigger waters...!
So, if all the internal anchor text to a page contains or starts with "aquamarine widgets", and the title of the page is "aquamarine widgets", and if first two words of the META Description are "aquamarine widgets", and the first two words in the META Keywords are "aquamarine widgets" and the first two words in the H1 are "aquamarine widgets", and the first two words of the page text are "aquamarine widgets" .... well, you might need to build up an above-average level of authority or trust for the site/page, before you rank well for "aquamarine widgets" in all of the major SE's.
SE's try to look not only for kw's, but for clues that a page is legitimate and valuable. One of those clues is a natural appearance to the page, and not a forced or contrived appearance.
Besides, even if you'd not seen for yourself the effect over-repetition can have, why not vary the terms and phrases slightly in those important nav and page elements, to capture a wider array of searches.
It's a cliché, but putting sites together with the users in mind has an uncanny way of working out for the better. :p
Do you think, for example if my page was aimed at one phrase, "tarot readings", that if i wrote, for eaxmple, a title tag that began
" Professional, Accurate Psychic Tarot Readings" instead of
"Tarot Readings: Professional, Accurate Psychic Readings Service"
that it would be better due simply to the fact "tarot readings" does not appear as the first word....?
And similarly, in my heading for that page, if I dreamed up a sentence that had "Tarot readings" in the middle of it rather than right at the start, THAT would be better too...and so on?
I was NOT planning to REPEAT that keyphrase in the title tag, description tag, page heading, etc...just the one mention only
obviously in things like meta tags and page url, alt tags, etc, it would be very hard not to put "tarot readings" as the first word..It is the primary keyphrase and i want to keep the meta tags and at tags brief and to the point
so is this on the right track?
thanks for your time
cosmic
