SEO has become the holy grail in the digital marketing domain, without which you cannot possibly reach your target audience. When it comes to talking about SEO, a digital marketer needs to be careful about plenty of things. There are various ingredients that come together to make one successful SEO strategy.
If you are well-versed with the SEO World, you would know the importance of guest posting. It is the best way to attract more web traffic by posting blogs to a different brand’s website. When curating a pristine guest post, numerous elements must fall into the right place. Among all the other components, anchor text is the most imperative one.
What Is Anchor Text And Its Importance In Guest Posting?
You cannot miss out on adding anchor text to your guest post. Anchor text is basically a clickable phrase or word that will take the readers to a prospective website that the writer is talking about. A guest post without an anchor text to your own website/product/service is a meaningless piece of content that will not yield any result.
However, it is essential to understand that the anchor text should be relevant to the content; only then will it add value to it. Generally, anchor texts comprise the target keywords that brands need to use to get a better SEO ranking
You must not overly optimize anchor texts in your guest post; this will add negative value to the content. It would be better to research adequate keywords and create an anchor. You must understand the fact that your anchor cannot control the links you don’t post, so you must make the most of the ones you do post.
Google Penguin Turned The Tables
Earlier, anchor texts were generally an indication of the content that was added at the end of a link. SEO experts would add keywords, product names, brand names, etc., as anchor texts. Later, people realized that anchor texts are more relevant when they have a clickable link to them. Linking a keyword to a page optimized the content. SEO people started using links that exactly matched the keywords for better value.
In 2012, things changed when Google rolled out Penguin. It was Google’s major alteration to the earlier algorithm, Panda, that focused on link quality rather than content. Prior to Penguin, link spamming was increasing that degraded the site and content quality.
After Penguin, Google started to penalize the sites that were using link schemes negatively and disrupting the flow. Penguin made it compulsory for sites to have different links from sources of varying quality that will be linked to a diverse range of anchor texts.
But what should be the anchor text for your guest post? If you are wondering the same, let’s find out the answer together.
What Are The Types of Anchor Texts?
Anchor texts are of different varieties, and each serves a purpose. Each anchor text has to be depicted in the link profile. The most important tip you need to thoroughly understand is not to overuse them.
Let’s take a look at some basic types of anchor texts you need to know about:
- Branded Text : These are the essential types of anchor texts that your backlink profile needs. These texts are quite tricky to add in the guest post as they need to be very promotional. For instance, “Take a look at <brand name> to know more.”
- Generic Text : These are the texts that generally show up in the content, and you must not add them in a guest post because they are irrelevant and boring. For instance, “To find out more <click here>.”
- Hidden Links : These are the links that are not covered with an anchor text; they add no value to the content. It is a spam technique that must be avoided.
- Naked Text Links : These are unprofessional anchor texts that are left alone. For instance, to know more visit <www.example.com>
- Image Anchors : These are not technically texts; these are clickable images that will take you to the destination page. Image anchors are rarely used for guest posts.
- Keyword Anchors : As the name suggests, these are anchors with keywords. It is similar to using your keywords but with a link. For instance: “To know more, check out <SEO guide>.”
- Semantic Anchors : These are long-tail keywords that have a human connection, similar to what you search on Alexa or Siri. These anchors are considered keywords. For instance: “Wondering about <how to add anchor texts>? Discover here.”
- Compound Anchors: Such anchors are prepared by mixing more than one of the anchors mentioned above. It is a unique way to mix up anchors. Mixing and matching anchors will give you something unique. For instance: “For more information, go through <brand name anchor text guide here>.”
- Contextual Fragments: Similar to semantic anchors, contextual fragments are less focused on queries. They add more relevance to the content from the perspective of a reader. For instance: “Did you know <dolphins use echolocation> to communicate.”
Anchor texts are the important fragment of a guest post, and you need to pay extra attention to them. You must avoid optimizing it more than it is needed. Also, you must be aware of which anchor text would be relevant in certain areas. If you add an anchor text type that doesn’t suit your guest post, you are actually wasting the SEO’s worth.
The Bottom Line
You cannot avoid anchor texts from your guest post. With the Penguin algorithm’s inclusion, it has become imperative to follow the SEO guidelines while curating guest posts stringently.
Your anchor text should vary in different posts. Never use the same phrases or words in different content. Don’t try to use generic anchor text that can easily get lost. When it comes to links, avoid using cloaked or naked links; they are of no-good use to your post.
In a nutshell, all you need to do is make them relevant and purposeful. Make sure to choose the right type of anchor text that will rightly fit into your content.