Distribution of anchors of reference weight and possible sanctions from search engines

Today I want to tell one of the theories of SEO, which can be formulated in the following words - "Excessive optimization of a text anchor can lead to so-called sanctions from Google, since Google uses a number of filters in relation to text anchors in the algorithm."

The above theory, involves several of the following questions:

1. What is text anchor optimization?
2. Should we do this at all?
3. Is it even possible to re-optimize the text anchor?

The following post contains some real-world research, which gave me an impetus for my own thoughts about text anchors.

What is anchor optimization?

I’m sure most of you know what a text anchor or link text is , but for those who don’t know, I’ll explain - this is the text that is used in the link leading to your website, or the text in the 'a' or 'alt' tags. This is the text anchor, and its optimization is the use of the necessary keywords, which are used in the link that leads to the page you need.

Just, isn't it ?! Suppose if you have a page that matches the text "search engine optimization" - you should get as many external links with the text anchor as "search engine optimization", which will increase your search engine ranking for this query. This is also called nipping .

Do you really need anchor optimization?

Ok, then let me ask you one question: " Do you want to get to the top for popular search queries? "

If you say "YES" - my answer is of course necessary, and in all possible ways! I think it would be better if I explain, based on real research.

After analyzing the five sites that are in the top for fifteen different search queries, the answer to the above question suggests itself:

As can be seen from the diagram, on average, all sites have about 34% of all their links with anchor , which is an exact search query , and 40% of the links have text variations , including the exact search query.

Example

The exact anchor is "search engine optimization."
Variations - "quality optimization for search engines, the city of Tyumen".
Not the correct variation - "optimization, the city of Tyumen, for search engines."

So, the variation of the anchor will be taken into account by the search engine if the key phrase remains unbroken.

Each of the top sites had about 20 variations of each request.

Conclusion

If you want to go up on one or another query to the top of Google, you should use the exact search queries in the links.

About the remaining 60%

The remaining 60% of links are close to the search term anchor. Remember, Google gives weight to almost all links, but more weight and preference is given to anchors with accurate search queries.

Is it possible to overdo optimization?

I have never had a site that would fall under the filters, but there are examples when a young site with a large link mass with one anchor fell under the filters. Therefore, I recommend diluting exact anchors with their variations.

Remember that you are required to constantly monitor the ratio of links . For each keyword or phrase, it is recommended to use 15-20 variations. You can’t control the natural links, because users will keep them and there’s nothing to worry about, because almost always the anchors will be different.

Sometimes it happens that for any query in the search results are displayed sites that have nothing to do with the query. Want to know why? This is due to the fact that reputable sites have links to the anchor "click here, click or here ..."

I hope that the article will be useful for you and you will take it as the basis for the construction of the reference mass.

Also, since we are talking about links, it may be useful for you to read some materials on the topic not only from our SEO tutorial, but also on thematic resources:

• Correct buying links on exchanges (for example, Sape).
• How to rise in the TOP Yandex on a competitive request?