Those who are unfamiliar with SEO practices should know one thing: It’s all about keywords.
While SEO is complicated from start to finish, most marketing professionals understand that linking strategies, both inbound and outbound, are one of the most significant factors in search engine optimization.
Linking a website to another is not as simple as it may seem. Getting links is one thing, but using it as a keyword strategy is a skill in and of itself.
SEOs use anchor text to link a website to another. When you create a hyperlink out of a word or a string of words, that’s called anchor text, and search engines, such as Google, factor that into their search algorithm.
Imagine every time one website links to another. To a search engine, that’s like a vote of confidence, thus building up a reputation of having valuable content. However, if a website can link to another using anchor text with a main keyword relevant to their website, it helps search engines define what the page is about based on the keyword and the link to the page.
For example, a lot of people use anchor text by simply writing, “click here.” I say take it one step further and use a main keyword that is on the linked page. For instance, if this article is specifically about relevant content for small business websites, then link that string of text (as shown) to another webpage within the site that contains the keyword string. However, obtaining a back-link that contains anchor text is much more difficult since it’s controlled by another webmaster.
Marketing professionals who are taking over the SEO strategy for their small business website should undoubtedly begin by creating an anchor text strategy. Define main keywords and landing pages then consistently link to those pages using the same keywords. Gradually search engines will begin to notice the defined keywords and links to the pages, which enhances the relevance for keyword strings.