Keywords
in Hyperlinks Improve Search Engine Ranking
By
Jill Whalen - March 13, 2003 (From the High
Rankings' Advisor Newsletter)
From: Dave Lerner
Hi Jill,
I'm a long
time subscriber, so I'm pretty sure I'll owe you some chocolate
for this one.
My question is about links on other Websites pointing to you.
I know the wording of the link can be pretty important, but
my question is how far to extend the link.
If I want
to get better rankings for the phrase "widget" should
the entire hotlink be Buy widgets at www.greatwidgets.com,
or should the words "buy widgets" be plain text, and
only the URL be the hotlink? Also, should we separate the words
"great" and "widgets" in my example so that
we would improve our ranking under the word "widgets"?
That would make it "Buy
widgets at www.great widgets.com."
Dave Lerner
~~~Jill's Response~~~
Hi Dave,
Great question.
Many people haven't realized the importance of keywords in hyperlinks
yet and they're really missing the boat!
First,
it's important to discuss why keywords in hyperlinks are helpful
to the search engines. To do this, we have to do my favorite
thing (besides eating chocolate), which is to think like a search
engine. So everyone put on your magical search engine hats for
a bit and pretend that you are Google (or your search engine
of choice). Tie it up nice and tight and close your eyes.
Okay, so
you are Google and you need to figure out which sites to spit
out when someone types a keyword phrase in your little search
box? Once you've decided which sites, how do you decide in what
order they belong? You could do it alphabetically (like directories
used to do), but then everyone will start naming their sites
things like "AAAAAAAA Widget Company." Or even worse,
"!!!!!AAAAAAAAA Widget Company." (Don't laugh, but
back in 1994 my company name was "!Whalen's Web Whiz!"
for this very reason. )
Alphabetical
is out...so what's in?
Well, the
information in the Title tags should provide some clue as to
what that site's all about, so we'll definitely use that.
We should
also look at what's written on the pages, as that's gonna surely
help us figure out which sites are the most relevant. Certainly
a page that talks a lot about "large purple widgets"
deserves to show up under a search for that phrase.
There's
got to be more than just the Titles and the words on the page.
Okay, so let's look at how other sites describe the one we're
currently looking at. Surely if lots of other sites say that
this site is about "large purple widgets" then that
must be what it's about! So off to the other sites we go...
But hold
on...where should we look on these other sites to figure this
all out?
Let's see what information we can find in and around the hyperlink
that points back to our original site. If the link is just a
URL or the name of the company, we can still gather some clues
by looking at the text near the link. Is there a descriptive
sentence or two that might be using the same keyword phrase
as we found in the original site's Title tag and copy? If so,
it looks like we've found a good match.
But wait!
Here's a site where the clickable hyperlink actually uses the
exact keyword phrase we were looking for. The words "large
purple widgets" are in fact the clickable link back to
one of our first sites. So now we've found a page that has "large
purple widgets" in its Title tag, talks a whole lot about
"large purple widgets" in its visible text copy, PLUS
has a whole bunch of links from other sites confirming that
this site really is truly about large purple widgets.
We don't
need to take *just* the site owner's word for it any more, because
we have verification of this fact through (presumably) impartial
outside sources.
Using all
the information we gleaned about these sites (in a matter of
seconds...cuz we're such a great search engine), we are now
better equipped to rank them by relevancy to the keywords being
used in the search query. Those pages that have all the basic
factors going for them (keywords in the Title tags, copy and
links) should generally rank higher than those that only have
some of these factors.
Okay, you
can take off your little Google hats now. Wasn't that fun? (Google,
if you're reading, I'm still waiting for my REAL Google hat
-- but thanks for the way cool pen!)
Back to the original question.
The absolute
best link would be to have *just* the keywords in the hyperlink.
(As an aside, I've changed Dave's keywords from "great
widgets" to "large purple widgets" because you
should generally stay away from superlatives in your keyword
phrases.) Therefore, if at all possible, you'd want the clickable
link to your site to simply say "large purple widgets."
For example:
Dave's
Widget Emporium has a huge supply of large
purple widgets.
You are
probably thinking that it's not always possible to get other
sites to link to you that way, and you're correct.
Using *just*
the keyword phrase in the link is your ultimate super-terrific
best bet IF it's possible. If you have control of the link,
do it. If not, don't make a big deal out of it.
The engines
do look at the words near the links also. So even if the clickable
link has to be "Dave's
Widget Emporium" it's still fairly obvious that this
link points to a page about large purple widgets. That link
won't help as much as the link John's House of Widgets got,
which did use the keywords in a hyperlink, but it will help
nonetheless.
I recommend
against using URLs in hyperlinks on a Web page because they
are ugly. Most site owners don't describe your page by putting
your URL in the hyperlink. I also recommend against having extraneous
words in the hyperlink. It's more helpful to have *just* "large
purple widgets" hyperlinked than it is to have "Click
here for our huge supply of large purple widgets" all
hyperlinked. Hyperlink *only* the keyword phrase if possible.
You may
also be interested in my newsletter article "Keyword-rich
Domain Names" and the follow-up to it.
Jill
Whalen is the owner of HighRankings.com
and moderator of the free weekly email newsletter, the High
Rankings' Advisor. She is also known for her moderation
of the critically acclaimed, Rank
Write Roundtable. Jill specializes in search engine optimization,
directory submissions, SEO consultations and workshops. She
has obtained hundreds of number 1 and 2 spots for her vast array
of clients throughout the years. Clients include multi-million
dollar companies, major universities, real estate agencies,
attorneys, surgeons, dentists, and small-medium sized businesses.
