Anchor Text Question

[Kevin 11]

Here's the scenario, I have a site that will be targetting two main keywords(phrases). My goal is to rank high for the main single word keyphrase but this will require some serious backlinks. So, I'm hoping to get the secondary keyword ranking good first then as backlinks increase so will rankings for the main keyword.

My question is: What would be the best way to use anchor text in this scenario?

- Sample anchor text: widget, blue widget

1) Have all incoming links use my main word "widget" as the anchor text

2) Have all incoming links use "blue widget" which also contains my main keyword.

3) Use "blue widget" until I have enough links to rank well, then use "widget" for all future links

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

[dilligaf]

IMO, that would depend on how close you are for making an impact with that one word (all your eggs in one basket). Generally I think it's more efficient to start broader and then narrow your focus (the second word will count toward your single word target too). So... Door #3 please.

[Kevin 11]

Thanks for the feedback!

I don't even have the site done yet, so I'm not too close to making an impact for anything. I'm just giving myself a HUGE challenge by targetting a single keyword phrase in one of the most competitive industries just to see if I still got it ;)

...or if I ever had it!

[dilligaf]

Sounds like a challenge. I've kinda always subscribed to the theory of critical mass, but if you've got only one word...

[Kevin 11]

I agree with your "on-topic" vs. "off-topic" idea for the most part, but have some ideas of my own about it also.

As far as my experience, I've edited the end of my last post to be a bit more accurate!

"...or if I ever had it!"

[eCommando]

Personally i would put 2 or 3 words. Once you have enough links the main word will rank well even with having 2 words in the links.

[dilligaf]

Kevin, I edited mine too. I had confused posts, sorry. Did I pull a Jocelyn?

What do you think about the concept of critical mass though? The idea is that it's all rather like a pyramid. You've got to build a base of content/links so that you're coming up for three, then two, then one word phrases. While you're base building links (2-3 word phrases) you're also contributing to the one word if it's included in that anchor text.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on "on topic" "off topic" links as well. Or if some-one could quantify the value of anchor text in "chicken little ran" vs. "chicken" to the search term "chicken".

[Kevin 11]

No worries... you only pulled a "mild" Jocelyn!

I agree with the critical mass idea and like your pyramid analogy. I don't necessarily think that a 2 or 3 word anchor text would be the best solution if only targetting one word, but in the long run, having a page that ranks well for 2 or 3 variations of your main keyword makes sense. I'm still not clear in my own mind whether or not it would be best to use 2-3 word anchor text for the entirety of the link campaign, or gradually focus it down and so that some links are 2-3 words and some are only 1 word.

My thinking is that the SE's probably like to see some variety of anchor text links pointing to the same page (more on this logic below). If this is the case then the answer is clear.

Regarding "on topic" vs. "off topic" links:
If I put myself in a search engine programmers mindset then I see a very different picture than if I look at things from an seo's point of view. We all know that ultimately we cannot control who links to us. We may naturally get both on-topic and off-topic links and I dont think the se's can or will punish sites for this. If this is the case, and we take it one step further and agree that the se's are trying to give us the most relevant results by making their algo act as close to a "human editor" as they can, then we realize that the se's value links because they add a human element to the equation. A link in this case is a "vote" for the site being linked too.

Since we know that in the "real world" we cannot fully control who links to us, and we also agree that the se's are trying to get as close to a "human type" review as possible, then it seems plausible that some degree of "off-topic" links may actually provide some benefit since it closely resembles what would occur naturally.

This is my "whacked out" way of looking at it. One day a Google engineer may view this post and laugh his head off, who knows!

[jocelyn]

[QUOTE=dilligaf]Kevin, I edited mine too. I had confused posts, sorry. Did I pull a Jocelyn?[/QUOTE] LOL !!!
I really messed up that time. Mine was not a mild one.
Never go have a leak before you finish your post.
I don't even remember in which thread it was. I would have posted it.

[dilligaf]

Kevin:
Not too whacked out about the "not on topic" links. In fact how realistic is it to have 100 people linking to your pages with the exact phrase that you're optimizing for? Wouldn't that be a bitch ? If you decide to go to the other side "SE's" give me a PM. I'll keep it to myself until we're in RIO. (Something should go here, just not a big fan of "smileys")

Regarding anchor text: I guess the question in this circumstance would be resolved with some data/examples (I have none and no clue). If my WORD is "widget". What relationship is there between the anchor text values of "widget new" vs. "widget". My guess, reinforced by your previous analogy is that it would be great (80-90%) and not 50% or less. I just don't know, but would love to.

Jocelyn: You're the best, heh. (I just learned how to spell that, thanks SEO Guy. I had a team-mate in college from Montreal, we all learned to say it but have spelled it eh?) You give great advice, cut to the chase and are funny as hell. BTW, we're all glad you took a break to take a leak. I know your keyboard appreciated it. (Something should go here, just not a big fan of "smileys")

[jocelyn]

[QUOTE=dilligaf] I had a team-mate in college from Montreal, we all learned to say it but have spelled it eh?) [/QUOTE]
Well I think my name is one of the worse for english to say and most would think it's a girl if they just got the name... because of joyce I think... LOL

[dilligaf]

If they don't get it in your writing they should pay more attention... then there's always the avatar!

[morgan]

Kevin I say Give up dude there is no way you can rank for blue widgets look at the competition http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=blue+widgets ahahha

No seriously though, I would actually set out a subset of permutations for your keyword consisting of the main kw "Widgets" and then a bunch of other smaller ones like "Blue widgets" "Big blue widgets" "Big widgets" etc or in this case possibly "meridia" "Buy meridia" "buy meridia online" "meridia online" etc ;-)
Just guessing at the phrase but the sig kind of gives it away :)
You should email sunny and the SEO Kid they have some pharm domains you can probably get some recip links from
Cheers

[Kevin 11]

Hey thanks for the advice Morgan (aka SEO Guy)

Actually, I don't see "Meridia" as much of a problem and it's not what I'm talking about here ... I'm gonna try and fry a much bigger fish so to speak, I don't want to give away too much in case I fail miserably, but it's "casino" related and it's a one word term that is very competitive ;)

I got a whack of pharm domains I'm gonna be working on later but too busy testing some stuff out to get it all done. I'll be sure to contact SEO Kid once I'm ready to push these.

My Yahoo testing is going pretty well thus far, in about 2 months I went from nowhere to #12 for a 2 word keyphrase that has the word "investment" in it and shows 13,085 in Overture. The kicker is, I have "0" backlinks....sweet!