Everybody has heard the expression ‘content is king’ applied to web pages. If that is really true why are there so many pages full of great content that don’t appear anywhere in the Google SERPs?
The simple answer is links. Good quality, informative and authoritative content is crucial for site visitors. But some would argue that even the best content will be near invisible in the Google SERPs if there are no links leading to that page.
Google needs some signposts, and those signposts are provided in the form of links. The links use anchor text and those anchors are the signposts that provide Google with an indication as to what is at the end of the link when it is followed. This is where keyterm use as anchor text in links is enormously important.
Links to any web page may be internal to the website, or external. Let’s first give some thought to the internal links. These start with a site’s navigation system. Ideally a sites navigation system will use descriptive terms as anchor text in the links to each the sites pages. This is beneficial for both site visitors, giving them a very clear idea of what each page is about, and search engines. Pages may also be cross-linked internally with contextual links from the body text on certain relevant pages. This provides a valuable opportunity to vary the anchor text. Diversity of keywords used in internal links can be good for ranking.
Now let us consider the external links or back links to a web page. It is worth noting that I am refering to pages and not websites. Google ranks web pages, not web sites so it is important to consider each page and the links leading to each page. The anchor text used in these external links acts as a signpost to surfers and search engines alike. It indicates what is at the end of the link if it is followed. A natural link profile will have a variety of anchors with variations in the key-terms used. A good example is this internal site page that ranks well for various terms related to van leasing and van contract hire.
Effective use of keyterms as anchor text in both internal and external links needs to be matched with appropriate use of those keyterms in page titles, meta descriptions, H1 headings and page content will give a page the best chance of ranking well in the Google SERPs.