Question

Can you force relevance with enough strategically created anchor text backlinks? Is it possible to rank a website that is completely unrelated to a particular keyword with respect to on page optimization, solely with external signals?  

Answer 1

You can. The most popular example I can think of was that for about 12 years Adobe ranked #1 for the term "click here". Nowhere on the page did that phrase appear, but there were a lot of links pointing to the page with that anchor text. It was a page for downloading Adobe Reader that most people linked to saying something like "To download Adobe Reader click here. "

Comments

@boatload I remember that - everyone in the SEO sector would cite that example to demonstrate the importance of Backlinks.  

---

@wergild Yep. Also as an example that you can rank for search terms that never appear on your page as well as the importance of anchor text.  

---

I remember that too. It was a long time ago though. I wonder how much the algorithm has changed. I'm sure someone has to have tested this. Just wish I was a member of the super expensive search intelligence agency.  

---

@grizzly have you tried IMG? I'm sure you know Kyle, Ted, Andy and the rest of the gang over there. It's not as expensive as SIA and they might have tested that. InternetMarketing. gold

---

@grizzly It hasn't changed that much. The main reason Adobe isn't there and is now on page two is they did a complete rework of their website.  

Answer 2

Give it a whirl and let us know how it turned out.  

Answer 3

Why the hell would you want to?  

Comments

@vanda Who said I did? I'm just curious about the theoretical aspect of external relevance factors.  

Answer 4

Lol. But why? Too lazy to write content? Or purely out of academic interest?  

Comments

@plunger But why ask a question? Is that your question? ? It's just a question, dude. Why? Because I'm curious about the theoretical aspect of external relevance factors.  

---

@grizzly I dig the question then  

Answer 5

Yes you can