Question

Do you make an effort to match the anchor text when building or earning links?  

Answer 1

I've never paid any attention to anchor text ratios. I always have just strived to use anchor text that either describes the page I am linking to or anchor text that describes why I am linking to that page. I've never seemed to have an issue doing that.  

Comments

Also, to add to that, I've always thought using naked URLs or generic "click here" type anchors was just dumb and a wasted opportunity.  

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@legroom Yep. Found the same results.  

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@legroom it's an old wife's tale that it does help ranking or does?  

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@boatload always killing it. One of the best in the industry

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@legroom So are you meaning that other padded anchors don't either like for example if you are trying to rank a page about Nike running trainers then a link with anchor [these training shoes] would or would not be beneficial?  

Answer 2

Usually causes more harm than good. exact that is

Answer 3

What anchor text ratio you recommend?  

Comments

@legroom I think it is a good rule but usually you need less than 20% to rank. I have done 75% on emd.  

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@legroom you, personally, stay below 5% exact match anchors on links to money sites? Does that include partial match?  

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The 40% rule could still get you penalized. That is because (if it is true) it would count from Google perspective, not from your spreadsheet count. You never know which links they caught in exactly which timeframe and not knowing when they recalculate the ratios. It could be that you built 35% your money keyword links and from their crawling process they first see 10% , then 29%, then 50% -> penalty, then 40%, .  

Answer 4

I go exact on a small % of offsite. Different story on site. A "natural" link is very unlikely to have exact in the real world

Answer 5

I usually prefer generic anchor text, that seems natural and requirement of post to support fact or information provided

Answer 6

Replicate anchors of top 3 results you are good to go

Answer 7

Except I have a different understanding of what naked means, yes. But I try to avoid using fixed ratios.  

Comments

My mind is pure, my metaphors aren't ;)

Answer 8

No exact anchors for T1 links, only brand or naked. For T2s I like to mix up some partials (long-tails and and brand-KW combos).  

Comments

@lists T1. What? :) can you explain? Thank you

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@assembly T1 is first tier or direct links to money site/client site

Answer 9

This is good, keep it coming :)

Answer 10

I see, so this the appropriate protection for Corona Virus. Duly noted.  

Answer 11

Exact match or gtfo!  

Answer 12

I stay away from exact match anchor but try to keep it relevant to the article and to the page being linked.  

Answer 13

1. Pillow your anchor text ratio with the less important links 2. Hammer exact match / partial match with the most important link

Comments

Exactly, exact match has always been the one to move the needle. Its true for Page titles, URLs, headers, GMB listings. Of course it be silly to spam your content with exact match keywords, but it doesn't change the fact that you use them for the most important placeholders. Similarly with links, use them for your most powerful links. Use the less powerful links for diversification.  

Answer 14

Leave it to @legroom to make fun of a bunch of coke-heads. that's a savage meme my man, real savage. :)

Comments

. oops. just spit coffee all over the damn keyboard! Damn you Kang! LOL

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@legroom That Pepsi is flat, and she knows it too!  

Answer 15

Testing out Linkio to create a more systematic approach. Off the cuff it appears to be pretty close to what I would do with a manual comp analysis

Answer 16

The best part about not earning links is controlling your anchor text!  

Answer 17

Why you should confused by the anchor text while you can copy any anchor you want from your competitor.  

Answer 18

I'm using partial and naked url no more

Answer 19

I haven’t built an exact match anchor since penguin 2012

Comments

Me neither, there's no need. lots of other places to get relevancy signals.