Anchor Tag text optimization

[Marina]

Hi,

I've looked through some threads where Anchor Tag text optimization was mentioned. Can anybody refer me to a more detailed discussion or explain the idea, because my understanding of anchors from the only HTML point of view leaves me with a slight taste of misleading.:confused:

[Mel]

Hi Marina:

Not quite sure what the question is, but I think that most of the threads here talking about Anchor Tag Text are in the context of linking to an anchor tag from another page.

Many search engines index the text in the anchor tag linked to and give it a bit of ranking boost. In the cse of Google they even go so far as to consider the text surrounding the Anchor tag linked to.

Thus you want to use keyword phrases that are in a paragraph with relevant content in order to optimize the link

[Advisor]

Yes, Mel is right. In plain English, I think that all that is meant by Anchor Text Optimization is simply using your keyphrases in your hyperlinks. That's all. When pointing to another page of your site with a text link, if you use keyphrases that describe that other page, it can help boost your rankings. It really does work well with Google too. I wrote about this in last week's Rank Write under the guise of "link popularity." It's not yet posted in my archives (probably will get to it tomorrow), but if you want a copy, I can email it to you.

Jill

[Marina]

Thank you both, Mel and Jill (BTW, I've read that article because I'm subscribed to RankWrite's newsletter - a great thing).
It was just terminology muddle.