Looking to improve your website's search engine ranking?
Google has just released a new On-Page SEO Best Practices Guide that can help you do just that! This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about optimizing your website for better search engine visibility, from keyword research to content creation and more.
With these tips and strategies in hand, you'll be well on your way to improving your website's ranking and driving more traffic to your site. So why wait?
Here's everything that you need to know.
Anchor text placement
Google wants you to use rich Anchor text links. This tells them what the page you are linking to is all about.
Google has always emphasized the importance of high-quality content and relevant links for better Search Engine Ranking. One key element of this is using rich anchor text links, which provide valuable context about the content of the page being linked to.
By using descriptive, relevant anchor text, you can help Google understand what your linked page is all about and increase its visibility in search results. So, if you want to improve your website's search engine ranking, it's important to pay attention to the anchor text you use in your links. By using rich anchor text links, you can help Google better understand the content on your website and improve its overall visibility in search results.
If an anchor text is blank, but a link contains a title attribute, they will use the title attribute. Here’s an example of this:
This shows that Google is using title attributes in links to figure out what to rank a page for. Ideally, they just want you to use links with rich anchor text such as:
make pancake
And with images they want you to use alt text such as they use as anchor text.
Here’s an example:
With your images, make sure you have descriptive alt text. That way you can get more Google image search traffic.
If you don’t think that’s important, keep in mind 1/3 of all Google searches are for an image.
How to write good anchor text?
One thing Google focused on was the difference between good anchor text-rich links and bad ones.
They don’t want you to use generic anchor text like: read more or click here.
Again this doesn’t tell them much about the page. It’s bad just like having a blank anchor text link.
They want the anchor text to be descriptive such as:
For a full list of cheese available for purchase, see the href=”https://example.com”>list of cheese types.
But they also don’t want you to make your anchor text too long and too descriptive.
Google mentions that keyword stuffing is a violation of their policy. When we look at the data we have in Ubersuggest (our database has over 40 trillion links) we’ve found that anchor text that is 2 to 5 words long is the ideal length for optimal rankings.
So you don’t need to add too many keywords within the anchor text to do well. And when your anchor text is one word it’s too generic and it doesn’t help Google enough.
Here are some tips to help you create effective anchor text:
1. Be descriptive: Use clear, descriptive words that accurately reflect the content of the page you are linking to.
2. Use relevant keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords into your anchor text, but don't stuff your text with too many keywords.
3. Avoid generic phrases: Avoid using generic phrases like "click here" or "read more" as they do not provide any context about the linked page.
4. Be concise: Keep your anchor text short and to the point. Long, convoluted phrases can confuse readers and dilute the relevance of the linked page.
5. Use natural language: Use language that sounds natural and fits seamlessly within the context of your content.
6. Link to high-quality, relevant pages: Ensure that the pages you are linking to are high-quality and relevant to your content.
By following these tips, you can create anchor text that is not only optimized for Google, but also provides value to your readers by accurately describing the linked page.
Spread apart your links
Whether it is internal or external links, Google doesn’t want them too close to each other.
For example, if you have multiple links in a row such as:
I’ve written about cheese so many times this year.
It’s not ideal for them.
Your links should be spread out by at least a few words or even a sentence or two. Here is an example that they gave as more ideal.
I’ve written about cheese so many times this year: who can forget the controversy over blue cheese and gorgonzola, the world’s oldest brie piece that won the Cheesiest Research Medal, the epic retelling of The Lost Cheese, and my personal favorite, A Boy and His Cheese: a story of two unlikely friends.
Internal and external links matter
Google wants you to use both internal and external links because it helps them determine what to rank web pages for.
For example, when you use internal links, to link to other pages on your website, they still want you to use rich anchor text.
They specifically mention that the anchor text should be clear enough where a user knows what they are clicking on and what the linked page is all about.
The same goes for Google. The anchor text of the internal link should also help them understand what the linked page is all about.
As for external links, it’s the same as internal links.
So If You Want To Boost Your Website's Ranking with Google's New On-Page SEO Best Practices, Here's what they want you to do to be precise:
In addition to the above 6 things, through our own experimentation we’ve found that the ideal link has the following attributes:
If you want optimal rankings, they want you to build links that are:
1. Rich in anchor text – keywords within the anchor text help with your rankings.
2. Concise anchor text – anchor text that is too long isn’t helpful to Google.
3. Use alt text – for images, alt text replaces anchor text.
4. Use title attributes – Google is using the title attribute to figure out anchor text.
5. Spread your links apart – links should be separated by ideally a few words if not a few sentences.
6. Use internal links – Most SEOs focus on external links, which you shouldn’t ignore, but internal links is a quick way to boost your rankings.
In addition to the above 6 things, through our own experimentation we’ve found that the ideal link has the following attributes:
Relevant – a page or a website related to yours is better than an irrelevant site linking to you. For example, if you have a website about pets and a website about dogs links to yours, that is ideal.
Concise – anchor text links that are 2 to 5 words are ideal for optimal rankings.
Content-based links – links within content help more than footer or sidebar links.
Multiple sites are better than 1 site – getting links from multiple sites is better than getting links from 1 site multiple times.
High authority links – links from trusted sources like the New York Times are better than links from low authority sites.
Permanent – we’ve found that when you get links and then they are removed within a month it can really hurt your rankings (just like if you were buying links). Focus on natural links and this shouldn’t be an issue.
Conclusion:
While link building is an important component of SEO, it's not the only factor that determines a website's search engine ranking. In fact, search engines like Google have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, using a range of factors to determine a website's relevance and authority.
That said, link building can play a crucial role in your overall SEO strategy. By building high-quality, relevant links to your website from other reputable sources, you can demonstrate your website's authority and relevance to search engines. However, it's important to note that not all links are created equal. Low-quality or spammy links can actually hurt your website's ranking, so it's important to focus on building links from reputable sources that are relevant to your content.
In addition to link building, other important factors that can impact your website's search engine ranking include on-page optimization (e.g. optimizing your website's content, meta tags, and other on-page elements), technical optimization (e.g. ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and has fast page load times), and creating high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience. By focusing on these factors in addition to link building, you can create a holistic SEO strategy that helps improve your website's search engine visibility and drives more traffic to your site.
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