Anchor Text
Another way to help optimise your website and raise the profile of your business is to write a blog. You don't have to have the qualities of JK Rowling to write an interesting blog, nor does it need to be a boring record of the ins-and-outs of your company. If you haven't already seen our Graphic Design Blog- it is nearly nothing to do with Vizcom - and is written from the point of view of the office dog, consisting of funny stories about the office staff here with links to quirky internet articles and websites.
Blog of The Dog does making passing comments about changes within the company, such as the latest newsletter being produced or website being created, but the rest of the time, it simply offers links to other entertaining websites. The system we currently use for The Blog Of The Dog is multi-faceted; it began life originally as a Wordpress Blog, linked to our main website. We also used the Facebook Notes application to publish new blog entries automatically on our Facebook Profile.
The anchor text in the above paragraphs takes you to an example of what we’re talking about. An experienced viewer would right click each link, and open them in a new tab within their browser, so as they read the paragraph, they could easily access and compare the examples given.
Anchor text is a ‘cleaner’ method of providing your reader with links that are relevant to your information without filling the text with lots of computer, but not reader friendly characters. The actual address of the Blog page is this:
http://www.vizcomdesign.co.uk/101-Marketing-Tips/Blogs/90/84/
And if this was included in this article, it not only looks messy, but also unprofessional as the reader doesn’t necessarily have to read the entire address to click on it and get the information they need. However, when you look at the original paragraph, as the links are actually incorporated as part of the text, you are offering the reader two choices- whether to click and see your example, or whether to continue reading.
There are also some websites who have used anchor text like this:
To read more about Jimmy Savile, click here.
In terms of search engines, this text would only be useful as a search term if someone typed ‘click here’ into a search engine which would bring them a menagerie of results that are nothing to do with the subject you are writing about. However, simply including:
‘The use of two record decks and a microphone to provide a continuous loop of music at an event was pioneered by Jimmy Savile, who has also run over 212 marathons.’
The above ensures that anyone who types ‘Jimmy Savile’ into a search engine may get your webpage up in their results.
Anchor text is favoured highly by search engines as the linked text is often relevant to the landing page.
In recent years, the above information has been used for online pranks, some of which have made headline news, when a group of internet users provided enough anchor text to ensure that when a person typed ‘More Evil than Satan Himself’ into a search engine, the number one site in the results was the Microsoft homepage. This process is known as ‘bombing’, or ‘Googlebombing’.
In 2000, an online men’s humour magazine filled their site (and encouraged readers to do the same) with anchor text leading to the George W. Bush online merchandise store. We can’t tell you what the anchor text said, because our mothers have taught us better- but let us assure you, it was very funny and is the first example of a Googlebomb where the creator could be traced. The Googlebomb was eventually stopped when lawyers got in contact with the creator, wielding a ‘cease-and-desist’ letter.
Nowadays, search engines have reprogrammed themselves to minimize the risk of bombing without affecting the actions of honest webmasters using anchor text within their websites.
When using anchor text, try not to pepper the page and keep the links relevant. Check, and double check they all work once the page is live and ensure that any pages you have linked to outside of your own site are still relevant as an example to the subject that you are discussing.