3 replies to this topic

[awall19]

Curiosity has struck me...

Lets say an exceedingly large portion of the incoming links to your website say that your site is about "search engine marketing". You decide you would rather focus on the phrase "website promotion".

When search engines consider what your site is about, does the majority of your links say one thing factor against your ability to list well for that other term.

I do not think they are because if links were evaluated in this manner, what would prevent a really strong competitor from eroding your rankings by "mislinking" to you in a large network of sites?

[qwerty]

If you're asking if this is a question of proportions, I'd say the answer is no.

That is, if 10,000 pages link to you with "search engine optimization" in the anchor text, you'll probably rank well for that term. If 10,000 other pages link to you with "diesel engine parts" you'll rank well for that as well, but it won't affect your ranking for "search engine optimization".

[Jill]

Aaron,

It wouldn't count against your site, but you'd not have the benefit of all those links saying the new phrase. Certainly, you could start to build up additional links that said the new phrase, or request the old links to be changed.

But no, it won't count against you for the new phrase, just won't help as much as it would if the links had your new phrase.

Jill

[awall19]

Thanks for the reply.

Its hard to think comparing secondary data like that would really be worth its current burdon on search engines. As they become more advanced I wonder if they will ever consider such data though.