14 replies to this topic

[Force7]

Hi,

I understand that keyword links from external websites help with rankings. I also understand that keyword links within your website help but I have a stupid question about different keyword links leading to the same page.

Example:

A) Product page showing Marbles for sale.

Then I have different content pages through out my website. Can these other pages use different keywords to link to the same product page?

Example:
keyword links I might use:

marbles
red marbles
blue marbles
shooters (another nickname for some marbles) (this would be a link from a content page about the best type of "marble shooters")
blue aggies (another nickname for some marbles) (this would be a link from an article page about "Fake Aggies and Marbles")

Any advice? I have a tendency to write good content but over look adding enough keyword links internally.


Disclaimer: [Hopefully this keyword is a good example, I had to explain a bit in detail or knowing this group they would think of a different type of shooters. lol]

[don h]

Does the product page itself use each of those keywords in its content?

[Force7]

Does the product page itself use each of those keywords in its content?

For the most part yes but not in the title.

So if the word 'aggie' does not appear anywhere on the page then would the answer be no? Only link to that page if the keyword is found either in the title or the content of the page, even if it is a comon nickname for the product?

[don h]

I'd try to include the text used for the anchor inside the page, doesn't have to be in the title.

You're describing the page with that anchor text, it would make sense that you also use the same text somewhere within the content inside the product page.

[Scirish Guy]

Just type in a word like "Microprocessor" and find out why it is number 2

http://www. howstuffworks .com/microprocessor.htm


If you look at it, it has the damn word in the like 50 times. All of it's links relate to it or even have the word "microprocessor" in it. But don't get too carried away with it, it can become ugly or be penalized. But check out that website and you can see what I am talking about (I spaced the 3 parts on purpose)

[Force7]

Ok this all helps. I know it goes back to common sense but the 'alternate names" that people put on products was getting confusing.

Basically the example of you are showing works, they go through the same thing, Microprocessor/CPU are both the same product but it looks like the have seperate articles but make sure the page it leads to also contains some of those terms and then some pages overlap them somewhat.

Thanks for the input!

[jagrmeister721]

Yeah, I think its a tradeoff between competing for many terms or focusing your link quality on a single term. That's based on whatever metrics you have for search volume, ability to monetize certain queries, etc.

[Matt Bush]

You are talking about on and off page optimization. Essentially if you want to rank for a particular keyword, you will want to make sure you are using it on the actual page, and follow basic SEO principles such as also using it in the title tag, headers, etc.

Then, follow it up with getting links that point to the site that use the keywords in the anchor text. I've found that though on page optimization is certainly important, it is the off page that really makes the difference. The more quality links, the better.

Matt

[Zishan Ahmed]

The keyword should take the visitor to the page that it is been used for.

Otherwise i wont make any big difference to the search engine, but could make your visitor to judge u as a fake supplier.

[Catz]

You can link to your site with any link text you like, but you should make sure they are relevant to what is on your page. You wouldn't want to link to red marbles if they are not on the page, but if they are, there is no harm in this.

Be careful about making too many links with the exact same term. It used to be something people tried but it became obvious this was being done to manipulate ranking and was deemed in the realm of "too obvious SEO".

Why would you want to link to your page with only one term anyway?

If you look in Google's cache, many times you will see the message that a particular term is not on the page but is in links that point to it. Obviously, this link text came in useful even though it was not on the page, or this would not be shown in the cache. This can be seen again and again in numerous searches.

If you do what seems natural for your visitors, using link text you think will draw their interest rather than worrying about what you should do to manipulate the search engines, you should do fine.

You can link into your pages with numerous different terms if you like, whether all those different links are leading to only one page, or to many.

[Zishan Ahmed]

Here I have a question with catz... why is not unethical or may considerad as a bad practice, if one use many amount of different terms and all those terms are leading the searchers to a single page.

And what about the Seach Engine, wouldn't they consider it as a bad practice.

[Randy]

Why would it be a bad practice Zishan?

As long as the links and anchor text are relevant to the content of the page in question I don't see a problem with it. The search engines won't either since they know most webmasters have no control over who links to their page and even less control over how those hundreds or thousands of people link to the page.

[EGS]

You should be using links with relevant anchor text according to your page's content.
From what I see, you're looking to sell marbles...so a link with the anchor text "buy marbles" or "marbles for sale" could be an alternative solution out of your selection.
The term "marbles" is a very general term and can be ranked in search engines as game category, when in fact you're trying to sell marbles, not educate people on how to play.

[blair43540]

If I understood zishan correctly he meant using keywords that have nothing to do with a site to link to that site. Don't think that that will be very beneficial to you. People are searching for relevant stuff and linking with wrong keywords will drive down conversion rates. Also don't think Google will like this practice!

[Catz]

using keywords that have nothing to do with a site to link to that site

You wouldn't want to link to a site with a bunch of irrelevant terms. That would be a pointless waste of time.

why is not unethical or may considerad as a bad practice, if one use many amount of different terms and all those terms are leading the searchers to a single page

Many people limit themselves to one or two main keyword phrases that they want to show up for in the SERPS.

There is nothing wrong with using a variety of different terms to link to a single page, as long as they are relevant to the page content. You might have clay, glass, handmade, machine manufactured and crystal marbles for sale.

You could link to your page using any of these terms.
You don't have to limit yourself to any particular link text.
If you would like to show up in searches for all these terms, you can use them in link text to your pages.