SEO is an integral part of any brand’s online success. It is only when you figure in the top rankings that you actually get to come in the customer’s sight and gain traction for yourself.
Here we will talk about why Attorneys should avoid over-optimizing anchor text:
Anchor text
Before moving further, we need to find out what exactly the anchor text is. If you see the link of a website there is one portion that is clearly visible for the viewer to see. This precisely is the anchor text and it is where your entire SEO efforts need to be concentrated. Considered to be one of the most important parts of off-page and on-page optimization, the anchor text is used by Google to determine how relevant your content and website are.
When we talk about SEO, there are many types of anchor text:
- Branded anchor text, mentioning the brand.
- Targeted anchor text- focus on product or service
- Generic anchor text like ‘call now’ or ‘shop now’
- Image anchors linking the image to the main content
Optimizing anchor text
Optimizing your anchor text is essential for the success of the SEO of your website. Usually, an anchor text contains the link of your website on any other blog or website and it is very critical that the same be kept as relevant as possible. Your anchor text needs to be related to the product you are dealing with. Anything that mentions the brand name is enough to get your viewers on your website. Moving on reading why over-optimizing the same can be dangerous.
Why over-optimizing of anchor text is not correct
Ever since the penguin feature was introduced by Google, the laws of SEO have become rather strict. You may think that your anchor text would attract customers but if you are overdoing it, the chances of Google noticing it and penalizing you for it. SEO is about balancing and Google notices when the same is not happening on any website.
Every link cannot be your targeted keyword because if you are doing that, a big mess is going to be created. By over-optimization of anchor text, we mean that the same is practically used in every sentence thus complicating the entire content written. If you have 7 different links in a total content of 4 sentences assume that your SEO is doomed. When it comes to lawyers their website i.e. https://www.lawfirmseo.com needs to be SEO optimized in the correct manner so that you get the visibility that is required. It is very easy in such circumstances to make mistakes and spoil the entire deal.
Before 2014, over-optimizing your anchor text might have been ok but post that Google started paying attention and penalizing the website owners who actually did that. Read on to know what Google does when it notices the over-optimization of anchor text.
- It keeps a close eye on all the websites that are using too many links in the name of anchor text. They see whether these links are commercially fitting well in the content or not. Also, they analyze if the links are naturally placed or they have forced additions to the same.
- If they notice that the links have been organically used then you can stay calm. Else the situation is grave as you might have to pay a penalty for doing so. A manual penalty is imposed by Google and once that is imposed your website rankings are going to drop drastically. You might now find a place in the second or third page of ranking which damages your SEO strategy.
What to do if your anchor text is over-optimized
First and foremost you need to find if your anchor text is over-optimized or not. There are multiple tools available that would help you in finding out whether that is the case. You should notice the type of over-optimization that is there. If your own brand names are being used multiple times then you may not have to worry so much. However, if the valuable keywords have been used too often then you quickly need to take action against that. The following are ways in which you can fix things up before they come in the notice of Google leading to a penalty.
1. Keep relevant anchors: It is not difficult for Google to figure out if an anchor text is useful to the website or not. If you have placed one in your content it would harm your search ranking and the same is true in case of backlinks as well. If you are picking up an anchor that holds no meaning then add a filler word to make it look complete and then only use the same.
2. Guest blog: Your guest blogs are valuable to your search rankings and that goes without saying. When you are writing, one makes sure that the anchor text revolves around the same topic and there are no continuous repetitions of the same. If you repeat the reader gets bored and would quickly move on. For example, if you are writing about digital marketing tips avoid posting the content on websites that have no relation to the topic. Links should be made with words that are closely related to the topic and nothing else.
3. Distribution of anchors: Your whole content would be broken down into multiple sections. Naturally, your anchors should also be distributed accordingly. Apart from that try and use more branded and website-related keywords as they are going to get you more visibility. The blog title should be used only once or twice to build the credibility of the content. You must also analyze your competitor’s keywords and anchors and find out which one is suitable in your case also.
4. Place them where customers would look: At first the reader just skims through your content. They see the introduction and the beginning portions of what has been written. If they see anything engaging in the content they proceed further. If you place your anchor texts in the top few sections they would be picked up by the search engines and the reader would also click on it to move ahead on the website.
5. Deep level pages: This is a mistake that most SEO professionals make. By linking the anchor text to home pages, service pages, etc. of the same website you are making a big blunder. Google considers this as wrong and if you are doing that you should stop it completely. Start them by linking it to your shareable content like blog posts as that is how most reputed websites gather eyeballs.
6. Spammy sites: If your anchor texts are linking to any spammy sites then you are in for a major problem. It is quite possible that you are not even aware that the site you have linked up is spam. On a regular basis, Google checks your links so assuming you would be absolved of this crime is wrong. It is possible that in the return of such links you are getting reciprocal links but if they are not valuable they harm the DA of your website.
7. Modify anchor texts: Often we use anchor texts that are similar and quite unrelated to the content that you are writing about. In such a situation keep changing the anchor texts to use words which mean the same thing yet look natural when placed in the context. For example, if you are writing about a software development company then changes it to include keywords like “most reliable software development firms” and “companies that develop software.” Natural-looking anchor texts persuade the customer to keep reading ahead and eventually move ahead with the call to action.
8. Versatility: Instead of placing links just about everywhere Google wants that your website should be providing value to the customers. Hence links should be used and placed at places where we want the customers to notice them and proceed further. In case you place the links everywhere not only would your ranking fall but Google’s algorithms would notice and punish you for that, a situation you would not want. Avoid multiple and repetitive keywords in your anchor text cloud until unless you are not in the mood to take your SEO seriously.
Conclusion
For attorneys, over-optimizing their anchor text is a dangerous proposition. A person turns to an attorney only when he is facing a severe situation in life. The over-optimization of anchor texts can be harmful as the customer might just get bored and not find it engaging enough to continue.
Apart from that, you also fall in the rankings as Google does not appreciate websites that are not careful about this aspect. To avoid this situation follow the above-mentioned tips as closely as you can. If you are confused about the same you could also take help from a company providing law firm SEO as they are well adept at crafting strategies that put your website on the top.