Link Text
A page's relevance to a given search can be improved by taking advantage of another scoring technique highly favored by some engines. The text within a LINK is sometimes weighed more heavily than words found in the regular body text.
Example of a link tag:
<A HREF="blue-widgets.htm">Blue Widgets</A>
Example of a page, which emphasizes the keyword Widgets in the Link Text:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Widgets and More!</TITLE>
<META name="description" content="Widgets by Jerry's Widget
Emporium are the best widgets money can buy.">
<META name="keywords" content="blue widgets,green widgets,red
widgets, Jerry's Widget Emporium">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>Widgets Explained:</H1>
<P>Widgets by Jerry's Widget Emporium are the best widgets money can
buy.</P>
To learn about our widgets, choose one of the following: <BR>
<A HREF="blue-widgets.htm">Blue Widgets</A> <BR>
<A HREF="red-widgets.htm">Red Widgets</A> <BR>
<A HREF="green-widgets.htm">Green Widgets</A> <BR>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The above example again emphasizes the keyword "widget" but also includes other PHRASES people might search on such as blue widget, green widget, and so forth. Statistically, most people search on two or more words to narrow the scope of their search, so always include related keywords together whenever possible.
The VISIBLE text of the links above are where you primarily want to include your keywords. It's also a good idea to create your page names based on your best keywords. That way you score a few more keyword points for the occasional search engine that indexes the page name portion of the link tag as well.
Link Text Tips:
· Always use your primary keywords in the visible link tag area of at least one or more links on the page.
· Try to place your primary keywords at the start of the link when possible. In fact, it’s a good idea to try to use your keyword phrase as the only text that is hyperlinked.
· If generating or creating an optimized page, always link to another page on your site, which includes more detail about the keyword topic.
· Avoid listing the same word multiple times in a row, since some engines may penalize for this. Instead, if you must include the keyword multiple times, be sure to separate them by other words in your text.
· Use the longer form and the plural form of a keyword when possible. For example, if you use marketing in your Title tag, a search on marketing or market will yield a match on most engines. However, words like companies will not always yield a match on company since company is not an exact "substring" of companies. In these cases you'll want to try and use both forms of the word.
· Use Upper/Lower-case lettering for keywords in general. Example: Blue Widgets are sold here!