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Anchor Text - A Word of Caution

Search engine optimizers should exercise some caution. In the examples given it is not necessary for the target page to contain the anchor text. However it would seem reasonable that the anchor pages are at least related to the target in some way. In our example many of the sites linking to Raleigh Bikes were cycle related. If we can spot the relevance it seems likely that Google and other search engines could discount those links, if not today then after the next algorithm update. It would also seem reasonable that anchor text does indeed correspond to the contents of the target page, if only from a user point of view. Remember that these anchors are not there for the benefit of search engines but will direct visitors through to your site.

Google uses an algorithm called PageRank to assign a value to each page on the web. There are web based tools that can show this value on a scale of 0 to 10 for a set of results. Checking the PageRank (often abbreviated to PR), for the first 100 sites returned by Google shows that there were a few PR7 sites and at least a dozen other PR6 sites. These included big names of the bike world including the website of Greg Lemond, three times winner of the prestigious Tour de France now turned cycle manufacturer.

Position	URL	Keyword Density	PR
1	http://www.raleighbikes.com/	0.00	6
2	http://www.sevencycles.com/	0.73	6
3	http://www.evanscycles.com/	1.17	5
4	http://www.intensecycles.com/	13.33	5
5	http://www.yeticycles.com/	5.94	5
6	http://www.salsacycles.com/	1.66	5
7	http://www.bontrager.com/	0.00	5
8	http://www.aardvarkcycles.com/	2.73	5
9	http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/	3.21	5
10	http://www.universalcycles.com/	0.29	5

Looking at the top ten, keyword density ranges from 0 to 13.33%. Of course the results will vary over time but unless Google changes its algorithms significantly we can conclude that the separating factor between PR6 sites is relevant anchor text. Anchor text is also more significant than page rank as our top site beats some PR7 sites. Finally Anchor text currently carries more weight than on-page factors such as high keyword density.

Anchor Text - A Word of Caution

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