Do we know if inbalanced anchor text distribution also applies to internal links?
-
I have the pages of my site linked together very well with editorial links in my copy and blog posts. But now I'm starting to wonder post-penguin if it's a problem if all my internal links to a certain page have the same anchor text? Or is my internal link juice not powerful enough to set off a red flag? I don't think I've seen this addressed anywhere or if we even know the answer to this or can only speculate.
-
That's a good theory. It's not like I've loaded internal links in every other sentence of every blog post. I only did it where it would help the customer by giving them more information. Between all my blog posts, I think each post ranges from 0-4 links, 4 being a rare occasion, one or two being the most common. I guess I'm not too worried, since post-penguin we are now #1.
-
This is a great question, and from some posts I've seen it seems that plugins like SEO Smart Links have caused issues with Penguin: http://www.itechcode.com/2012/05/19/vital-seo-tips-after-penguin-algorithm-update/
So I would say yes. Be careful using things like SEO Smart Links or KB Linker, as they can cause you to unnaturally link certain words all the time, in a way that is not good for user experience either.
It's harder when you are talking navigation, etc, but I posit (and I have no proof of this) that menus and such are not as at-risk to be hit with Penguin as overdone in context links.
As we always say, what would users expect to see? Give them that.
Hope this helps
-
Hi Marisa,
This is a good question and one I could only really speculate on but here is my thinking:
We know that Google likes links to be natural (or at least look natural) hence the focus on over-optimization in the recent update. So it would be natural to assume that Google will be looking for the same thing with internal links. This then raises the question what would look natural for internal links? Of course, as the website owner has control over the internal links, it would be safe to assume that most (if not all) internal links are going to have the same anchor text. This is just natural. However, external links are completely different and it would certainly look unnatural if all the anchors were the same commercial term.
Anyway, that's my thoughts.
Adam.
-
Hi Marisa,
from everything I've read about Penguin and it is quite a bit I would practice the same best practices for internal links as I did for external links. Never make a link over 115 characters is the rule from Google I would just make sure you avoid them thinking your keyword stuffing even though you most likely are just building your site correctly. On page anchor text aside from the length are not yet part of Penguin. Here's a list of some of the on page things they look for.
- Pages Where The Title is Missing or Empty* Duplicate Page Content Analysis* Duplicate Page Title Analysis* Pages That have Long URLs (> 115 characters)* Overly-Dynamic URL Analysis* Meta Refresh Analysis* Pages Where the Title Element is Too Short* Pages Where the Title Element is Too Long (> 70 Characters)* Pages Containing Too Many On-Page Links* Missing Meta Description Tag Analysis* Robots.txt Analysis* Meta-robots Nofollow Analysis* Meta-robots Analysis* Canonical Tags Analysis* Indexed URLs Analysis* Total URLs Receiving Traffic* Total Keywords Sending Traffic
I will look in detail for you on this and get a much better answer I apologize things are hectic right now.
Sincerely,
Thomas von Zickell
-
Thanks. That's good basic information about anchor text in general, but says nothing about how it relates to Penguin.
-
I hope this helps http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/internal-link
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Linking to CMS page ID
Hi all, Is it that detrimental to SEO if you link to the CMS page ID of a URL rather than the text URL of a page even if when you look at the source code Google sees it as a text URL? Thanks! 🙂
Technical SEO | | Diana.varbanescu0 -
60% Internal Redirects
A new client I am working with has a site with over 9,000 internal 301 redirects. These are as a result of old links not being updated and the number of internal 301 redirects far outweighs the number of 'correct' links on the site. My personal opinion is that creates the risk of crawl errors/issues and whilst a 301 redirect is correct in this case, it does not negate the need to update internal links. The problem I have is that when I explain this to the client, they reply with an Matt Cutts video from 2008 that talks about 301 redirects being correct for site migrations. Even though the video is not entirely relevant to the point, I can not get the client to move from his position. Ideally, what I am looking for help with is the following: Am I right in my position that having this many redirects is a potential issue and that internal links should be updated? Does anyone know of any articles from 'notable/reputable' sources that I can use in order to support my position? Thanks in advance for your help.
Technical SEO | | MattHopkins0 -
Why doesn't SEOmoz see internal/external links on my site?
My SEOmoz analysis that my site contains neither external or internal lnks. I have used other tools and they have all seen the internal and external links on the pages. There aren't many but they are there. Why isn't SEOmoz seeing them?
Technical SEO | | iain0 -
Too many links in header menu
I'm working on a few clients who are starting to get big header menus. Their site now easily exceeds the 100 links per page recommendation. Normally I would recommend them to cut down on the links, bit in this case these sites have menus that makes navigation easier. I honestly think these menus adds value for the users. The dilemma is that I think the menus provide value from an UX standpoint, but I'm not sure from the SEO standpoint. Any recommendations to this dilemma? Some examples: http://moodsofnorway.com/no/ http://www.gmax.no/ http://www.flust.no/
Technical SEO | | Inevo0 -
Advice on too many onpage links
Hi Just done a 250 crawl on a new site I am working on (still under development), all 250 pages seem to have too many on page links, however they do not have any links I can take away This page, for example, http://empleous.com/gb/store/category/398743/shoes?price=20-50 has (according to moz crawl) 252 links on. Seems a little high. What would be the best way to correct this please? I cannot find that many links. I know there are about 85 links in the menu bar but they are all needed and none of the others can really be replaced either. Thanks Carl
Technical SEO | | Grumpy_Carl0 -
Affiliate links
Is there a best practice for linking out to affiliates URLs post panda? I know some believe it can be a factor.
Technical SEO | | PeterM220 -
How do I know which page a link is from
I've got an interesting situation. I hope you can help. I have a list of links but I'm not sure which pages of my site they are from. How do I know which page a specific link is from? Thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | VinceWicks0 -
Do Link wheel works?
Hello, I am new to link wheel over web 2.0 sites and then linking your website or website article really helps in SEO and link building. Do you think its still works? Since i have also heard that many says that its too ok if we do spin content submitted to our web 2.0 properties small sites which are created for linking back to our main website. Will wait for reply...
Technical SEO | | anand20101