SEO: Why Some URL Back-Links Beat Keyword Links
By Anna Johnson on September 1st, 2010When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) the holy grail of getting back-links to your web pages is get inbound links from the most relevant, authoritative pages on the most authoritative websites (according to the search engines)… and to get those links to include the keywords you’re targeting in the anchor text.
Or is it?
As Gareth Owen in Search Engine Watch indicates, the LEAST important aspect of this equation is having your targeted keywords in the anchor text of the inbound link. In other words, getting a URL link (i.e. a link that simply displays the URL of your web page) from a highly regarded website containing content that relates to the content of your site is MUCH more important than getting a link from an unrelated website that happens to contain your keywords in the anchor text.
In fact, Google, Bing and the other search engines may ultimately disregard the general authority of a website (e.g. as measured by Page Rank or otherwise) over relevance. For example, if you run a site about ferrets you may be better off getting a URL link from a PR5 site that’s also about ferrets than getting a keyword link from a PR6 site about scooters.
This is, of course, something for search engine optimizers to test. It does, however, make sense if the search engines are serious about generating the most relevant search results for their users.
Source: Gareth Owen, “Don’t be Afraid of URL Links,” Search Engine Watch, August 24, 2010
