Off-Page’ Search Engine Optimisation Clarified
Previously we discussed SEO basics and on-page optimisation. But ‘Off-Page’ SEO is what’s really important. It’s rather like a voting scheme. One website volunteers a link or vote to another website. The first site is advocating support for the other.
This link consists of two major parts. Firstly it contains the specific URL of the page. Then secondly the keyword phrase. This will be highlighted on the web page. This equates to a vote being generated for that exact page. In other words one ‘vote’ to push the website up the natural listings.
It is always so. The keyword phrase and targeted page are completely tied to each other. Or the process can’t happen. The SE’s know what search term to use for that page based on the anchor text. This is vital to understand: The search terms you will be listed for are completely determined by your anchor texts.
Thus you’ll understand why highlighting ‘Click Here…’ creates no value in SEO terms. The phrase ‘CLICK Here’ is what we’ve voted for! Who thinks of typing in ‘CLICK HERE’ when they’re doing a search? There isn’t anybody.
That’s the reason the anchor text must be right. Since it stands for all the terms you want to be searched for. Interestingly, you’ll see the Adobe Reader download site in pole position for ‘click here’. Do Adobe think ‘CLICK HERE’ is an important term? Heck No! But they’re up at the top because the phrase “CLICK HERE to Download Adobe reader” features on so many websites.
So the Search Engines draw on the anchor text ‘phrase’. It’s quite sensible really. Search Engines seek to replicate how an actual person would look for something. But in many ways your actual page content is irrelevant. For if the text that is pointing to your site says Blue Flowers, then that is what you will be listed for! That’s irrefutable!
Naturally, there’s more to it than that… Such as the title of the webpage being pointed at. As well as a variety of other things. For example; how spread-out and relevant the sites are that are linking to you.
But the essence of this shows that the single most important factor in SEO is lots of back-links. And they must come from a great diversity of sites, and have properly phrased anchor texts. How much authority a site has is also relevant… It’s less valuable getting a back link from the local pizza takeaway than from Cisco.com!
Take time to make sure you have the appropriate keywords in place. (And you should perform a lot of keyword and competitor research before putting any strategy into place.) It really boils down to one thing: What do people type into the search box when they’re trying to find your service or product? When you know that, you know which keyword phrases and anchor text to use.
Getting it right though takes a lot of measuring, testing and research. It’s so often the case that the phrase people expect is NOT what produces the most results. People have such diverse thoughts about how to express what they want. One person looking for a good night’s sleep might type in “Orthopaedic beds” or “New Mattress”. Yet ‘more sleep please’ could be someone else’s first thought.
Would you really want to trust your marketing to vague ideas and feelings about what might be typed in? DO NOT under-estimate the value that well-phrased keywords can carry. The amount of traffic you’ll receive is intrinsically linked to this. A comparison could be made with a Business Yellow Pages entry. If you’ve been entered as a Florist, but you’re actually an electrician, you’re not going to get anywhere. Similarly, for effective and profitable optimisation on-line, you must perform thorough keyword research and analysis.
