The importance of Anchor text by Ecklund Marketing Group

Anchor text is, literally, the text that constitutes a clickable link on a web page. On the surface, it looks like a mere site navigation tool, with little SEO value. That was once the case too. But now, it's another weapon in your campaign to get your website noticed by the search engines. Skillfully applied, anchor text can improve your ranking for your search terms of choice, like 'Ottawa estate lawyer'.

How does it work? You make your chosen search term part of a link in your site navigation or, even better, an external link to your page from a quality, popular website. Here's an example of this technique being applied to your site infrastructure:

'View our firm's personal injury lawyers'. Notice how we included 'personal injury lawyers' in the link text. This is tremendously beneficial in your endeavor to rank well for the term 'personal injury lawyers' because anchor text is weighted highly in search engine algorithms. It's surprising how many sites do not take advantage of this easily incorporated SEO feature. We still see links that run along the lines of 'To see our firm's personal injury lawyers click here.'

The same principle can be applied when you list your website in directories like LawyerLocate or Rominger Legal. Instead of having your site's link labeled- ABC Law Office, you could request ABC Law Office- Toronto Personal Injury Lawyers.

You may be skeptical that mere link text can make that big a difference. For proof that it really works, recall the 'Miserable Failure' incident, which is a prime example of the phenomenon known as Google bombing. Several anti-Bush webmasters grouped together to create links that included the phrase 'miserable failure' and direct those who clicked on them to George W. Bush's official White House biography page. Their campaign was so successful that Bush's official biography became the top search result for 'Miserable' and 'Failure.' Google addressed this potential for abuse at the end of 2006, by altering its algorithms to reduce the effect of harassment campaigns like the above.

For more information on Search Engine Optimization techniques, please visit this blog regularly. Also browse our website at: http://www.ecklundmarketinggroup.com/

Search Engine Optimization Techniques from Ecklund Marketing Group

The number one problem for website copy is that people tend to overdo it with keywords and overly descriptive explanations of what they do, offer, etc. Consider a lawyer who wants to say they’re a ‘Toronto car accident lawyer’. A common blunder is to incorporate your key search phrase into one rambling, drawn-out sentence. i.e. ‘We are Toronto car accident lawyers acting for you in the defense of an accident involving a car in Toronto where we will defend your car accident in a court of law…’

See what I mean? Ridiculous phrasing, and a potential client who reads site copy like that would question whether they want to engage the services of a lawyer with such a poor online representation. Packing search terms so densely into site text is a feeble attempt to rank well with Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines for those phrases, and doesn't do anything for site visitors except annoy them. You have to write for your potential clients, not the search engine bots. And here's a little not-so-secret tip: search engines don’t even like that kind of keyword stuffing any more, and doing it can actually hurt your ranking.

At Ecklund Marketing Group we work with you to ensure that your website's content achieves the ideal balance of appealing to clients and search engines both. It's a fine art, but we have a team of professionals who can bring out the best in you on the web.

See what we can do for you at: http://www.ecklundmarketinggroup.com/

Top SEO Strategies from Ecklund Marketing Group

There are many pitfalls on the road to success on the internet and so choosing a company that can market your business well is crucial.

We will add daily blog entries that deal with problems common to webmasters both new and experienced, introducing solutions that will help your website gain recognition from the major search engines.

If using Flash to build your site or just the index page, have another site designed to mirror your Flash site built in HTML format. Search engines need HTML links in order to move through your site indexing along the way. Flash does not allow for this to happen. Another way to approach this problem is if you use Flash sparingly, by importing short animations into your HTML pages. This way the 'bots' from Google, Yahoo and MSN can easily navigate your site helping to rank you higher in their indexes.

See what we can do for your company at: Ecklund Marketing Group Website Services

Ecklund Marketing Group, Web Design and SEO

Hello,

We'd like to welcome you to our blog space where we will offer solutions to your website promotion questions and also publish other blogers' posts that can help your company better understand the web and better promote your business on the internet.

We are active members of the SearchEngineWatch.com community forum, and attend the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo in Toronto and Chicago every year. Knowledge obtained from recognized SEO experts such as Danny Sullivan, Bruce Clay, and Matt Cutts as well as representatives from the major search engines are put to use to give you the most cutting edge web presence.

We have been promoting businesses and organizations on the Internet since 1996, back when frames were 'cool', blinking text was a coding breakthrough, and everyone thought that style sheets were the latest offering from Sears.

Ready to give your business or organization the online presence that it deserves? E-mail us at info@ecklundmarketinggroup.com, and one of our company representatives will get back to you to discuss your project. Visit us at http://www.ecklundmarketinggroup.com/