Blogging Bites #25

​COACHING · PAST TIPS · INSTAGRAM · BLOG​

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Happy Thursday, Reader!

Linking internally between blog posts and pages is super important for SEO! It helps Google crawl your website and the anchor text signals what the linked URL contains.

Today I'm going to share my anchor text strategy with you!

1. Be specific! Generic anchor texts like "here" and "cookies" are not helpful. Think of anchor text as a keyword you're trying to rank for. "Here" doesn't describe what the link contains at all, and "cookies" is extremely competitive.
2. Use "rankable" keywords! Back to the "cookies" example - plug "cookies" into Google Search or Keysearch. Does it look like something you'd be able to rank for? Probably not. Use keywords that have ranking potential (for you) as anchor text.
3. Switch it up! Use a variety of different anchor texts when you're linking to the same posts. If I'm linking to my Almond Sugar Cookies recipe in various spots throughout my blog, I'm going to use anchor texts like "almond extract cookies", "almond flavored cookies", and "soft almond cookies", rather than using "almond sugar cookies" every single time.

How do I find "rankable" keywords to use as anchor text? Personally, I use Keysearch's Organic Keywords tool (under Competitive Analysis).

I plug my post's URL into the tool and run a "Specific Page" report to see what keywords the post is already ranking for.

If your post is new or isn't currently ranking for any keywords, run a report on one of the top posts already ranking for your target keyword in Google and see what keywords they're ranking for that you want your post to rank for.

As your blog grows and you're able to rank for more competitive keywords, start using more competitive anchor texts.

Additional Resources:

• ​Your Guide to Internal Linking: SEO for Bloggers Episode #28​
• ​Top 9 WordPress Technical SEO Issues to Address (specifically #6)

Happy blogging!
-Kayla