Blogging is about communicating, engaging and sharing. How do we do that? We link, link link! But, do you know the proper way to link to share your “link love”?
No question bloggers find news from many different sources. And really good bloggers link out everywhere. Heck, some blogs are nothing but links (for example, check out Fark and Gizmodo).
But I’m seeing a lot of variation in terms of how the links are “anchored” (i.e., what terms are used to describe the link). In my opinion, really good blogs link news sources by using descriptive anchor text followed by a non-linked name of the referring source.
Good Linking Example:
[How to pick a cell phone carrier via Cell Phone News]
Bad Linking Example:
[Source: Cell Phone News]
Why is one better than the other? Answer: It all has to do with how search engines like Google use links’ anchor text to determine what the site is all about–and use that information in determining SERP rankings when someone searches for a keyword phrase. Sometimes (or usually), a site’s name has little to do with the descriptive subject matter. However, if many people use descriptive anchor text in their links, then they are helping the search engines figure out what the site is all about.
If everyone does it, then we’re all helping each other out in the SERP rankings.
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