The text that is used in the links that point to your website has a major effect on the position of your website in Google’s search results.
For example, if many people use the text “buy blue widgets” to link to your website, then it is very likely that the linked web page will get high rankings for the keyphrase “buy blue widgets” in Google’s search results.
The link text (also called anchor text) is the text that is used in text links. Example:
<a href=”http://www.example.com”>this is the link text</a>
Unfortunately, not all anchor texts will be used by Google. Check the following things to make sure that the links to your website pass the correct anchor tag:
1. The nofollow attribute
This is a no-brainer. Links to your website that use the rel=”nofollow” attribute don’t pass the link text to Google. Example:
<a href=”http://www.example.com” rel=”nofollow”>great keyword</a>
There are some automated tools that you can use to help you find out if the websites that link to your site use the nofollow attributes.
2. Invalid characters in the URL
If an URL contains invalid extra characters then chances are that search engines won’t be able to index the link correctly. Example:
<a href=”http://www.example.com “>great keyword</a>
In this example, there’s a space at the end of the URL. Some webmasters found out that anchor text is not passed to Google if the link contains an extra space character.
Note that most browsers are able to correct this link and they will display the web page correctly. Unfortunately, search engine spiders seem to have more difficulty with malformed links (or they take them as a signal of low quality).
3. The links use 301 redirects
Google’s Matt Cutts recently confirmed that Google won’t consider all anchor texts that are used in 301 redirected links. Example:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/page.htm”>great keyword</a>
The web server redirects “http://www.example.com/page.htm” to “http://www.example.com” with a 301 redirect. In that case, it’s likely that Google won’t use the link text.
4. The first link passes the link text
If a page links twice to the same page then Google will use the first link text and discard the other link texts. Example:
<a href=”http://www.example.com”>This</a> is an example. The link text <a href=”http://www.example.com”>great keyword</a> will be ignored by Google.
The first and the second link go to the same URL. In this example, Google will use the link text of the first link, which is “This”. The link text of the second link will be ignored by Google.
If the second link points to another page of the linked website, then both link texts will be used by Google:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/page1.htm”>This</a> is an example. The link text <a href=”http://www.example.com/page2.htm”>great keyword</a> will be ignored by Google.
Links are the most important factor when it comes to getting top 10 rankings on Google and other major search engines.
No matter how good your company is, some people will always write something negative about your site, even if you tried your best to help them.
Some customers might write negative comments about your company in their blogs or some of your competitors might like to damage your reputation by creating fake comments about your site.
What can you do if web pages with negative comments appear on Google’s first result page for your company name?
1. Fix the problem
If people write negative reviews about your company, the first thing that you should do is to fix the problem that caused the negative review.
2. It doesn’t hurt to ask
Send the webmaster of the web page with the negative review a polite email and ask for removal of the negative comments. Many webmasters will cooperate if you explain the issue.
3. Give web pages with positive comments a boost
If the webmaster does not want to remove the negative review, find websites that contain positive comments about your site.
Link to these pages from your own website to increase the link popularity of these pages. The more links the pages with the positive reviews have, the higher they will be ranking in the search results.
If appropriate, bookmark web pages with positive remarks about your website on social bookmark sites such as Digg and Delicious.
4. Ask for testimonials from happy customers
If you receive positive feedback from customers, ask them to write a review on ConsumerReview.com, Epinions.com or similar sites.
5. Add your website to company wiki pages
Websites like AboutUs.org allow you to create an article about your company. If your company is important enough, you might even create an entry in Wikipedia.
These Wiki pages will also appear in the search results when someone searches for your company name.
6. Make sure that your own website tops the search results
If your own website comes first for your company name then most people will click on your link and don’t look further. Use the expert services of companies like Click Farther Media, to help you fix these problems. We use a hollistic and systematic approach to remove or push negative results away from the eyes of your customers. Call us at (561) 301-2424.
