Off-Page’ Search Engine Optimisation Examined
Author: Jason Kendall // Category: UncategorizedBasic SEO theory and ‘on page’ factors have been covered in an earlier article. However, what really matters concerns off-page SEO. It’s a sort of selection process. If another site places a link to your site then that site has given you a vote of confidence. They’re saying, “Look at them – they’ve got something interesting to say…”
This link consists of two major parts. The URL of the page being pointed at – Then secondly the keyword phrase. This will be highlighted on the web page. This generates one ‘vote’ for a particular page on a website based on that anchor text phrase. That is, 1 vote for that website to move up the listings for the search phrase (keywords) in question.
It always works in this way. The keyword phrase and targeted page are completely tied to each other. You can’t create a vote for a page without some highlighted anchor text. The anchor text notifies the Search Engine about the page’s content – and thus what search term it should come under. This is vital to understand: The anchor text controls which searches you would appear for.
Therefore, can you see why “Click HERE for more information” is next to useless for creating SEO value? We’ve simply voted for the words Click Here. Who in their right mind would type “click here” in the search box to find a site? Nobody would.
That’s the reason the anchor text must be right. It denotes which terms you’ll be ranked for. (Before we move on – are you aware that if you did search for Click Here, you’d see Adobe Reader Download listed first). Did they do that on purpose? Of course not! It’s simply that ‘click here’ features on so many sites to download Adobe Reader.
So to count a ‘vote’ for a web page, the Search Engines always go to the anchor text. It is the logical thing to do. The SE’s process tries to follow the logic of a human being. It even won’t matter what the rest of the page talks about in some ways. If all the anchor text phrases that point to you say ‘yellow balloons’, then that’s what you’ll rank for! That’s irrefutable!
Naturally, there’s more to it than that… The Search Engines also take into account a pages’ title and its wording. Plus a whole bunch of other factors as well. For example; how spread-out and relevant the sites are that are linking to you.
However, let’s be quite clear – the most important thing by far for SEO is a stuff-load of back links! And they must come from a great diversity of sites, and have properly phrased anchor texts. How much ‘clout’ a donor site has is very relevant also – There is much more value in a back-link from a highly rated site than from one with no rating at all.
Selecting the right keywords to build ratings for is quite technical. (And you should perform a lot of keyword and competitor research before putting any strategy into place.) The main thing is – What does an enquirer search for when they’re looking for your products and services? Because that’s it! The answers give you your exact keyword phrases.
However, you can’t just use your ‘best guesses! The best results are sometimes quite unexpected. Individuals can be quite random in the way they express themselves. One person looking for a good night’s sleep might type in “Orthopaedic beds” or “New Mattress”. While someone else might automatically think to say ‘I need more sleep’.
It’s simply not worth relying on supposition. DO NOT under-estimate the value that well-phrased keywords can carry. How much visibility your site gets is absolutely dependent on this. An analogy could be drawn with a listing in the Business Yellow Pages. You’re not going to get any enquiries for Car Repairs if you’re indexed as a Hairdresser! Successful SEO is the result of meticulous analysis of keyword research.