May
Blogroll Anchors
First off, I want to say how much I hate the internet. I had a huge post typed up, and as soon as I push send the internet goes down and I lost everything. I really don’t feel like typing it all out again, so I’m going to give you the Cliff’s version.
I was talking on MSN to the man formerly known as King Nomar. From this point on he’ll be known as Online Marketing, at least according to my blogroll he is. Nomar asked if he could change the anchor text on his link from my blogroll. He said no one searches ‘King Nomar’. Nomar brings up a good point that I wanted to touch on briefly.
Why do webmasters/entrepreneurs/whatever you want to call us, usually use our names as anchor texts on other blogrolls? I mean how many people search for ‘Bob Buskirk’ in Google? No offense Bob :-), but I doubt it’s many. And it’s not just Bob, it’s a lot of us. Just look on my blogroll, half are names. And I’m guilty of this too.
If our goal is to bring in more traffic and make more money, then why do we use our names as anchor texts? Why not use something people search for?
Maybe there’s something valuable by getting your name out there? Better connections in the industry? Better reputations among colleagues?
So why did you pick your anchor text? I’d like to hear a few responses in the comments. And if you want me to change your text no my blogroll, just let me know.
I get your point and I know that it is important, but for me it has always been about getting my name out there, building my brand.
// Andreas Bard
I guess personally I think it is a lame practice to treat blogroll anchors (or comment names - that seems to be a practice lately too) as SERP fodder. I’d rather be known as Matt Coddington and not “Make Money Online Free From Home While You Sleep in Your Underwear!!!!” But that’s just me.
I agree with you Matt. There are other ways and places to put your link out there with your wanted anchor text to build up your SE rank. And even if I see why you would want to do what David mention above, personally for me as a blogger, I want to be known and recognized as myself, to make it more personal. That is what I want from it more than anything else.
//Andreas
I agree on you guys if we talk about replies. I always use my name in the replies. But we all know that the blog roll is mostly for SEO purpose, and not for traffic or to get your name out.
So it is good to have a good anchor text in the blog roll and keep commenting with your real name!!
I also rather be known as Nomar instead of Online Marketing.
Sorry but your reply is a bit lame to to me….
I like what Nomar is saying. Use keywords on the blogroll, but keep your name when commenting and writing.
I could care less either way, if you know what I mean. For me, I know that a lot of the blogs I visit are because of the fact they are in a blog roll. And the ones that I find most interesting, at least in my opinion, are the names. Jon Waraas (visit daily now), Bryan Le (every other day), Andreas Bard (daily), and they come because of the numerous blog rolls. Personally, I get more appreciation knowing that the link is more personal. That’s why I find in blogs personally…A personality. That’s just my opinion.
haha you need to write everything in word first
wow lol, went to comment before I read the whole post! Hey man tons of people search for me! Riiiiiight lol! I don’t use anchor text because it’s just a personal blog, nothing im really trying hard to push
[...] David Lithman just published an interesting article that now is debated among his readers and fellow entrepreneurs. It fun when people get engaged by something you write, and you can also read my opinion over there. The article is about, Blogroll Anchors and if you as a blogger should use your name/your blogs name or an anchor text to improve your SE rankings. What do you think? [...]
Man, i hate it when you loose posts just as they’re written! I’ve had problems like that with wordpress
Sorry for calling you out like that Bob… your blog is just one of the ones I visit daily so it came to mind first. No hard feelings?
I don’t think Bob cares. :-p
Keywords are useful for searching, thats why Nomar likes that way:)
Exactly green
I view the blogroll as a location where the blogger can share with his readers the other bloggers he considers to be worth reading, not a location to spam your targeted keywords. Imagine if everybody used their targeted keywords rather than their name or the title of their blog, it would be confusing (and spammy):
Blogroll:
- Online Marketing
- Make Money Online
- Learn SEO
- Market Online
- Learn to Make Money
- Make More Money Online
- Learn Better SEO
All of the blogs on your blogroll most likely target these keywords or variants thereof - they’re all in the same niche. And that’s in a particularly broad niche! Imagine if you ran a high-targeted niche and only shared blogroll links with others in the same niche. It would be a confusing repetition of keywords.
Blogroll is almost like social networking in that bloggers recommend each other to their readers. It’s not a cheap way to boost your SERPs. That’s just my humble opinion though.
I feel for you David - I hate it when I lose something that I’m writing online (blog posts, comments, etc…). You should definitely upgrade to WordPress 2.1 — it comes with AutoSave
That might have saved you a lot of headache.
Interesting points about anchor text - personally I think it’s a bit weird to comment under “Make Money Online” or something like that - how are people supposed to respond to that? “Yeah, I agree with what Make Money Online is saying”
But I understand that some people are looking for the extra SEO benefit. However, as Matt pointed out it would look strange if everybody in your blog roll had a custom anchor text.
Even if your link doesn’t have your targeted anchor text you still get a SE bump because a link from a high PR page will always help you out (no matter the anchor text).
[...] Almost every blog has a blogroll. A place where you link to other bloggers that you read or just like. Recently I talked to David about this and I asked him to change my anchor text to Online Marketing instead of King Nomar. After that David made a blog post about it to ask the crowd. It ended up with some interested comments and now I want to discuss it with you. [...]
Well, I guess we know where ShoeMoney stands on this issue:
if you enter spammy crap for your name in comments you will be blacklisted
Most people such as Shoemoney do not let you post under any anchor text because it is quietly telling the spammers to come spam your blog. Actually, very few blogs I visit allow posting with anchor text.