[Advice Needed] Anchor Text and Building Links to an EMD

[Holzr]

Note: I have been doing IM and Digital Marketing for a year now so I am not a beginner but have a rather basic question to ask that I have not been able to find an answer to.

My brand name is an EMD. However, it's not a low-quality EMD like bestorangepaintforpaintingwalls.com. It's a brandable name and not spammy. This project I am working on I am doing pretty much 100% White Hat so I will likely be getting lots of brand name anchor texts linking to me.

Question: Do I need to worry about anchor text density? Will Google understand that my brand name is EMD and will they penalize me for brand name anchor text?

Would like some advice if anyone has been/is in the same position. @Nargil your probably one of the best to ask this question. If you have time would you mind answering? Thanks in advance if you can.

 

[Deleted member 938565]

I'm curious about this too. I've been building brand anchor links to my PMD wonder if it could cause over optimization. Don't know the answer to your question, but personally I'm trying to balance it using generic anchors like "click here" too

 

[safeSEOboost]

I am not Nargil, but may I chime in? If yes, then for the record I have EMDs and non EMDs.
The point of EMD is you have your keyword in the domain, and it is your brand as well. Therefore SEO experts believe it is much less risky to have anchors with your brand/keyword in them, such as domain name, or small variations of domain name.

Question: Do I need to worry about anchor text density? Will Google understand that my brand name is EMD and will they penalize me for brand name anchor text?

To answer your question yes google will understand. But yes you still need to watch out for density, knowing domain/brand can be a big part of it.

 

[Holzr]

I'm curious about this too. I've been building brand anchor links to my PMD wonder if it could cause over optimization. Don't know the answer to your question, but personally I'm trying to balance it using generic anchors like "click here" too

This is my thought exactly. Was thinking the only way to avoid any issues is to hope for generic anchor texts being used (I have no control over anchor text as I am going WH which is a little bit of a kicker but oh well) I hope someone can answer my question to clear up my concerns.

I am not Nargil, but may I chime in? If yes, then for the record I have EMDs and non EMDs.
The point of EMD is you have your keyword in the domain, and it is your brand as well. Therefore SEO experts believe it is much less risky to have anchors with your brand/keyword in them, such as domain name, or small variations of domain name.

To answer your question yes google will understand. But yes you still need to watch out for density, knowing domain/brand can be a big part of it.

Thanks for your reply. I'm hoping I'll get some generic anchor text to help dilute anchor text ratios. I'm hoping Google doesnt try and screw me despite me going WH.....

 

[MisterF]

Here you go @Holzr , not sure if you've seen this, I post it fequently though.


https://domainshighway.net/mastering-the-art-of-choosing-your-anchor-text/

 

[Unreliable Witness]

Based on experience of dealing with Penguin, there is little risk if you use URLs and minimal risk with complete domain name as one word, i.e. bestorangepaintforpaintingwalls.

However, you might be filtered lower in the SERPs if you over-use the keyword (the EMD name) in the text of pages, so go easy on on-site branding. KWD over-optimisation seems to kick in with lower %s when anchor text pointing to a page is exact.

 

[Nargil]

Well let's say that your domain name is "bestgadget.com".

Brand anchor is "bestgadget.com", however "best gadget" or "bestgadget" might be a problem. This is how I have always approached this and managed to rank, but it feels too limiting and I can't honestly say there is any actual advantage when it comes to having keyword in the domain name. For me personally, EMDs are something to avoid like plague.

 

[bournemarketer]

I found that it used to not matter quite as much before, but after the google fred penalty it did. I would diversify like normal.

 

[safeSEOboost]

the article link ^^^ is good but does not specify the case of EMD.

I'm hoping Google doesnt try and screw me despite me going WH.....

Say your domain is bestguitar.com, you can use best guitar as anchor much more than for a non EMD, but do not abuse it; example:
bestguitar.com 5%
URL 5%
best guitar 5%
variations 15%

Overall EMDs have had bad press over the years, but they can rank, and yes you do not need to worry too much about anchor.

 

[kontentdruid]

i've operated under the assumption that an emd gives you protection to use the keyword in your anchor text since its in your url and is ostensibly the name of your company

but its rare to have a full on emd that is not a bit spammy

 

[Holzr]

Here you go @Holzr , not sure if you've seen this, I post it fequently though.


https://domainshighway.net/mastering-the-art-of-choosing-your-anchor-text/

Thanks, taking a read now.

Based on experience of dealing with Penguin, there is little risk if you use URLs and minimal risk with complete domain name as one word, i.e. bestorangepaintforpaintingwalls.

However, you might be filtered lower in the SERPs if you over-use the keyword (the EMD name) in the text of pages, so go easy on on-site branding. KWD over-optimisation seems to kick in with lower %s when anchor text pointing to a page is exact.

My on-page anchor text is decent (actually possibly under optimised tbh) but yes will try not to go mad with on-site branding.

Well let's say that your domain name is "bestgadget.com".

Brand anchor is "bestgadget.com", however "best gadget" or "bestgadget" might be a problem. This is how I have always approached this and managed to rank, but it feels too limiting and I can't honestly say there is any actual advantage when it comes to having keyword in the domain name. For me personally, EMDs are something to avoid like plague.

It's tough because the brand name/URL is not spammy at all and for the site I am building it's a perfect match (this is not an affiliate site but a directory). The choice was less of an SEO benefit one and more of a branding choice. I am not expecting to rank ASAP as this is a long-term WH project so the EMD is not really important to me it's just the way it turned out to be if that makes any sense?

i've operated under the assumption that an emd gives you protection to use the keyword in your anchor text since its in your url and is ostensibly the name of your company

but its rare to have a full on emd that is not a bit spammy

Good point. It's a directory site so the name is a perfect fit for the niche. Will have to see what happens. I mean I am going to be getting high-quality links so I am hoping Google will put the site in their good books.

 

[Rich77ard]

What matters most is the quality of the link itself. If it's a great link then, Google couldn't care less about what the anchor text is.

But if you have a bunch of poor quality exact match anchors, then, of course, they won't like that. Consider this, if your site was actually good enough to earn links, then you couldn't really control how people would choose to link to you.

If people choose to link to your site or page as a great reference using your exact match anchors, then why would Google want to punish that. I've seen plenty of tough keywords with the top sites having as much as 50% exact match anchors. The difference is that all of those anchor text links are actually really good links.

On the opposite end, I've also seen sites get hit with anchor text as low as only 5% exact match, but all of their exact match anchors were complete rubbish links.

In its purest form, it's not really a white hat link if you can control the anchor text...

 

[Holzr]

What matters most is the quality of the link itself. If it's a great link then, Google couldn't care less about what the anchor text is.

But if you have a bunch of poor quality exact match anchors, then, of course, they won't like that. Consider this, if your site was actually good enough to earn links, then you couldn't really control how people would choose to link to you.

If people choose to link to your site or page as a great reference using your exact match anchors, then why would Google want to punish that. I've seen plenty of tough keywords with the top sites having as much as 50% exact match anchors. The difference is that all of those anchor text links are actually really good links.

On the opposite end, I've also seen sites get hit with anchor text as low as only 5% exact match, but all of their exact match anchors were complete rubbish links.

In its purest form, it's not really a white hat link if you can control the anchor text...

This is my thoughts I had before posting. It would make sense for G to punish spam links but as you say WH links you have no control over anchor text and if you're getting links from niche related authority sites then win win and G should be able too understand these links.

 

[JWQQQ]

As far as I can see, the extent of the EMD 'bonus' or leniency with anchors is related to the overall authority of the site. It seems sites I've pushed too hard when too young have suffered and had their bonus revoked, while those I've been steadier with have performed far better.

Ideally I think you should look to build the overall authority of the site rather than targeting the homepage too aggressively. With a large directory site you should have lots of categories and product/business pages that could take links, plus of course any featured content you might be adding, that can help lift the domain as a whole so you don't need to abuse anchors so much to rank for your 'brand'