Links are the main driver of high search engine rankings.
Without links pointing to a page, it is very difficult to have a page rank well for even moderately competitive keywords.
Instead of just any link, search engine optimization professionals have long put a premium on controlling the text of a link, commonly known as a hyperlink.
What Is It? Hyperlinks are simply the text that makes up a link.
An example would be a page with a link that says "Click Here", where "Click Here" is the anchor text.
Why Does it Matter? Hyperlinks have been one of the most important ways to rank for a specific keyword for as long as Google has existed.
Throughout Google's existence, the algorithm can be distilled as "link quantity + quality = authority & rankings".
If a page is targeting a specific term, the hyperlink pointing to that page will hopefully contain that term, or a variation of that term.
This has helped search engines to better understand how a page should rank, and for which terms.
This is also valuable for people who may click on the link.
A random and non descriptive link may not receive many clicks, which may run contrary to the intention of the webmaster who made the link in the first place.
The Effect on Backlinks At this point, hyperlinks appears to be losing value.
Before April of 2012, when the Google Penguin Update was released, if a page had 100 links pointing to it with 60 or 70 of those links containing anchor text that exactly matched the target keyword, it was not a problem.
With the release of Penguin, these sorts of unnatural anchor text distributions (60% or 70% of the links pointing to a page with the same text is far from natural) have begun resulting in falling rankings and even penalties for websites using manipulative practices.
As a result, some have begun seeking partial match and branded texts instead of the exact match links to avoid any penalties.
The Final Word Hyperlnks, even exact match, is still important, even if its importance is waning.
For those building links manually, they may still want to use the opportunity to use a more targeted anchor text, since other people are more likely to use a more generic anchor text when making a link.
Sticking to partial match, branded and more descriptive hyperlinks should have a positive effect on search engine rankings.
Without links pointing to a page, it is very difficult to have a page rank well for even moderately competitive keywords.
Instead of just any link, search engine optimization professionals have long put a premium on controlling the text of a link, commonly known as a hyperlink.
What Is It? Hyperlinks are simply the text that makes up a link.
An example would be a page with a link that says "Click Here", where "Click Here" is the anchor text.
Why Does it Matter? Hyperlinks have been one of the most important ways to rank for a specific keyword for as long as Google has existed.
Throughout Google's existence, the algorithm can be distilled as "link quantity + quality = authority & rankings".
If a page is targeting a specific term, the hyperlink pointing to that page will hopefully contain that term, or a variation of that term.
This has helped search engines to better understand how a page should rank, and for which terms.
This is also valuable for people who may click on the link.
A random and non descriptive link may not receive many clicks, which may run contrary to the intention of the webmaster who made the link in the first place.
The Effect on Backlinks At this point, hyperlinks appears to be losing value.
Before April of 2012, when the Google Penguin Update was released, if a page had 100 links pointing to it with 60 or 70 of those links containing anchor text that exactly matched the target keyword, it was not a problem.
With the release of Penguin, these sorts of unnatural anchor text distributions (60% or 70% of the links pointing to a page with the same text is far from natural) have begun resulting in falling rankings and even penalties for websites using manipulative practices.
As a result, some have begun seeking partial match and branded texts instead of the exact match links to avoid any penalties.
The Final Word Hyperlnks, even exact match, is still important, even if its importance is waning.
For those building links manually, they may still want to use the opportunity to use a more targeted anchor text, since other people are more likely to use a more generic anchor text when making a link.
Sticking to partial match, branded and more descriptive hyperlinks should have a positive effect on search engine rankings.