Exact Match Anchor Text Still Works

[JoyHawkins]

Caught this awesome 16,000 keyword study by Ahrefs today: https://ahrefs.com/blog/anchor-text-study/

The summary is:

Similar to our previous study the main takeaway is this:

Exact match & partial match anchor text links help you rank higher in Google.


But even though we saw a very strong correlation, we should not forget that this is just one of the many factors that Google takes into account when ranking pages.

By leveling the effect of a strong backlink profile we got totally different correlation numbers.

Which clearly illustrates that focusing on a single ranking factor will get you nowhere.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Joy and glad you shared and bolded that last sentence.

 

[mborgelt]

I find studies like this interesting in that these sites have a lot else going for them and it's likely the collective strategy working rather than just one or two ranking factors. That said, it is good to to see correlations at this granular of a level because it helps us realize what is still worth doing in this ever-changing space. Great share as usual, Joy!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Joy et all...

Check this out. <a href="http://forums.seochat.com/search-engine-optimization-28/anchor-text-observation-483242.html">Anchor Text Observation</a> Interesting???

 

[Blake Denman]

Brian Dean from Backlinko posted this today: We Analyzed 1 Million Google Search Results. Here's What We Learned About SEO

He found the biggest correlation was the same. There are also some other great findings as well, worth a read.