Linking the right way.

Google Loves Links. Links are also the cornerstone of Google’s PageRank algorithm.  Google incents behavior that helps it deliver better results to its users. Nothing is more important than links between related websites to make this happen.

Training Google Via Links:  In addition to helping Google out by powering it’s PageRank algorithm, links are also a great "signal" for you to send to Google as to what topics your site is related to.  As you might suspect, if you link out to an interesting article or two on a key topic of interest to your business, Google uses this as one more way to "figure out" what your site is about.  So, in addition to whatever content you have on your page, the content you link out to is an important factor in training Google so it can establish context.

Linking The Right Way:  When providing links out to other sites, there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Wrong way:  You can "click here" to read that article.  

See what we did there.  The words "click here" is what is known as the "anchor text" for the link.  It is critically important to the search engines when they look at links.  By just making the words "here" a hyperlink, we're giving Google very little help in terms of hints as to what we think the page we're linking to is about.

Right way:  The "anchor text" should give the user relevant descriptive or contextual information about the content of the link's destination. "Click here" doesn’t do that. Use the right "anchor text" for the link.  First, the link is easier for readers to click on (and know that it's a link).   When the search engine spiders "see" this link, they factor in the anchor text when determining what the target page is about.  The reason that the anchor text is important is that generally when you are linking to external (third-party) sites, you control the anchor text.  As such, this gives Google an external point of validation around the site content of the external site.  Giving the site a link is a "vote" for that site - and the anchor text you use is a "contextual vote" that helps Google reaffirm the theme of that website. Grip Technology is a Web site design and development company located in Columbus, Ohio. Grip Technology, in this example, is the right way to use "anchor text".