We’ve all heard the expression ‘content is king’ applied to web pages. But if that is really the case why are there still many pages with excellent content that don’t rank very well at all in the Google SERPs?

The simple answer is links. Good quality content is obviously what site visitors want. Some say that even the best content will be invisible in the Google results if there are no links leading to that page.

Google needs some signposts, and those signposts are provided in the form of links. Links use anchor text and that anchor text acts as the signposts that Google needs to get an indication of what a page is all about. This is where key-term use in links is vitally important.

Links to a web page can be internal or external. Let’s first consider internal links. The internal links start with the sites navigation system. Ideally a sites navigation system will use descriptive terms as anchor text in the links to each the sites pages. This will be good for surfers and search engines, giving them both a clear idea of what is at the end of the link. Pages can also be internally cross-linked with contextual links included in the body text. This provides a valuable opportunity to vary the anchor text. Diversity in the keywords used in internal links can be good for ranking.

Now let us consider the external links or back links to a web page. It is worth noting that I am refering to pages and not websites. Google ranks web pages, not web sites so it is important to consider each page and the links leading to each page. The anchor text used in these external links acts as a signpost to surfers and search engines alike. This text indicates what is at the end of the link if it is followed. A natural link profile will develop with a variety of anchors using various key-terms and the page URL. A good example is this internal site page that ranks well for various terms related to van leasing and van contract hire.

With effective use of relevant key-terms as anchor text in both internal and external links, along with the same terms in page titles, meta descriptions, H1 headings and the page content a web page will be poised to rank well for those terms.

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