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What is Anchor Text?

Apr 26, 2022

What Is Anchor Text?

Home > SEO > Page 2

Digital Marketing, technology & business insights, how to’s and explainer videos, released on a Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to be notified and sign up to our mailing list! 🎥

See below, the transcript from this episode of Giant Wednesday if videos aren’t your preferred method to consume digital skills. See also the Giant Cheat Sheet from this episode.

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Anchors… they are typically around to hold you back or weigh you down.

But not anchor TEXT – this is only going to help you boost your website, and allow for smooth sailing.

Hey, I’m Ellen, today we’re going to explore anchor text so get your shipmates ready for this episode of Giant Wednesday.

We’re going to kick it off with the most important question…

What is Anchor Text?

Anchor text, quite simply, is the clickable bit of text you might see on a website that links you through to another page.

Not the link itself, but the way the link is displayed.

It helps transform this long string of URL into something much tidier (see video) which is a nice tidy up, as well as having benefits for your website’s visibility.

You’ll have seen them all over the place, and no doubt click on a few every day!

In most cases, you’ll recognise them as a blue, underlined bit of text.

But you can change your own on your website to match your colours and styles.

What’s the benefit of using Anchor Text?

As I’ve already mentioned, anchor text helps improve your website’s visibility and is part of SEO, search engine optimisation.

Anchor text provides both users and search engines a snippet of relevancy about the content of the link’s destination.

For example, if you were a dog rescue business, and you wanted to share about the dogs you had up for adoption on your homepage… then you’d use an anchor link with the text ‘puppies for adoption’ which links through to your adoption pages.

See, context!

And that context is what helps search engines like Google and Bing (other search engines are available) understand what’s on, and how users might navigate the hierarchy of your site.

It’s one of the many aspects of optimising your website that the likes of Google consider a ‘ranking factor’ – more of that in other episodes though.

But ultimately, it helps a user navigate your site to get the information THEY want. A happy customer is the goal, right?

It’s important to note that search engines use external anchor text as a reflection of how people see your page – and whilst you can’t always control how other websites link to yours, you can make sure to follow Google’s own advice:

“Make sure that anchor text you use within your own site is useful, descriptive, and relevant.” – Google

Using non-descriptive, or irrelevant anchor text will only damage your bounce rate and harm your SEO in other ways.

Make sure to use it naturally and link to the right places! After all, we write for people, not robots.

On that note, did you know there’s…

Different Types of Anchor Text

Yep, as crazy as it sounds when we’re talking about a text-based link… there are different types!

We’ve got:

‘Generic’ or ‘Random’

You’ve no doubt seen this one everywhere. ‘Click here’ is a perfect example.

This is where a generic word is used as the anchor. It’s non-descriptive and doesn’t really provide any context for the link.

It’s generally advised to not use generic anchor text as this is considered a poor SEO practice and isn’t exactly inspirational…

Exact-match

If your link includes a keyword that matches the page it links to, then this anchor text is considered ‘exact-match.’

For example, ‘creative marketing’ links to a page about creative marketing.

Partial-match

This is similar to exact-match, only the text includes a variation of the keyword on the page you’re linking to.

For example: ‘creative marketing strategy’ links to a page about creative marketing.

Branded

Typically, a brand name is the only text in the link. For us, it’d be ‘Sleeping Giant Media’ linking to a page somewhere on our site.

If you look in Search Console at the links you have from external sites, you generally find these are the most common!

Naked link

Don’t be shy, this just refers to an URL that is used as an anchor. For example, www.sleepinggiantmedia.co.uk

And lastly, Images

When you have an image that links to another page, Google will use the image’s alt text as the anchor text.

So now you know the types, let’s look at…

How to add Anchor Text to your site

Not to scare you, but in some cases, it’s all about a bit of HTML that looks like this:

<a href=”https://www.sleepinggiantmedia.co.uk”>Awesome Digital Marketing</a>

But fortunately, most website builders will have this little ‘link’ icon that you can click to add a hyperlink to a highlighted bit of text (your anchor).

Easy peasy.

So as you can see, anchor text certainly doesn’t weigh you down, and can help your site reach the crystal clear waters within search engines.

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How To Boost A Post On LinkedIn

Apr 12, 2022

How To Boost Posts On LinkedIn

Home > SEO > Page 2

Digital Marketing, technology & business insights, how to’s and explainer videos, released on a Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to be notified and sign up to our mailing list! 🎥

See below, the transcript from this episode of Giant Wednesday if videos aren’t your preferred method to consume digital skills. See also the Giant Cheat Sheet from this episode.

If you want to know more, get in touch today 😎

LinkedIn is SO popular nowadays that even Ryan Reynolds is on it! Cool, right?

It’s no longer just the ‘online CV’ people once thought it was, it’s a big ol’network of people you could be getting your business and message in front of.

Today I’m going to share with you the why’s and how’s of boosting posts on LinkedIn so your message gets seen.

When it comes to the topic we’re discussing today, we are talking about the act of boosting posts on business pages on LinkedIn – so bear that in mind.

So, let’s kick off with the big questions in life…

What does it mean to boost a post on LinkedIn?

Boosting a post on LinkedIn is exactly what it says on the tin… well, maybe in the small print.

It’s all about boosting the visibility of your post, helping it to be seen by a wider, targeted audience to help you achieve your objectives.

It helps as well, to make sure people outside of your LinkedIn page followers see your post – isn’t that useful?

It takes that organic glory and turns it into a boosted masterpiece.

What’s the difference between boosting a post & running an ad on LinkedIn?

When it comes to the difference between posting and ad-setting-up-ing, the biggest difference is the simplicity of it all.

It’s easier, in theory, to boost a post because there are limited options to select. It’s quicker in this way too, but as implied, this simplicity also comes with restrictions.

Boosting a post only gives you a limited amount of targeting options, objective setting and placement types – unlike running an ad that would give you the whole host of options.

This isn’t a bad thing though – because depending on your goal, one may work better than the other.

The decision is up to you, but today I’m talking boosting so how about we look at…

How to boost a post on LinkedIn

So first up it’s important to note that at the time of recording, you can only boost events, videos and posts with text or a single image. This might change over time, who knows!

You’re going to want to know which post you want to boost and then follow along:

Access the admin view of your LinkedIn page and find the post in your feed
Click the ‘boost’ button above the post to open up the next window
Select an objective from either:
Increase awareness of your post
OR Get engagement on your post
You’ll then select your audience type from either:
Profile-based (things like job function, industry and seniority)
Interest-based (which looks at the type of groups they’re involved with)
A LinkedIn audience template (one they made earlier in true Bluepeter style)
OR a saved audience (one you made earlier!)
You’ll then continue to refine your audience based on the audience type you selected, for example; looking at location and exclusions
Confirm the advanced options of automatic audience expansion (which will help show your ads to audiences similar to the one you just created) and LinkedIn audience network (a network that will help you reach 25% more people by running your ads on partner apps and websites)
Set a start and end date for your campaign
Set a lifetime budget
Select an ad account to bill – it’ll either give you existing options of your ad accounts or will create one for you
Take a look at the forecasted results, check you’re happy with the preview and then hit BOOST

Easy peasy LinkedIn squeezy.

Once boosted, you’ll be able to track the post’s success in your ads account in Campaign Manager, as well as check out the post analytics itself.

And that’s it – go forth and boost your posts to achieve your objectives and do Giant things.

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A Guide To Website & SEO Redirects

Mar 29, 2022

A Guide To Website Redirects

Home > SEO > Page 2

Digital Marketing, technology & business insights, how to’s and explainer videos, released on a Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to be notified and sign up to our mailing list! 🎥

See below, the transcript from this episode of Giant Wednesday if videos aren’t your preferred method to consume digital skills. See also the Giant Cheat Sheet from this episode.

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Direction, we all need one in life. And we all need to know what direction we’re pointing people in when it comes to our website.

And you know what, you’re in luck, because this week we’re breaking down the why, what, how and when of redirects!

Whether you’re looking to send users to a whole new page on your site, or create a temporary holding page whilst you work on a redesign, redirects can help you to make sure your users always enjoy the same great experience when they engage with your website.

What is a redirect?

In the SEO world, a redirect is a process of forwarding traffic and users from one URL to another. Simple.

Whether they’ve clicked through from a search engine, a social media post or are a direct user, the redirect sends them to a URL of your choosing instead of the one they intended to land on automatically.

This isn’t in an attempt to trick them, no no no.

When to use redirects

Well, you could use redirects for a few different reasons! For example;

You’ve updated your URL structure
You’ve moved or consolidated pages
You’ve deleted a page that has backlinks pointing to it
You’ve changed your website name and don’t want to lose your SEO value
You migrate from HTTP to HTTPS

And you might just want to do it temporarily, such as sending users to a ‘holding’ page or a different one whilst you update or fix the other.

Different reasons mean different redirect types.

Using the wrong type of redirect could result in a loss of search engine rankings in rare cases, as can not actually implement any redirects at all.

It can also affect the user experience if they can’t find the page they were looking for.

So let’s take a look at…

The types of redirects

There are a few types of redirects you’ll need to know about on a day-to-day basis, and a few that are probably a bit rarer.

301 Permanent Redirects

A 301 redirect is one of the most common types and should be used if you want to permanently redirect either; a deleted page, a page that’s moved or a page that’s permalink structure has changed.

This redirect code tells search engines that the page is;

No longer at this location
Should no longer be indexed

Because of this, make sure you don’t intend on using that URL again as it will transfer all link value over to the new URL.

If you don’t put this redirect in, and someone clicks a link to your old page, then the user and crawl bots will be presented with a 404 error message.

302 Found Redirects

A 302 redirect is a temporary redirect and directs users (and those pesky search engines) to the desired page for a limited amount of time.

These should be used for things such as:

A/B testing a webpage for the likes of functionality or design
When a webpage is broken but you want to keep up appearances

For clarity, if it’s a permanent change to your website, then a 301 redirect is necessary. If it’s temporary then it’s a 302 redirect. Using the right one is essential so as not to have a negative impact on your SEO.

How to implement a redirect

When it comes to chucking about your 301s and 302s, you’ll be happy to know that most modern CMS platforms offer their own solution or plugins to easily deal with these types of redirects.

Take a look at what’s built within your CMS, or have a Google for the best plugins for the likes of WordPress.

And that’s probably all you need to know about your day-to-day redirects but do get in touch if we can help!

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What Is Outreach Marketing?

Mar 15, 2022

What Is Outreach Marketing?

Home > SEO > Page 2

Digital Marketing, technology & business insights, how to’s and explainer videos, released on a Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to be notified and sign up to our mailing list! 🎥

See below, the transcript from this episode of Giant Wednesday if videos aren’t your preferred method to consume digital skills. See also the Giant Cheat Sheet from this episode.

If you want to know more, get in touch today 😎

Do you want to boost your brand?

Do you want to achieve your objectives?

Do you want to get in front of more, but relevant audiences?

Well, teamwork makes the dream work, right?

And for today’s teamwork, we’re talking about outreach marketing. How you can use outreach strategies to do Giant things.

Let’s kick off with what we mean by outreach marketing…

What is Outreach Marketing?

Outreach marketing is quite literally… reaching out to people.

Not just any people, I’m talking about companies, businesses, brands, influencers and individuals that have a shared interest or relevance in what it is you’re offering.

The act of outreach marketing can help you to build awareness and momentum for either a campaign, a product or your brand overall.

For example, if you are marketing a travel company and looking to get the word out about a super awesome deal you’re doing for trips to Spain right now, then you might consider:

Reaching out to travel journalists, or travel-based TikTokers to ask if they’d like to go on the trip for free, or a reduced price, and write a review or make content for their platforms
Or, write a blog about the top 5 things you can do in Spain and send this out to newspapers, bloggers and more to put on their website – linking to your offer

You see? This way you’re using the extended reach of another related business or organisation to benefit your own.

It’s important though to remember that outreach marketing tends to be tit for tat – people will rarely just promote your business or content for the fun of it.

If they can benefit from it too, then they’re more likely to work with you – and for them, that could be website sessions or a free trip on your aeroplane…

Why is Outreach Marketing important?

Growing a business or a brand can be tricky, and that’s ok – the act of outreach marketing, however, gives you the chance to boost the number of relevant people who might see your efforts.

It also gives you great opportunities to work with other brands, extending your professional networks.

Overall though, outreach marketing is important because it helps you to gain more audience, boost your visibility and gain more credibility.

So, what are the benefits of outreach marketing?

The benefits of outreach marketing are things such as;

Boosting brand awareness
Securing valuable links back to your website
Increasing new customers
Building long term relationships with our businesses
Boosts traffic to your website
Adding credibility to your brand

And you can’t deny, you don’t want to be in on that action…

Ok but,

Where do I begin with outreach marketing?

When it comes to kicking off outreach marketing activity, you first need to identify your ‘influencers’ – and no, this doesn’t have to be the likes of Kim K.

If you were a bakery, for example, then you might look to identify the likes of BBC’s Good Good website or magazine as a publication to reach out to, or local food-based influencers and publications.

When identifying these outlets, look for the likes of:

Activity (how active they are across their platforms)
Relevancy (do they relate to your business?)
Popularity (and remember, big isn’t always best!)
Engagement (are they just for show, or have they got an engaged audience?)

Once you’ve identified who your influencers might be, you’ve got to build the relationships necessary to work with them!

The most obvious way to do this is a good ol’ email. In fact, we’ve covered how to write effective emails in an episode before.

There are also methods like Tweets, direct messaging, and, crazily enough… picking up the phone!

To get their attention, you’ve got to craft a pitch, something that sells your idea or how you want to work with them, being concise and detailing the benefits for the influencer if they choose to work with you.

Remember to stand out, and to offer genuine benefits in return (such as free cookies if you’re a bakery…).

If you’re not sure where to start when looking for businesses to outreach to, then use some of the analytics tools in social media platforms, or Google Analytics to see what your current customers and audience are into. Use this as some inspiration.

So yeah, outreach marketing, it’s as simple as reaching out to other businesses to work with them to reach out to their audience too – cool, right?

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How Long Does It Take To See The Benefits Of SEO?

Feb 15, 2022

How Long Does It Take To See The Benefits Of SEO?

Home > SEO > Page 2

Digital Marketing, technology & business insights, how to’s and explainer videos, released on a Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe to be notified and sign up to our mailing list! 🎥

See below, the transcript from this episode of Giant Wednesday if videos aren’t your preferred method to consume digital skills. See also the Giant Cheat Sheet from this episode.

If you want to know more, get in touch today 😎

“We can get you to position one, page one of Google for all your chosen keywords in only a month!!!”

…said no ‘reputable’ SEO agency ever!

We know optimising for search engines is seen as playing the long game when it comes to marketing online, but how long does it take to see the benefits of SEO…?

How Long Do I Wait To See SEO Results?

So you’re working on your SEO? Just how long can you expect to wait to see some results?

There are so many variables at play when it comes to SEO, but for the sake of giving you an answer within the opening 30 seconds of this video…

You could expect to see some results of a ‘fully fledged’ SEO strategy within 6 months.

You may see results sooner than this of course, or for some competitive sectors, it might take longer.

SEO is all about being trusted by Google, and trust, as we know, can take some time.

Any rapid movements up the rankings through, such as black hat tactics like buying links, and Google will get suspicious, likely, penalising you in the long run.

SEO gives us the ability to set real foundations for our websites, and it’s one of those jobs that is never done.

You know that task on your to-do list that says SEO, yeah you can give up any hope of ticking that one off any time soon!

SEO Quick Wins

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t make some quick wins on your website to improve its performance today. Updating Google My Business listings and website content is a great place to start in fact.

There’s no secret sauce for SEO. It takes time, planning, and careful re-adjustment to achieve and maintain rankings, ROI, and traffic.

Unfortunately, I can’t give you a straight answer to how long SEO takes to work.

But we can see what might help deliver us some results quicker? Fancy that?

Are you sitting comfortably, then I shall begin:

Keywords and Competitors

Okay, keep this quiet, but You can learn a lot by analysing your competitors, especially if they dominate the search results.

While we don’t condone stealing their secrets, you can learn valuable insights for your own SEO strategy such as keywords, page structure, and new practices to try.

Analysing your competitors will also help you target better keywords related to your industry. Emulating your competitors gives you insight into real strategies that get proven results, which means you aren’t starting completely from scratch.

Errors, Hosting Issues & Penalties

Before looking to improve your ranking, first fix the foundations.

SEO errors, unreliable website hosting, and Google penalties take longer amounts of time to recover from.

Depending on the number of 404 errors, broken links, 301 redirects, and inconsistent optimisation, resolving these errors can show positive results in as little as two weeks.

However, be aware Google doesn’t index all of the changes at once. You may see an increase quickly in some aspects, but not in all.

Backlinks

Trustworthy links from and to your website. We could talk about this all day, but make sure your links are providing you value! Check out one of my older videos to learn more about this.

Mobile First

It’s been the case for a while now, but some sites still haven’t caught up… Google switched to a mobile-first approach, meaning it will crawl mobile pages first when determining indexing and determining rank.

If you have a poor mobile experience, that will more than likely translate to your position in the SERPs.

Take the time to run your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, and work on the recommendations.

On-Page & Off-Page SEO

Now for the technical bit. If you’re hoping to see some truly sustainable results a little faster, always check your on-page optimisation.

By making improvements to your meta tags, header, anchor text, title, descriptions, and alt tags, you’ll often see results within a few days.

This is usually one of the first items we address when working with new clients.

Get this done quickly, and it could shorten the time it takes to produce results from SEO.

So that’s it, 5 things to get working on right now.

Keep in mind, when you update or make changes to any pages, you have to rely on Google to find those changes and recrawl the page.

This doesn’t happen overnight, and sometimes, takes a few crawls for the changes to register.

Every website is different.

You simply can’t measure in hours, days, weeks, or months how long SEO will take to drive results. But in the meantime, you can optimise to give yourself the best platform for future success.

Good SEO takes time and effort, to make sure your strategy is fit for purpose.

But trust me, Get it right now and future you, will be grateful you did.

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