ANCHOR TEXT PROFILE FOR AGED DOMAINS

A thorough look & inspection into the anchor texts of all aged domains is an essential step during the due diligence process.

Anchor texts can tell you a lot about what sort of quality an aged domain is. It is crucial that the anchor text profile of the aged domains is clean and natural-looking before you proceed to purchase any aged domains.

In this article, I will break down what to look for in the anchor text profile of aged domains, and more.

WHAT IS AN ANCHOR TEXT?

Anchor text is basically a clickable text in a hyperlink. This means that if I insert a link within the word “insert” – insert is my anchor text.

You will also notice that the hyperlink is visible, the anchor text has changed color, can easily identify that this is an anchor text, and a hyperlink has been inserted onto it.

Often, anchor texts are used to link to other sites. So, site A links to site B (e.g Healthline links to WebMD)

OTHER WAYS THAT ANCHOR TEXTS CAN BE USED FOR

In other instances, anchor texts are also used to link internally. For example, I am writing a blog post on my site that’s about how to bake cookies, within that article, I want to internally link to an existing article on my blog that’s about “chocolate chip cookie recipe” so, I will hyperlink my chocolate chip cookie recipe to a relevant anchor text within that blog post I am currently writing about.

Furthermore, anchor texts can also be used to download files. If a file is linked within a specific anchor text, upon clicking that anchor text, a download of that file will get triggered.

You can also see what’s been linked within anchor texts within the code:

I have used Healthline as an example, you can clearly see the anchor text in a hyperlink.

To check the anchor text within the code, right-click the post and select:

“View Page Source”

Then search CTRL+F and search for the anchor text, and it will take you to it.

RELEVANCE:

It’s very important that when you add a hyperlink to anchor texts, they are both relevant to each other. For example, if I am writing about cookies, ideally, I would link out to other sites/internal pages that are about cookies.

Also, the anchor texts themselves need to be relevant.
If I have an internal page about how to make double chocolate chip cookies, ideally, the anchor texts should be an exact match or partial match. Exact match being “double chocolate chip cookies” and partial being “chocolate chip cookies”

OTHER TYPES OF ANCHOR TEXTS

• Occasionally generic anchor texts are exemplary too, generic being like “here, for more information”
• Branded anchor texts are typically used when you link to the homepage of websites. For example, “Check out Niche Website Builders” Or in other instances, an internal page could be linked, so it would be something like “According to Niche Website Builders, anchor texts are essential when it comes to aged domains due diligence” This is where an internal page could be linked within that anchor text.
• Naked anchor text would typically be the URL of the page. So instead of me inserting the double chocolate chip cooking recipe within an anchor text, my anchor texts would literally be the URL. E.g – www.mysite/double-chocolate-chip-cookies/
• Image anchor texts – if you add a link to the image’s alt text, that will make the image clickable and will take you to the link that was insured in the alt text.

Relevance is very important because it not only tells your readers what to expect when they click that hyperlink on that anchor text, but it also tells the Google Algorithm what your content is about and the topics you are linking to in your copy.

ANCHORS AND SEO – WHY THEY MATTER:

Google uses anchor texts to understand and learn what pages are about. This helps them to rank for associated keywords.

Back in the day, SEOs would manipulate google with anchor texts massively to their favor, but a google algorithm update called “Penguin” in 2012 changed all this and punished websites that did that.

WHY ARE ANCHOR TEXTS IMPORTANT FOR AGED DOMAINS?

It’s imperative that the anchor text profile of aged domains is natural, and nothing spammy is going on.

The anchor text profile can tell us a lot if the domain has been previously used for spammy purposes.

Failing to identify spammy anchor text profiles could cost you greatly in the longterm

ANCHOR TEXT PROFILE ON AGED DOMAIN – WHAT TO LOOK FOR:

As mentioned above, above, inspecting the anchor text profile is an essential part of the due diligence process of the aged domains.

Most natural anchor text profiles will have predominantly branded, generic, and naked anchor texts.

Let’s take a look at an example:

As you can see in the example above, this is a natural-looking anchor text profile. The majority of anchor texts are branded, followed by naked and generic.

A couple of random anchor texts are fine,  this happens to every site, especially due to the scrappers.

However, if the anchor texts aren’t predominantly branded, then this raises some red flags.

Some of the reasons why they might not be branded are:

• Some sort of manipulation may have taken place
• Link schemes
• Spammy purposes

There are occasions where the top anchor texts are not branded, but everything else looks clean. In that case, a deeper investigation will be performed to see whether the top anchor texts are legit.

Google can see manipulations very easily these days. So if anything gives you the impression that the anchor texts have been manipulated, skip that aged domain and move to the next one.

MORE THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN AGED DOMAINS ANCHOR TEXT PROFILES:

This is not all…The anchor text profile is a crucial part of the aged domain vetting process.
So, here are some more things to look out for:

1. Is it obvious that link building has taken place? For example, if you see that a certain anchor text has a lot of referring domains pointing to it, for example, “Best Electric Guitars” that means that potential link schemes have taken place.
2. Anchor texts unrelated to the aged domain’s niche or purpose. For example, if you are looking at an aged domain about exercising, and you spot anchor texts such as:- Porn
   – Casino/Gambling/Loans/Betting/Payday
   – Sex
   – Viagra
3. Foreign Characters:
   (e.g Asian, Russian – or just language unrelated to the aged domain we are looking at.
   Some are fine, if you see some foreign character right at the bottom of the anchor text profile, that shouldn’t be a big problem.

But if foreign characters have a lot of referring domains pointed to them, then there is a problem.

Furthermore, if you notice anchor texts that are unassociated with the niche, so the aged domain is about exercise, but you see anchor texts/keywords about totally irrelevant stuff, like “fishing” car mechanics, etc.

SUMMARY:

The anchor text profile is a great place to find out whether or not an aged domain is worth your time and investment. The anchor text profile can tell you a lot about the domain, so make sure you investigate it thoroughly.

Niche Website Builders offer a full end-to-end solution for website investors. We can provide the initial site build, extensive keyword research, and high-quality content written specifically to drive more traffic to your sites.