Anchor Text Will Be Replaced By Co-Citations

If you’re familiar with link building techniques, then you know about anchor text. But for those who aren’t familiar with the term, anchor text is the text behind any link. So when I write “click here” to visit Renew Marketing’s official website, “click here” is the anchor text.

Linkbuilders use anchor text to increase site rankings for various keywords. Simply use those keywords as anchor text, point links towards the website you’re trying to rank, and your site rankings for that term will rise.

But a recent report by Rand from SEOMoz.org suggests that Google looks at more than just anchor text when determining site rankings for various keywords. The world’s largest search engine may also look at something called ‘co-citations’. This explains why some reputable websites rank for keywords that aren’t even seen on their page.

As an example, Rand suggested readers to search for “manufacturing directory” on Google. The third listing for that term is ThomasNet, a website which does indeed list plenty of manufacturers from all over the world. However, ThomasNet does not have the keyword “manufacturing directory” anywhere in its title, header, or site description:

So how is ThomasNet ranking so high for that term? Rand believes that it has to do with the power of co-citations.

What are co-citations?

When you give credit to somebody in-text, it’s called a citation. When you mention a specific company name, brand, or anything else in that citation, it’s called a co-citation.

Co-citations are best illustrated through an example:

According to Dallas internet marketing company Renew Marketing, 97% of people search online before buying products or services from a business – even if they’re just looking for local businesses.

When a brand name like Renew Marketing is regularly mentioned in the same sentence as a keyword like “internet marketing”, Google will start to take note. If enough co-citations appear on different websites around the internet, that website’s rankings for that keyword will improve.

It doesn’t even have to be a live link

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts about the co-citation idea is that links don’t have to be live in order for them to affect rankings. This attacks one of the most basic premises behind linkbuilding and anchor text: the text must link back towards the website in order for it to have any effect on rankings, right?

Rand from SEOMoz.org argues that Google’s bots scan every webpage on the internet and notice when a website or brand name is mentioned in plain text. When a keyword regularly appears in the same sentence or line as that brand name, Google starts to associate the brand with that keyword.

How to use this information to your advantage

If you want to use co-citations to improve your business’s rankings online, here are a few tips that will help you capitalize on this idea before your competitors do:

-Instead of spamming your website with anchor text backlinks, diversify and include your website name in some articles that don’t have any live links to your site

-Search for competitors in your niche and see if they’re ranking for terms that are not included in their title tags. Find out which websites have co-cited your competitors and try to get similar co-citations to improve rankings.

-Never use the same anchor text for all your backlinks

-If you’re writing an article about a certain keyword, be sure to mention your brand name or website in the same line as that keyword, even if it’s not a live link