Anchor text matters greatly to SEO, as it can indicate to Google what a page is about. In fact, using anchor text as a ranking signal is included in several Google patents. Not using anchor text or using generic anchor text, such as “click here” is generally considered a poor SEO practice.
CLICK HERE for more info 😀 (https://moz.com/learn/seo/anchor-text – link to a Moz article that explains the problem in detail)
Due to the client’s specific visual, aesthetic and content requirements, it was very difficult to find a suitable solution.
Finally, after long hours of going around different ideas, was found an acceptable one for this specific case that solved that particular SEO problem.
The suggestion, which was implemented, is to replace all the existing generic anchor texts such as “Read More” with an image that looks the same as the previous text and has properly optimized alternative text that have been provided in an additional document.
When preparing the document with all the places that need improvement, the specific requirements and best practices for both Alt Text and Anchor Texts should be taken into account. Further optimization is likely to be possible due to the specific nature of the website sections that contain such repetitive generic anchor texts, for example a list of offers. In a similar situation, some additional functionality could be developed to automatically take some of the offer content and use it as alt text. The fact that an image (“Read More”) is used multiple times on the page would not be a problem, as it will be small in size, cached, could be preloaded, lazy loaded, etc.
Marin Popov – SEO Consultant with over 15 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. SEO Expert with exceptional analytical skills for interpreting data and making strategic decisions. Proven track record of delivering exceptional results for clients across diverse industries.
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