Thought it would be of interest for many of you.
How it Used to Work
Back in the day, trying to rank for “Cheap Marlboro Cigarettes” would mean you spam or send out your link always using the anchor text “Cheap Marlboro Cigarettes”, and the ranking would appear. However, with the introduction of the sandbox, and a few other anti-spam constraints that Google has built in, this no longer works. At least not if you’re getting your rankings quickly.
Why This Doesn’t Work Now
The sandbox and other anti-spam constraints(including the anti-Google Bomb algorithm) means appearing too heavily for most less common niches results in penalization. On the chance that you can avoid that via slower link building, Still, you will rank for that keyterm, and probably nothing else. Neither situation is our best case scenario.
How it Works Now
Now, you can’t just spam out the same link text over and over and expect to rank (in most situations/niches). Beyond that, we want to rank for more than one keyterm. As a result, you have to make sure your anchor text varies in order to get into that top spot. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to say “f**k my targeted key phrase”, and use junk text. It’s possible to intelligently add your link text and come out on top.
Source: Getting the Most out Of Your Anchor Text: It’s not as Simple as you Think : Slightly Shady SEO
How it Used to Work
Back in the day, trying to rank for “Cheap Marlboro Cigarettes” would mean you spam or send out your link always using the anchor text “Cheap Marlboro Cigarettes”, and the ranking would appear. However, with the introduction of the sandbox, and a few other anti-spam constraints that Google has built in, this no longer works. At least not if you’re getting your rankings quickly.
Why This Doesn’t Work Now
The sandbox and other anti-spam constraints(including the anti-Google Bomb algorithm) means appearing too heavily for most less common niches results in penalization. On the chance that you can avoid that via slower link building, Still, you will rank for that keyterm, and probably nothing else. Neither situation is our best case scenario.
How it Works Now
Now, you can’t just spam out the same link text over and over and expect to rank (in most situations/niches). Beyond that, we want to rank for more than one keyterm. As a result, you have to make sure your anchor text varies in order to get into that top spot. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to say “f**k my targeted key phrase”, and use junk text. It’s possible to intelligently add your link text and come out on top.
Source: Getting the Most out Of Your Anchor Text: It’s not as Simple as you Think : Slightly Shady SEO