Does this sound familiar? ‘How you say it is just as important as what you say’. It’s one of those clichés that tends to be said by people you have to listen to, but you don’t respect. You know the kind – they say things like ‘Let’s all start thinking outside the box’ and other deep thoughts. But, in this case, they’re right, because we’re talking about links.

Specifically, we’re talking about link text. ‘How you say it’ means what keywords you use in the link text when you’re acquiring backlinks to your site. Often, but now always, you can pick the words used as your link text. That’s something you need to use to your advantage. Here are some things to know:

1. You want to hit keywords in your link text. Don’t just use your business name or the URL of your site. You’re wasting opportunities to help yourself and your business. It’s okay to use your name or URL if you must, or every so often. But using it most or all the time is shooting yourself in the foot.

2. Target more than one keyword phrase. You probably have a few keywords you’re targeting that fit your business. If you don’t, you should. As the saying goes, don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket. In your link text, make sure you use those different keywords. Mix it up. Not only will that help by helping you with ranking with different keyphrases, it can also prevent a spamming penalty. If Gooogle sees the same keyphrase in every backlink you have, they can take that as ‘unnatural’ SEO (ie spamming) and use it against you. Spare yourself some anger and tears. Find those different keyphrases and use them.

3. In spite of what we say in #2, you want to use your top, or main, keyphrases more than others. Just as your site’s home page targets that most important keyphrase(s), you’ll want to concentrate on them in your link text as well. Use those keyphrases in a higher percentage of your acquired links.

4. Keep in mind that the links should read logically. Stuffing keywords to the point where the link text is pure gibberish should be a red flag. If it doesn’t read well, you probably need to revise and rewrite. You never know if a human will come across your link, in addition to the search engine spiders. It isn’t good practice to look unprofessional or like you’re just another spammer.

You should also remember that these are long-range strategies for search engine success. Short term, quick fix advocates would probably disagree and tell you to stuff, stuff, stuff those keywords. Ultimately you make the call on your links and your link text. Just remember that the way you conduct yourself online is a reflection of you and it sets patterns in your business behavior. Just a thought.