Surprisingly, a lot of bloggers that I’ve spoken with are unsure how to link a phrase in TypePad. Either they don’t create any links within a post, or they do something like this:

flyte new media is a Web design and online marketing firm in Portland, Maine: http://www.flyte.biz.

Why is this not so good? Because search engines like Google pay a lot of attention to the words in a hyperlink, also known as the "anchor text." It tells search engines (whether right or wrong) the subject or theme of the linked page.

In the previous example, I’ve "optimized" flyte’s home page for our URL. That’s not the best solution because anyone who searches on http://www.flyte.biz (assuming that they didn’t enter it direct into the address bar) will most likely find us #1 in Google.

What would be better is to link the key words or phrases that reflect flyte’s services. Sure, I could hyperlink "flyte new media", but again, anyone who searches for "flyte new media" will find us in the top couple of results.

I would prefer to be found for such terms as "web design," "Maine Web design", "online marketing," or "Maine Web marketing." In short, I’d like to be found by people who may not know us by our name.

So this is how I should create a link that helps me achieve that goal:

flyte new media is a Web design and online marketing firm in Portland, Maine.

I’ve created this quick tutorial movie of how to create a hyperlink in TypePad for anyone who wants to see the process step-by-step. (1.1MB, QuickTime.)

Rich Brooks
Maine Business Blogger

Tags: TypePad | Blogging | Search Engine Optimization