I am still confused about anchor text and penalties

[SirMax]

As I understand in order to rank well for the page in google, the page/site has to have a lot of back links that have an anchor text with the keywords that you want to rank for.

At the same time if google finds that your anchor text contains kewords that are in your title or h1 tag, it may penalize your site. So what do i do to rank well for my chosen keywords.

Lets say I am only interested in keywords San Francisco widget and Oakland widget

The title of my webpage says San Francisco | Oakland widget

The anchor text that I usually pick is either San Francisco widget or Oakland widget.

I also have plenty of links that have anchor text like "website" or "click here"

What should I use for my anchor text in my backlinks?

[MoosaHemani]

Ok I guess you took it a little differently… let me explain it to you.

In order to rank well you need lot of quality back links pointing to your website but if you have lots of back links coming from different websites pointing the same keyword then this is the problem!

There is no problem in keywords having in title, H1 and body but do not stuff it and use verity of anchor text internally and for link building.

Use of anchor text is good but over using the same anchor text will hurt (this is the case for non branded keyword)

For instance if you have a keyword ‘Oakland widget’ it can be use in verity of ways that includes:

• Oakland widget
• Widget Oakland
• Widgets in Oakland

And more long term phrase…

Hope it helps…

[SaforwebDesign]

Good answer... thumb up for you

[kchan]

Moosa pointed out some very good points.  I would like to add that with the recent Penguin update by Google, broadening your anchor text usage is critical.  A good way to start would be doing some competitive research analyzing the top 10 competitors and looking into their anchor text distribution %

[RuthBurrReedy]

One nice thing about the Penguin update is that we don't need to be quite so concerned with anchor text.  I would say focus more on getting links from high-authority, trusted websites and less on the anchor text.  Getting keyword-rich anchor text links from time to time won't hurt - and if you're using natural link building methods, you'll probably be fine having them - the important thing is that your ratio of keyword-rich anchor text links to regular anchor text likes (like "click here") is similar to that of other sites in your niche.  It's when it's ALL your links or a vast majority of your links that it starts to look suspicious.