External Keyword Anchor Links - Always Bad?

[HLTalk]

1)  I've been told that other sites linking to my site with keyword-rich text are bad.

2)  But Google Console / Analytics shows that we rank extremely high for random, pointless phrases loosely tied to the topic of our site.  Like "dht blocker".  (its a hair loss site)

3)  This week I began analyzing our backlinks.  Guess what I found?  Literally hundreds of bot-created spammy trackback and pingback text links around the phrase "dht blocker"

It seems to me that keyword rich anchor text on external sites is NOT a bad thing.  In fact its an outstanding way to rank better for your desired keywords.  Obviously the "bad" is the spam element.  Probably the high quantity.  On unrelated websites.  But guess what?  It worked.  _We are ranking extremely well for these pointless phrases, thanks to these spam bots.  _

Obviously we will be disavowing all these sites.  But I want to start building quality links via legitimate, honest means.

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So here is my question:

If I begin a legitimate honest link building campaign with other websites, and request that they put the HREF around our most coveted keyword phrase - is this inherently BAD?  Or is it actually possibly GOOD? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts?

[EGOL]

These are descriptions of manipulative links based upon anchor text that are quotes straight from Google (here).....

" Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links."

"Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites."

There are many other types of manipulative links based upon anchor text.

Although it appears that spam-made links with keywords as anchor text links are an effective way to drive, if you have a lot of those types of link your website will stand out to Google's algos and you could get a Penguin problem.  Lots of people who have Penguin problems have lost their rankings for about two years.  Google keeps saying... "we are going to run the Penguin update soon" and the owners of these sites have been tormented by the numerous and lengthy delays.

[HLTalk]

So the direct answer to the question in bold above, is ........?

[EGOL]

That method is manipulative.  The anchor text is being placed to manipulate the search engines.

And, if you get a high number of keyword rich anchor text links you might have a Penguin problem.

[HLTalk]

I feel like you're still not answering my question.

Going by your logic, any link building at all is "Manipulative".  Technically, isn't it?   Yes.

My question, once again, is whether links containing anchor text are inherently bad.

That was the question:  Are they INHERENTLY bad.

I gave two options based on the question:

1)  They are inherently Bad
2)  They are possibly Good

I posed my question in a very deliberate way.  I will repeat the original post so maybe its more clear what I am saying:  I have been told that ANY ANCHOR TEXT LINKS ARE BAD.

Any.   All.

But I found an example of obvious spam using anchor text links, and we rank well for those.

Therefore:  Is ANY (ALL) Anchor text linking bad?   (Yes / No)

Since you haven't said a simple yes or no, Im going to go with "NO" anchor text links are not inherently bad and in fact seem to be a very effective way to rank well ... IF ... (this was obvious, and a given) its used responsibly and in moderation.

[EGOL]

I think you want me to give a palatable answer.

If you ask for the anchor text it is manipulative.  If the person with the website determines the anchor text then it was not manipulated by you.

[EGOL]

If you write to me and say... hey.. would you consider adding my new article to your news feed.  I would look at it and add it, only if it was outfreekingstanding and highly relevant to my audience.

However, if you write to me and say that you want specific anchor text, then I am going to delete your message and all future messages, I don't care if the Pope is writing for your site.  Why?  Because you are trying to manipulate the search engines and I don't want to have anything to do with your site because I don't want to be linking to anything that Google will count as spam.

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

Keyword rich anchor text on external sites will help your search rankings. But it's also against Google's rules.  If an unnaturally high percentage of the links to your site have the same anchor text, you run the risk that Google will ignore their value or will penalize your site.  My suggestion would be to get some links with keyword rich anchor text but also get a lot of other links that don't have keyword rich anchor text so your overall link profile looks natural.