Linking back to the homepage im trying to rank - Using exact match anchor? Linking from footer?

[advertisingcloud]

Hello,

Our site is an basically advertisements / listings website.

Structure is as following

<last 200="" adds="">  (homepage trying to rank) < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 ></last>

My question - each of the categories links back within the  menu back to homepage. The link text currently is last 200 adds. Can i use exact match anchor? Or should i use just last 200 ads?

The issue is that one of my categorys (category 1) has already the exact match anchor im trying to rank for. So i can not use the same to link back to homepage.

Im worried that google does not see any exact keyword anchor texts back to homepage hence will rank my homepage with lower strenght for that keyword . Im also worried that the category 1 page might now compete with the main homepage for this word (even tho at the moment category itself does not rank for this keyword)

Can i link from footer back to homepage with an alternative keyword then to give some "context" to google more? Would this be spamming?

[julie-getonthemap]

Do any of your pages currently rank? What is the keyword phrase they rank for?

I have a friend who has an advertising/business listing site who is trying to rank against yp.com and yelp. She doesn't have the resources to go head-to-head against them. Your basic strategy and plan should guide your backlinking (even internal backlinks) tactics.

[advertisingcloud]

Our main keyword is ranking at the moment as 15th for the homepage, (Keyword + region name). The keyword is not so hard in the country im ranking it.

But the question is still the same. Should I link back to homepage using the exact match anchor im trying to rank, and what to do with this category 1 which is the same target keyword. I think it might compete with homepage in the future.

**If im not linking back to homepage with the keyword, how can google rank me strong is my question? **