I guess there is one thing that I am still not quite sure about. If I want to focus on the keyword "THIS" but my company name is "THIS AND THAT".

What is the best way to design the link to make sure that the individual words are looked at and not just the phrase.

What I mean is that it would not make sense to have just THIS as the anchor. It will have to be THIS AND THAT but will it help rankings for just the word "THIS" or does it think of the link only as a phrase.

Should the link be written like THIS-AND-THAT or THIS:AND:THAT.

I thought it seemed like a stupid question but I just wasn't sure about it.

Your input is appreciated.

Well seeing as the anchor text is simply text on the page, wouldn't just using spaces be the answer?????

Brady use spaces between the words like Chris suggested. If your anchor text is "this and that" search engines will see each word and they'll also see the phrase. You could use dashes, but it's going to read better for real people with the spaces.

Also know that you don't always want to use the same anchor text every time you link to the same page. It's overkill and if all your anchor text is exactly the same it could raise a flag with search engines.

Since you're referring to your company name don't worry about it. It's natural that most links will use that exact anchor text, but assuming it wasn't your company name you might want to vary the anchor text to use

this or that
that and this
this
that
this is me
that is you

I think you get the idea.

Let me clarify the question. The words THIS AND THAT are only used for example purposes.

I am not actually trying to target those words by any means. Everything below this is EXAMPLE only.
There are specific reasons that I can't reveal the exact URL and keyword focus at this time.

EXAMPLE ONLY: The company is www.rugbug.com

STILL EXAMPLE: I want to increase the sites ranking for the word "RUG" not "rug bug" or "bug".

THE QUESTION:
I will be able to get backlinks from several manufacturers sites with good PR and was just curious of the best way to write the Anchor to be sure and target the term "RUG".

In my opinion the optimum way to do this would be to use only the word "rug" as the anchor but I will be unable to do that because it would probably look strange and the term "rug bug" is also a brand that I want to push but I am and have been number one across all engines for the term "rug bug". It will benefit my referral rate from these sites to have the entire term "rug bug" but I could alter the layout of the term if there is SEO benefit in targeting the term "rug"

So for SEO purposes only and targeting the keyword "rug". Would anchoring as "rug bug" still target the word "rug" or would it target the phrase "rug bug". If the later is true would there be any benefit to using some type of seperator like a : or - so that it is recognized as 2 distinct and different terms.

Sorry to be so long but I hope this better details my situation.

Sorry Vangogh I think you unerstood my question and answered it. I was writing my previous reply before I got a chance to read yours

No problem. Looks like we were posting around the same time.

It's fine to go with both words even if you're only targeting one. In fact it's usually best not to target the single word anyway. It would be unlikely that most people searching for the single word would be interested in the site. Someone searching for rug might be looking to buy one or make one or find a story about rugs. They might be looking for information on the history of rugs or rug making or they might want to know what the future holds for rugs. They could be looking for thousands of things.


Using both words still targets the single one though.