Anchor Text, Keywords, and Directories

When submitting to a web directory, most webmasters, site owners and search engine optimizers want their listing to contain keywords in the anchor text. Most directories steer away from this type of linking because it is an unnatural way to list a resource and it isn't very user friendly.

Today, there was an excellent inquiry in the Search Engine Watch Forums...

"A question about directory listings. When one lists in directories, in a great majority of them, the hyperlinked anchor text is the company name. Thus it appears to me that each directory listing simply optimizes the business name, and not the keywords I want to elevate on the SERPs. Am I incorrect? Will directory listings impact my overall off-site optimization campaign (besides building PR)?"

The answer is "of course!" Here's why >>