— Eric Enge and Stephan Spencer and Jessie Stricchiola and and Rand FishkinThe semantic analysis of a link’s value does go deeper than just the anchor text. For example, if that “Dog Grooming Salon” anchor text appears on a web page that is not about dogs or dog grooming, the value of the link is less than if the page is about dog grooming. Search engines also look at the content on the page immediately surrounding the link, as well as the overall context and authority of the website that is providing the link. All of these factors are components
Replicated under Fair Use from The Art of SEO by Eric Enge and Stephan Spencer and Jessie Stricchiola and and Rand Fishkin.