After the latest Google Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP) update, many websites that focused too heavily on one keyword lost ground in the SERPs. When it comes to Google's latest search engine algorithm, if you are buying or trading text links it is becoming more important than ever to mix up your preferred anchor text.

I have always recommended focusing on 4 or 5 "money" keyword phrases you would like to target. Now, to take things a step further, I recommend you consider breaking down each of those keyword phrases into an additional 3 or 4 semantically similar keyword phrases. If you have a Pay-Per-Click account, an excellent way to determine what keywords are your most potent is to study ROI patterns within your account.

The main rule of thumb is to keep your anchor text as natural as possible. This means a wide variety of links to your site from sites in your general category, with a scattering of links from unrelated sites. Run-of-Site (ROS) links are fine as long as they are not overused. After all, one or two ROS links could be something that could occur naturally if you have a great site with valuable content.

Most importantly, increase the incoming links to your site gradually – don't go from 5 inbound links to 50,000 links overnight. Use common sense and don't do anything that could raise a red flag with the search engines. For new sites, we recommend that you increase your total backlink count by no more than 25% to 50% each month.

As it stands now, MSN and Yahoo lag behind Google in their ability to identify natural linking patterns. So if you are focusing on non-Google search engines, the more links with the same exact anchor text the better. In fact, many webmasters have actually set up a second site to sell their product through MSN and Yahoo searches while keeping their Google centric site running at the same time.