Perfect Anchor Text Ratio

80 thoughts on “Perfect Anchor Text Ratio”

1. Hi Nick, could you please tell how many backlinks we can build for a website per day? If I want to rank a website with 5 different internal URL’s should I build 3 links per internal page? totalling to 15 links per day for the whole website.

   Please clarify.

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   • At the moment it is better to hit the sites with quality backlinks over a 30 day period. It doesn’t matter how many backlinks you build to site, it matters that you don’t build more than 15 per page per 30 day cycle. Always index those backlinks nice and slow over the 30 days.

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     • hello nick i need your help can you check these 2 website and let me know if their anchor text ratio is good or bad
       tatkalirctc.com
       dealindiaweb.com

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       • tatkalirctc.com looks good, maybe exact match is a little high, however I have sites ranking top with more than 23% exact match.

         dealindiaweb.com looks okay, I would definitely add some long tail anchors in there to make it look a bit more natural…also needs brand anchors and full open URL anchors in there.

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         • Thank you for reply back to my question nice but the problem is i have build too many referring domains with external links to both website with anchor rich keywords now i am thinking i should wait for a month or so or continue link building to make the anchor ratio correct.

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           • Because I have been asked this a lot lately I am going to do my next post on how to find and remove bad links, it’s very easy to do but will require a tutorial to get it all in there. In the meantime…don’t build anymore links…I will show you what to do in my next post…you will be able to identify all those bad backlinks that are affecting your rank, then you will be able to get rid of them in one swoop.

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2. Hi Nick,
   Suppose I have done overoptimzation and I want to dilute my anchor text. So I can calculate the new anchor text? How many links I need to make and how the current anchor text can be diluted and in what number

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   • Hi Rajshekhar, You should have all your backlinks logged in a spreadsheet? I always do this, it is very important to do this. I colour my indexed URL backlinks in green and leave URls that are not indexed black. I also note down the anchor text used on each backlink. If I need to check my anchor text ratio I use my spread sheet and ahrefs.com…they usually match up pretty well. This will let you know how many backlinks you have. So if I have 150 backlinks and my exact anchor ratio is 30% this would mean 45 backlinks out of those 150 backlinks use an exact keyword match anchor. Now you can either go back to those blogs and change the anchor….If I wanted to have a 10% exact match anchor ratio I would require 15 of those backlinks to be exact match anchors…therefore I would change 30 of those 45 backlinks to give me a 10% exact match anchor text ratio. The other option is to add more links to reduce your exact match ratio….I know I would need 450 backlinks with 45 backlinks at exact match anchors to get it down to 10%….so I will need to add 300 backlinks…it is much easier to change the anchors on existing backlinks, this is why it is important to keep those details in a spread sheet for future reference.

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     • Thanks Nick, I now fully understand how to dilute my anchors. I realized why I am not getting good rankings because of this issue. Thanks once again

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       • No problem, hoping to cover most ranking issues right across the site to help you guys rank up. Let me know when you get a number one ranking 🙂

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3. Thanks for putting this post together. It helps.

   Assume I need to increase “brand” type links. I have a old blogspot account with 20 related posts, so those translate into 20 pages.

   If I use a sidebar widget which I have write few sentences about my moneysite and included a brand type backlink, would the 20 backlinks from 20 pages of posts, translate into 20 different backlinks OR 1 backlink, since it is from the same blogspot account?

   lastly, what are your thoughts on leveraging such sidebar widgets to build backlinks if they are coming from pages that have related content as your money page. I am not simply including a backlink, but it is part of 3-5 sentences that talks about the money site.

   thanks in advance

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   • No problem FB. That would only translate as 1 low quality backlink….might show as more backlinks on backlink check tools…however Google will only see it as one backlink.

     Utilising the Blogspot sidebar widget will be a quick way to mix up your anchor text ratio over many blogs, perfect if they have related content to your money site.

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4. I still can’t really catch it. For example, the exact match keyword is “tattoo ideas”, the anchor texts used are “small tattoo ideas”, “cool tattoo ideas” and “best tattoo ideas”. They are neither long tail match nor part match, what is the type of keywords like these? Thanks.

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   • Hi Rio,

     cool tattoo ideas would be classed as a part match, it’s not long tail however it does have the exact keyword in there, I class it as a part match because it is not exact even though the exact keyword is in there. There are 2 types of part match anchors, one which we have described and the other would be to have your keyword in there like “tattoo drawing ideas” but mixed up.

     All of those keywords are classed as part match. Hope this helps.

     Like I say, it’s not an exact science, as long as you have a mixed anchor profile and your exacth match is not too high you will be okay to rank up. Drop in anchors like you have suggested with long tails and you have a natural looking anchor text profile.

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5. Hi Nick, what do you think about the plural and singular keywords? Let’s say if we target ‘best epilator’ as our main keyword, then ‘best epilator’ is an exact match anchor. How about ‘best epilators’? Do you consider it as an exact match or part match?

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   • It makes no difference, Google will count them as the same, the Plural of your keyword is counted as an exact match too.

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     • Thanks Nick, got it. One more question, how to distinguish Part Match and Long Tail Exact? What’s the difference?

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       • I will give you an example to explain:

         keyword: best face cream

         Part Match: best all round cream for the face (all keyword is in there, however the words are split).

         Also you could have just two of the words from the keyword in the sentence eg: cream for use on the face (missed off best)

         Mix it up a bit and you will be good to rank 🙂

         Long Tail Exact: best face cream for using on sensitive skin (exact keyword in a long tail sentence).

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         • I almost understand all anchor texts, but I’m still a bit blur about one. If the main keyword is “face cream”, and the anchor text is “face cream reviews”. From this example the anchor text is not a long sentence, does it count as a long tail exact or else?

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           • I consider a long tail anchor to be at least 4 words…would be “face cream reviews reveal top rated”

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6. Hello Nick,

   I built my site on the 13th of November 2016. I followed your guide on SEO and all

   My site is sitting on number 51 on google but it seems it is going down now as it was on 48 before this. Also, of all the back links I built, google webmaster is only showing 8 links, it was also 10 links before this

   I had a almost 12 expired tumblr links that are indexed in google but are not showing on google webmaster.

   Please tell me what I am doing wrong

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   • Hello, Your site is only one month old so it is going to take a little time to pump it up the SERPs.

     Don’t worry about your backlinks not showing in Google Webmaster tools, it’s most important that the links are indexed in Google search. Have you indexed the backlinks using Google Console? Just pop the URL into Google search to check that it has been indexed. If you are using spun/duplicate content they will not remain indexed, only add quality content to tier 1 sites….if you follow my improve Goolge search ranking tutorial it will help you out here.

     Start building quality Tier 1 backlinks, make sure you use the correct anchor text ratio, make sure you index the links slowly and your site will start to jump up the SERPs.

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7. Please I wish to ask, while using ahrefs to check backlinks, what do we check for , the live or dead and lost links? Should we get all the links or just aim for the live ones that will stick?

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   • Just look for the live links, these are the only ones that count right now and will count in the future. If you are doing an anchor text ratio audit for your own site you only need to count the links that are indexed in Google search….forget about ahrefs….only count the links in your profile if they are indexed in Google search…if Google does not know about them then it does not matter what anchor text you use in the backlink.

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8. What anchor text ratio do you suggest when TITLE TAG and EXACT MATCH ANCHOR matches?

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   • That must be one very long tail keyword you have there. Obviously you would ignore the TITLE TAG anchors and keep exact match at 8% or below. You then need to distribute the remaining 15% to the other anchor text options. As far as I am concerned, Brand anchors can never be too high, I would push Brand anchors up to 35%, I would put FULL Open URL to 11%, website.com to 8%, nudge long tail random anchors up to 8%, part match and generic up to 7%, keep long tail exact at 5%, LSI keyword synonyms up to 6%, Authors Name up to 2% and ww.website.com up to 2%….keep all the rest the same 🙂

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     • Thanks Nick.

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       • 🙂

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9. I sent you a massage tittled: Nothing happened After 1st Month Of builidng Links. Hope to hear from you soon. Tnaks in advance.

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   • Okay I will take a look today 🙂

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10. Hi nick,
    I would like to let you know that i have tried out the pbn gig you recommended on your previous posts (cheap seo packages & build, rank and bank affiliate sites), the guy did not provide report just as you said. But, the problem is that i don’t have any pingback of those links in the comment section. Though i managed to uncover some of the pbn posts using google. So, should i just sit back and let those links index by themselves or is there any way to go about it??? Thanks in advance

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    • The last time I used that gig the same thing happened to me, I did not get any ping backs, which was a little annoying. This is the reply I got from the seller:

      “I can’t give a list of urls, as I would need to in insert a tracking token before posting. The network by default doesn’t list the blog posts.”

      I managed to find most of the backlinks through ahrefs, however it took a lot of time to do so.

      I recommend letting them index naturally.

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11. Nick, am always watching for any new posts…its really a worth to check daily. Now it’s time to talk to you… Can u pls share your Skype need to talk something confidential. Thanks

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    • Hi Al, I am not on Skype, you can email me at info@rankersparadise.com

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      • Thanks. I will get in touch with you in email.

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        • Okay 🙂

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12. @Brad, in my own opinnion, i think there is nothing bad in using brand name to be part of links profile. The reason is because i have seen lots of authority sites having high percent of brand name, though in some variations, in their backlink profiles. If you check the profiles, using majestic.com, of sites like thesweethome.com, thewirecutter.com, babygearlab.com, outdoorgearlab.com, hydrationanywhere.com, thankyourskin.com (owned by Tung of cloudliving.com), herepup.com (owned by Perin, a student of Spencer of nichepursuits.com), healthambition.com etc, you will discover that they all have high percentage of brand names in their anchor text distribution. And, i don’t think they have being pernalize for having lots of brand names in their profiles.

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    • Brad was just suggesting not to use brand anchors on an EMD, this will cause exact match anchor over optimisation.

      Building a brand is the safe way to go these days, staying away from EMD is a good idea to future proof your site.

      You are correct, make sure you have a high brand anchor text ratio, I like to stay around 30% and Mr G loves it.

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13. Thanks for this prompt response. Its only the web 2.0 backlinks i built by myself and i used naked url, random words and exact match a little. But the pbn links was outsourced on fiverr which i have close to zero control. If i may ask, is advisable to build 60 pbn links to a page and index them under a month???

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    • I have done it, you need to be prepared for your site to jump around the SERPs a lot if you index a lot of backlinks fast. Your site might even drop from the SERPs, however it will return when everything settles down. If you index 2 links per day you will be okay, it’s only when you index say 20 backlinks per day you will see lots of SERP movement like I explained.

      You can build 60 pbn in a month without any problems if you index 2 a day.

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14. Great post Nick! It’s exactly what I needed as I was just about to start ranking a new site. Thanks..

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    • No problem Malvin, avoid exact match anchors to start off with. Only drop them in there if you need a little boost. Go with long tail anchors. Let me know how you get on 🙂

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15. Hey Nick, went through the guide myself and I can tell you that I was following your web 2.0 backlink strategy and the anchor text technique listed in there. It didn’t get me very far in the SERPS, maybe did something wrong. So, to repair the damage, can I go back and change the anchor text ratio?

    Also, when I put my page in SEO spyglass it says that there are no backlinks pointing to my site. Should I count the percentage of the anchor text myself or there is some tools for that?

    Also, what if I build my backlinks through seoclerk gig, should I give him these pointers on how he should use the anchor text ratio?

    One more thing- If I use your tutorial for ranking website with free backlinks, should I use this patter of anchor text also? I mean, we hardly build like 50 web 2.0’s there, so there is no too much space to play with the anchor text ratio? And in the 2nd tier web 2.0 where we link to all the 5 tier 1 web 2.0’s, we use 5 different anchor texts in one post, right?

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    • Yes you can go back and change the anchor text ratio, I had to do it for the Cheap SEO Packages post which was low in the SERPs….was on page three I think. Then I lowered the exact match anchors and the site is now ranked no. 2 in the SERPs and is heading towards no. 1.

      Count your anchor text ratio by which sites are indexed in Google. Doesn’t matter how many backlink seo spyglass can find, it’s the number of backlinks that Google knows about that counts. Pop each URL into Google search, if they are indexed count them in, if they are not indexed don’t count that anchor.

      If you are using seo clerk services for backlinks then you will need to give them this anchor text ratio. If you can’t change the anchor text because someone else built the backlinks for you then you are going to have to build more backlinks to counter balance the exact match anchors.

      Definintely use this anchor text ratio on all backlink campaigns, start off without any exact match anchors at all, play it nice and safe and index those backlinks nice and slow. Build quality and not quantity, I know you see that a lot, but it is true. My improve Google search ranking is the right way to do things. Build assets, add good quality content to your web 2.0 sites with around 1000 words on there, these backlinks will stick and your rank will too.

      In the link wheel you will use different anchors to link all sites up, select long tail anchors from your content, anyhting random will do 🙂 Also make sure a few of the sites get exact match anchors, mix it up.

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      • I plan to go with that strategy now. I’ll mix some things up. Like, I will not use exact match anchor in the first link wheel. Than in month 2 I will add 1 or maybe 2 exact match anchors.

        I’ve never used wiki links like you did for pumpering the web 2.0s, should I worry about anchor text than or they are different links?

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        • Let me know how it goes 🙂

          If you are going to firs wikis at your web 2s make sure you use exact match anchors and random long tail anchors….doesn’t matter too much…hardly any of the Wikis will index.

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          • Well I plan on using the service that you provided in the post. I will make sure to mention that to the guy at seoclerks.

            Thank you!

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            • Awesome, let me know how it goes 🙂

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16. What if the domain is an EMD? How to create a brand anchor text if using EMD?

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    • In this case I’d stick with domain.com and http://www.domain.com rather than using brand anchors. Otherwise you’re going to trigger over optimization penalties. Personally, I haven’t used an EMD in years. Relevant brandable domains work just as well and are less risky if you ask me.

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      • Thanks Brad, you always answer my questions 🙂 I will follow your advice go for the URL anchors.

        There are some case studies stated that EMD still works. For example, Incomebully. I would go for EMD if it’s possible. I don’t mean like whatisanepilator.com which sounds unprofessional. I will go for epilator.com/net/org if it’s available. It’s more professional and the search volume surely is higher. Depending on the niches of course.

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    • An EMD is your exact match anchor, this means you can’t do the brand anchors. Replace brand anchors with long tail random anchors, use complete random words each time that does not contain your keywords. So for the keyword “best electric shaver” if I had the URL bestelectricshaver.com I would use long tail random anchors in place of brand anchors like “easy way to remove hair from my legs” or “how I stopped ingrown hairs”.

      The top work boots example above uses an EMD, they use a lot of long tail anchors. You can also throw in some extra TITLE TAG anchors in there 🙂

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17. Hi nick,
    Thanks for this fabulous post. Now i know reason why my website got stock at page 3 for the target keyword despite good on-page. I think majestic.com gives more % of anchor distribution than ahrefs.com, because thesweethome.com (of course, the keyword used is “best humidifier”), is part of the sites check on in the research i did few weeks ago, and it has exact match of 13% and partial match of 3% according to majestic.com. However, this post comes at the right time for me. Nick, i have some questions, thus;
    1. How do i correct exact match of 33% with over 80 backlinks so far???

    2. When is the best time to build exact match anchor, the early or late stage of link building???
    Instant reply will brings hope. Thanks in advance

    P.s: Brad your opinnion on those those two questions will be appreciated.

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    • No problem Kayode. I used ahrefs and SEO Spyglass to check the anchors, both showed very similar profiles so I went with that. This is a loose guide, but it should put you on the right track.

      1. So around 26 backlinks are exact match anchors. You have 2 options. If you have built the backlinks yourself you can go back and change the anchors…to get exact match down to 8% you need to change 20 anchors…leaving 6 exact match anchors. Your second option is to build more backlinks, you need to have 250 backlinks to have a 10% exact match anchor text profile, this means you are going to need to build 170 more backlinks. You can get this many backlinks really quickly using seo clerk gigs, however you must index them slowly. Your cheapest and fastest option is to change the anchors on the backlinks that you already have.

      2. Start you link building with long tail anchors using TITLE TAG and URLs and randon long tails. Don’t build exact match anchors in the early stage, wait and track your rank, if you think all is going well after a 3 to 4 weeks and you are sat at the top of page 2 then drop an exact match in there to push you onto page 1.

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      • Nick, how to use SEO spyglass for checking the anchor text ratio? When I check the homepage, the result shows me all urls that got backlinks instead of the homepage itself. There is no problem when I tried with the post url, but I’m not sure if where I’m looking at is correct. I view the anchor text ratio at Backlink Profile>Anchors & Pages>Anchor Texts. Am I correct?

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        • Down the left hand side menu you will see “Backlink Profile” underneath you will see “Anchors & Pages” click on that and you will see all anchors for the homepage. It will also show you the anchor text profile under the summary tab, if it is not showing anything for the homepage then it can’t find any backlinks to the homepage for that domain.

          To find out if the site homepage has any backlinks click on the “Anchors & Pages” tab and then select “Linked Pages”….this will show you the no. of backlinks that point to each page on the site. If the homepage URL is not on the list, it will not feature any anchors.

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18. Hi Nick,
    You actually solved my whole problem and I now I am very comfortable with creating backlinks and it will be far easier for me to get ranked for my websites.
    Thanks once again mate.

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    • No problem Rajshekhar, this anchor text ratio will keep your site safe….keep exact match anchors low at the beginning of your campaign….only drop them in there if you think they are needed. The algorithm update in September time 2016 meant a few changes that I needed you guys to know about.

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19. Awesome post, Nick.

    This is similar to what I’ve been doing lately. Seems just under 10% exact is the sweet spot. And I’ve been using a good number of URL, brand, and long tail phrases as well.

    Hoping to reach page 1 for some new keywords by the new year. We’ll see how it goes.

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    • Thanks Brad. I think the best thing to do is go for long tail anchors…well your TITLE TAG mostly with your exact keyword in there. When you start a project it is best to miss out exact match, use URL and TITLE TAG and long tail anchors only, then drop exact match in there only if there are needed to hit the top spot.

      If you use this strategy you are sure to hit the first page quicker than you normally would, everything looks more natural.

      Let me know how it goes 🙂

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      • That’s the biggest thing I want to know right now – how FAST can i shoot up to the top 5? Going to keep playing with it and see what happens.

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        • Long tail anchors is the way 🙂 stay away from exact match until you really think you could do with one.

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20. Great post Nick.One of my niche site had 35% t match Keyword as anchor.At first it ranked on 11 th spot but when i send some exact match anchor links the site slipped into third page ?.Now,i have to build links in the above mentioned anchor text patterns to get rank into first page right ?

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    • Yeah that’s right…35% is a little too high these days for exact match…certainly for relatively new sites anyway. Go ahead and get some long tail random anchors and your site will shoot back up the SERPs. Remember, don’t index too many backlinks per day, it will hurt your site. Stick to 3 backlinks per post and follow the ratio above and you will be good to rank on the first page again 🙂

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