What is Anchor Text? Best Practices For Link Text Optimization

What Is Anchor Text?

Anchor text is the part of a hyperlink that is clickable and visible to users. It is placed between the opening <a href> and closing anchor tag </a>. The anchor text provides context to search engines and users about the content of the link’s destination. Here is an example of an anchor text. This is what the code looks like:

<a href="https://example.com">This is an anchor text</a>

Here is what users see:

This is an anchor text

Why Is Anchor Text Important For SEO?

When a search engine crawls a website, it evaluates the anchor text to understand the linked content better. Ideally, anchor text should be relevant and descriptive, avoiding generic phrases like “click here.” This helps improve user experience and can positively impact a site’s search engine rankings.

Writing optimized anchor text for your internal and external links can help your SEO in several ways.

• Optimized anchor text in internal links can help search engines understand the site structure.
• Anchor text in incoming links can help you rank higher for specific search terms.
• Good anchor text in external links helps users understand if this is a link they want to click.

For example, if you’re linking to a page about digital marketing strategies, using anchor text like “digital marketing tactics” is more effective than simply saying, “Click here.”

Different Types of Anchor Text

You can use different types of anchor text when creating a hyperlink. The most common types are:

• Branded – using your brand name as anchor text. For example Reliablesoft
• URL (aka naked link) – using the permalink of a page without text. For example, https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-strategy/
• Domain name – using your domain name as anchor text. For example, reliablesoft.net
• Generic – does not include specific keywords and is used very often. For example, read more or click here
• Exact match keywords – using keywords for the link. For example: “You can learn more about SEO Keywords and…”
• Partial match – using keywords with additional text. For example: “You can download our SEO checklist.”
• Page Title – Use the page title as is. For example: “15 SEO Tips For Beginners To Boost Your Rankings”
• Images – When an image is used as a link, the ALT text is the anchor text.

Anchor Text Best Practices For SEO

Follow these tips to optimize anchor text for SEO:

1. Choose Relevant Text
2. Avoid Using Naked Links
3. Write Short Anchor Text
4. Format Links Differently From Normal Text
5. Avoid Anchor Text Over Optimization
6. Optimize Anchor Text For Internal Links

1. Choose Relevant Text

Try to use relevant anchor text in your links. A relevant anchor text, in this case, gives an idea of what to expect to find in terms of content when clicking the link.

When choosing an anchor text:

• Avoid using generic words like ‘click here’, ‘this’, ‘read this’, ‘read more’ etc. These words don’t give search engines enough clues about what the linked page is about.
• Avoid using text unrelated to the content of the linked page.

2. Avoid Using Naked Links

In many cases, webmasters may use the URL of a page (also known as naked URL) as the anchor text.

Although it will not create problems, it’s not the best practice, so use it when necessary. A better alternative is to use the page title as the anchor text.

3. Write Short Anchor Text

Write short anchor text that is concise and without too many words. If it has a lot of words, it’s more difficult for search engines to understand it.

Example of a good anchor text:

<a href="https://example.com">What is anchor text</a>

Example of a ‘bad’ anchor text:

<a href="https://example.com">Anchor text is defined as the link that is clickable</a>

4. Format Links Differently From Normal Text

Links should be easy for users to spot. Best practices include making the link color different than the text color.

See in this article how easy it is to differentiate my links from the rest of the text.

5. Avoid Anchor Text Over Optimization

Anchor text over optimization occurs when a website excessively uses exact match keywords in its anchor texts, especially intending to manipulate search engine algorithms.

Google considers this practice as a red flag and can lead to penalties. For example, using exact match anchor text (i.e., “best digital marketing tips”) for an external link may be perceived as unnatural and manipulative.

Here is the exact quote from Google guidelines related to anchor text over optimization:

How to avoid anchor text over optimization

If you’re confused about optimizing your anchor text, don’t worry; you are not alone.

Here is what you should do when linking out:

• Link out to websites that you trust. If you don’t trust a website, make the links nofollow. This will instruct search engines not to pass any link juice or PageRank from your website to the linked website. The anchor text is also ignored when a link has the nofollow attribute.
• Avoid using exact match keywords as the anchor text, but keep it short and relevant.
• For example, instead of doing this, <a href="example.com">SEO Strategy</a> do this. <a href="example.com">follow this SEO strategy</a>
• You can link to the website using their brand name. For example, if you want to link to this article without using keywords, you could say, “According to Reliablesoft….”. (Reliablesoft in the anchor text for the link). This is always a safe practice to follow.

When running link-building campaigns and you’re in the position to control the anchor text used for the links, follow the guidelines below:

• Use various anchor text types – Don’t use exact match keywords but various anchor text types. You can use a partial match, page title, and brand name to give Google the right signals.
• Review your link profile – A ‘normal’ link profile should have all types of anchor text in the incoming links. Review your link profile and make sure that it looks natural. A profile with only exact match keywords is not normal.
• Avoid building low-quality links – Anchor text is just one factor determining how valuable a link is. Other factors include the website that is placed, the domain’s authority, and the content’s relevancy. Don’t go out and start building links; concentrate on the links that matter without worrying too much about getting exact match links.

6. Optimize Anchor Text For Internal Links

When it comes to creating anchor text for internal links, it’s a different story.

You should follow all the guidelines explained above without worrying about over-optimization.

Google repeatedly mentioned that there is no anchor text over-optimization penalty for internal links.

If you take a closer look at the article you’re reading now, I have used different types of anchor text for the internal links. Most of them are exact match and others are using the page title.

What you should avoid is:

• Adding internal links for search engines only. The primary role of internal links is to help users find out more about a specific topic, so add links when it makes sense.
• You can use generic anchor text like ‘read more’ or ‘click here’, but don’t overdo it. Try to stick to the guidelines for making your links meaningful and concise.

How To Analyze Your Anchor Text

The easiest way to analyze your anchor text for your internal and external links is to use a site audit tool like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Screaming Frog. These tools can crawl your links and create reports on your anchor text distribution.

For example, if you use Semrush’s site audit tool, you can get a report with internal links that use a non-descriptive anchor text.