Why Anchor Text is Crucial for SEO Success?

SEO Anchor Text is the clickable, visible portion of the hyperlink. This text is read by Google to understand what content is being pointed to. As such, the anchor text should contain descriptive phrases. They have to be specific yet concise enough to be understandable.

As per the guidelines provided by Google on its own website, the anchor texts should be “descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant” (Source). This criteria excludes both the click here and the keywords rich anchor texts. Neither of the two gives any information about the linked content.

The statistics prove the presence of a moderate influence. According to a study performed by Ahrefs on 384,614 web pages, the exact match anchors had a correlation of 0.14, which was considered rather low (Source).

This guide will explain how anchor text and SEO connect, which anchor types to use, and which mistakes to avoid.

What Is Anchor Text in SEO?

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link. In HTML it sits inside an The element has an href attribute, and Google’s guidelines state that this algorithm typically crawls links made this way, so a program-created link without a proper URL will never pass any information at all.

There are two groups reading the phrase: A human visitor is choosing to click on it, while the bot is getting informed about the topic of the destination page. This way one small phrase is serving two purposes, making SEO anchor text useful for both.

All of the links in this guide use descriptive anchor text. You can check any other anchor text in the same way by taking out the sentence it appears in and seeing if the rest of the phrase describes the destination page or not.

The Role of Anchor Text in SEO

What exactly does anchor text SEO measure? Relevance. The anchor is used to indicate the search engines what the page to be linked is about, and it helps the users know what they can expect to find after clicking the link.

There are three factors of anchor SEO – the words themselves, the page, and the kind of link. Using internal links gives full control of all three factors, and according to Google, every page of significance should have at least one link from another page of the same website.

Data from Ahrefs gives additional perspective. Exact match anchors had 0.14 correlation with the ranking positions, phrase match and partial match anchors had 0.11 correlation, while the rest of anchors only had 0.016 correlation with the ranking position.

Median number of exact, phrase, and partial match anchors was zero for all ranking positions, and therefore many top ranking pages do not use them at all. Correlation does not mean causation, and the study is from 2019 with the latest update being in 2020.

Treat anchor text and SEO as one signal among many. Our guide to on-page and off-page SEO shows where anchors sit next to content quality and backlinks.

Types of Anchor Text in SEO

Seven SEO anchor text types appear in most link profiles. Each type does a different job.

A natural profile mixes several types, so use exact match sparingly and lean on descriptive, branded, and partial-match forms for most links, since a profile built from one repeated phrase looks forced to readers and crawlers alike.

Best Practices for Anchor Text Optimization

Good anchor SEO starts with a short list of habits. Apply them to every internal link you add and every backlink you request.

• Read each anchor out of context. According to Google, you should just read the anchor text to ensure it makes sense on its own to avoid having meaningless phrases like “this page” show up in hundreds of blog posts and menus.
• Keep it short: Our general guideline is two to five words.
• Use the anchor text relevant to the theme of the destination page rather than one you might want to target with keywords elsewhere.
• Use different words when linking to the same page multiple times.
• Separate links with text, since it is hard for readers to distinguish neighboring links, and Google warns against chaining links together.
• Add an informative alt tag to image links, since Google uses it as the anchor text for images.

The table below shows the same idea on real links from this site.

Apply the same care to your wider on-page work. Our list of best SEO practices covers the content and structure that give your anchors a strong page to point at.

Anchor Text and Link Building

Backlinks also include anchor text, which you will not be able to control. Since editors, partners, and bloggers create anchors on their own, the proper profile should develop automatically.

Let me prove this with an example. In our case study on Jidoka Technologies, we acquired 760 backlinks from 319 domains within six months, including 68 links on websites with Domain Rating up to 79. At such volume, the presence of just one exact match phrase would become obvious in an anchor report, so it is better to have a diverse set of anchors including branded, partial-match and descriptive ones.

Anchor text and SEO risks cross paths during link building. Google is very strict about the topic, so links with optimized anchor text in the context of articles, guest posts and press-releases published elsewhere are considered to be link spam for manipulative purposes (Source). Do not try to use a specific anchor. Just request a link to the desired page.

For outreach methods, read our guide to advanced link building strategies. Younger sites can start with link building for startups.

How to Analyze and Monitor Anchor Text Performance?

A quarterly anchor SEO audit shows whether your anchor profile looks natural to readers. Run it after every big campaign. Anchor text optimization is not a one-time task.

• Open Google Search Console, go to Links, and read the Top linking text report.
• Export your SEO anchor text and tag each one as exact, phrase, partial, branded, generic, naked URL, or image, so you can count each type in a simple sheet and see the mix at a glance.
• Flag any exact-match anchor that repeats across many referring domains.
• Cross-check the list in the Anchors report of a backlink tool such as Ahrefs to confirm the pattern.

Google’s documentation does not publish an ideal anchor ratio. Compare your profile with its own history and with the pages that outrank you, and investigate any sudden shift in the mix after a campaign ends.

Common Anchor Text Mistakes to Avoid

Most mistakes with anchor text in SEO come from habit, not intent.

• Using the same exact-match anchor across multiple links.
• Using generic anchors such as “click here” or “read more,” which provide no information about the linked page to either readers or crawlers, wasting a link opportunity that should have been used.
• Including several keywords in one anchor.
• Not providing any anchor text or leaving the alt text field blank on images, offering no information to crawlers.
• Placing links right next to each other without any text between them.
• Asking for keyword-rich anchors on guest blogs or press releases, which Google spam policies refer to as link spamming to manipulate search results.

Fix repeated and empty SEO anchor text first. They are the cheapest to correct, and they hurt both readers and crawlers.

Conclusion

Anchor text in SEO rewards clarity. Write descriptive, concise anchors, vary them across your links, and audit them every quarter so that no single phrase dominates your profile, because repeated optimized anchors are the pattern Google’s spam policies target.

• Read each anchor out of context before you publish.
• Use exact match sparingly.
• Let publishers choose the wording on earned backlinks, and ask only for a link to the right page.
• Check Search Console each quarter for repeated anchors.

Our blog writing team drafts SEO articles with descriptive internal links and cited sources. Connect with Content Whale to audit the anchor text across your site and fix the weak links first.

FAQs

What is anchor text SEO and how important is it?

Anchor text SEO is an optimization technique where you pick which words within your link will act as a description of the page they’re linking to. It’s important because Google uses the anchor text to analyze your website while users use anchor text to decide if they want to click on the link or not.

Is anchor text important for rankings?

Well, kind of. However, Ahrefs’ analysis of 384,614 pages showed a very low average correlation between anchor text matching keywords and rankings (0.14), so don’t rely solely on anchors when optimizing for SEO.

What are the best anchor text SEO practices?

Use clear and concise anchor texts that make sense by themselves. Use varied anchor texts that are relevant to the linked page.

Is exact match anchor text risky?

In anchor SEO, exact matches are risky in bulk. Exact match anchor optimization on guest posts and press releases is considered to be link spam by Google when done with the intention to manipulate rankings. Exact match anchors should be used rarely along with other anchors.

How can I analyze my SEO anchor text?

Check the top linking text report on Google Search Console. Afterwards check it in the backlink analysis tool like Ahrefs.

What is the optimal anchor text length?

Google requires anchors to be reasonably brief but does not specify any exact number of words. It is suggested to have from two to five words as anchors that briefly describe the content.

Do internal and external links need different anchors?

Internal links you create yourself; therefore you have control over the anchors. The anchor text on the earned backlink depends on the publisher.