In this article, you will learn what is anchor text in SEO? and how does anchor text affect SEO?
Anchor text in SEO is the part of a link that is visible to users and is important for SEO for many reasons. What you write as anchor text, both for internal and external links, can positively or negatively influence your ranking.
What Is Anchor Text in SEO With Example
Anchor text is the text in hyperlinks on websites that you can click on to move from one web page to another. As the name implies, this term is used to anchor two completely different URLs together. Anchor text serves many purposes, such as landing you on different web pages and uploading and linking documents on platforms like Google Drive.
Anchor text in SEO can provide search engines and users with relevant contextual information about the content of the link destination.
<a href="https://www.amineducate.com">Amin Educate</a>
In the above example of the link code, ‘Amin Educate’ is the anchor text for the link.
Importance of Anchor Text in SEO
Anchor text in SEO gives a strong indication to search engines and users about the page you are linking to.
A hyperlink you add to your site can point to other pages on your site (this is an internal link) or to pages on other websites (this is an external link). You can see this article about inbound and outbound links in SEO.
In both cases, providing meaningful anchor text helps search engine spiders and users understand the content of the target page.
Here is another example of anchor text used for an internal link. By looking at the "Reddit SEO Strategy", you know that if you click on the link, you will read more about the topic.
Types of Anchor Text
There are various types of anchor text that you can use when creating a hyperlink.
If you are new to SEO, you need to understand the terminology first so you can follow the guidelines outlined below:
Exact match
Anchor text is "exact" if it includes a keyword that reflects the page to which the link is made. For example: "link building", refers to a page about link building.
Partial match
Anchor text that includes a variation of the keyword of the page to which the link is made. For example: "link building strategies", which links to a page about link building.
Brand
A brand name is used as anchor text. For example: "Amin Educate" links to Amin Educate's blog post.
Naked link
A URL that is used as an anchor. For example "www.amineducate.com" is a naked link anchor.
Generic
A generic word or phrase is utilized as an anchor. "Click here" is a popular generic anchor.
Images
When an image is linked, Google uses the text in the image's alt attribute as the anchor text.
Best Practices for Anchor Text in SEO
Although anchor text has been around since the beginning of the Internet, many webmasters do not follow best practices when writing it.
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 structure of the site.
- Anchor text in inbound links can help you rank higher for specific search terms.
- Good anchor text in external links helps users understand if it is a link they want to click on.
Choose meaningful text
Try to use significant anchor text in your links. In this case, meaningful anchor text gives an idea of what one can expect to find in terms of content when clicking on the link.
When choosing anchor text
- Stay away from using generic words like "click here", "this", "read this", "read more", etc. These words do not give search engines enough clues about the content of the linked page.
- Avoid using text that is not relevant to the content of the linked page.
Avoid using the URL of a page as anchor text
In many cases, webmasters may use a page's URL (also known as Naked URL) as anchor text.
While this doesn't create problems, it's not the best practice, so use it when it's really necessary. A better solution is to use the page title as the anchor text.
Write a short anchor text
Keep your anchor text short, concise, and without too many words. If it has a lot of words, it is more difficult for search engines to understand it.
Good anchor text example
<a href="https://amineducate.com">Amin Educate</a>
Bad anchor text example
<a href="https://amineducate.com">Anchor text is specified as the link that is clickable</a>
Format links differently than normal text
Links should be easy for users to spot. Best practices include making the link color different from the text.
See in this article how easy it is to differentiate my links from the rest of the text.
Anchor Text in SEO: How Can I Avoid Google Penalties?
How Does Anchor Text Affect SEO
One of the reasons anchor text is important for SEO is related to links. Here's a simple explanation of how the two are related.
Inbound links are still one of the most critical search engine ranking factors.
Links pointing from one website to another are considered by search engine algorithms as "votes of confidence". A website with links from other sites is likely to rank higher in the SERPS than a website with no backlinks.
The procedure of promoting your website to get more backlinks is named off-page SEO.
One of the factors that play a role in the value of a link is the anchor text.
This is because the anchor of an inbound link gives search engines an important clue as to what keywords the particular page should rank for.
Let me show you an example to understand better:
Website A is linked to website B as follows:
<a href=https://www.websiteB.com/guide >SEO Guide</a>
When search engine spiders find this link, they understand two things:
- Website A trusts website B, which is why it references it by adding a link.
- That the page on website B is about SEO guide.
So far so good. Everything has been done according to the guidelines (as explained above).
The problems start when :
- Website A received monetary compensation for adding the link.
- Website A's content is not related to SEO guide or training.
- Website A consistently links to other websites using optimized anchor text.
- Website A and Website B have agreed to exchange links
When Google realizes that the link was not placed naturally, it imposes a penalty on both websites or devalues and ignores the links.
Here is the exact quote from Google's guidelines for over-optimizing anchor text:
In the SEO world, the algorithm that specifically targeted optimized anchor text is known as Penguin.
How to Avoid Over-Optimizing Anchor Text
If you're still unsure whether or not to optimize your anchor text, don't worry, you're not alone.
Here's what you need to do.
When creating links, follow these three simple rules:
#1. Link to websites you trust. If you don't trust a website, make it nofollow.
This will ensure that search engines do not pass link juice or pagerank from your site to the linked site. When a link has the nofollow attribute, the anchor text is also ignored. You can see this article about follow links vs nofollow links.
#2. Avoid using exact keywords as anchor text, but keep it short and relevant.
For example, as an alternative to doing this <a href="example.com">SEO Tips</a> do this <a href="example.com">follow this SEO tips</a>
#3. You can link to a website using its brand name. For example, if you want to link to this article without using any keywords, you can say "According to Amin Educate...." (Amin Educate in the link anchor text). This is usually a good and safe practice to stick to.
When creating inbound links for your website:
When running link building campaigns and you are able to control the anchor text used for links, follow the guidelines below:
#1. Use a variety of anchor text types - Don't use exact match keywords but use a variety of anchor text types. You can use a partial match, page title, and brand name and give Google the right signals.
#2. Review your link profile - A "normal" link profile should have all types of anchor text in the inbound links. Look at your link profile and make sure it looks natural. A profile containing only exact keywords is not normal.
#3. Avoid building poor-quality links - Anchor text is only one factor that determines the value of a link. Other factors include the website placed, domain authority, and content relevance. Don't go for just any type of link building, but focus on the links that matter, without worrying too much about getting exact match links.
Anchor Text in SEO: Best Practices for Internal Links
When it comes to creating anchor text for internal links, it's a whole different story.
You need to follow all the above-explained guidelines without worrying about over-optimization.
Google has repeatedly mentioned that there is no penalty for over-optimizing anchor text for internal links.
If you take a closer look at the article you are reading, you will see that I have used different types of anchor text for internal links. Most of them are exact matches and some are page titles.
What you should avoid:
- Adding internal links only for search engines. The main role of internal links is to help users learn more about a specific topic, so add links when it makes sense.
- You can use generic anchor text such as "learn more", or "click here", but don't overdo it. Try to stick to the guidelines for making your links meaningful and concise.
Anchor Text in SEO Summary
Anchor text is the clickable area of a link that users see. It is important for SEO because it gives search engines an important clue about the content of the linked page.
It is true that Google's guidelines for using anchor text are contradictory. First, they ask us to use short, concise values, and then they can penalize a website for doing so.
You can save yourself the trouble by using a variety of values for your external and inbound links. Keeping a balance and avoiding overdoing it is always a good SEO practice.
Finally, you shouldn't worry about over-optimizing the anchor text of any of your internal links. There is no penalty for this.
