Anchor Text In SEO – Guide To Understanding Anchor Text

Link building is an essential part of SEO, and the type of links used is one of the most common culprits that can cause Google penalties. When building links, one of the most common footprints SEOs create is an unnatural anchor text distribution. Anchor text in seo is the visible clickable text in a hyperlink that provides both search engines and users relevant contextual information about the content of the link’s destination.

In this article, we will discuss the different types of anchor text and how they should be used to build an evergreen natural anchor text link profile for your website or clients.

Anchor Text: What is it?

Anchor text is the text that you choose to be linked, and it’s important because it tells your readers what to expect before they click the link. Anchor text provides context to search engines about your content, and they use it to understand the topics you’re linking to in your copy.

Anchor text is often in a different color than the rest of the text and underlined. You may hear it being referred to as rich anchor text, which simply means anchor text that is correctly optimized.

Where Can Anchor Text Be Found?

Anchor text can be found in three primary occasions: internal links, external links, and inbound links. Internal links are backlinks that navigate away from the page that the user is currently on to another page on the same domain. External links are links from your website to another external website, while inbound links are links from another website back to yours.

Different Types of Anchor Text

Exact match anchor text is the type of anchor text that precisely matches the search term that you want to rank for. Partial match anchor text includes the target search term for the linked-to page as well as some additional text.

A naked link is when the URL is used as an anchor, and generic words or phrases such as click here, visit this page, and read more are also good examples of anchor text. Images are also used as anchor text, and whenever the image is linked, Google will use the text contained in the image’s alt attribute as the anchor text. Finally, title anchor text is simply the title of the page you’re linking to being used as the anchor text.

Natural Anchor Text

Google’s 2019 BERT update uses natural language processing to understand and rank pages. It’s not entirely clear how they use this in relation to anchor text, but many SEOs have theorized that Google pays closer attention to the context of anchor text. Building an evergreen natural anchor text link profile can help avoid penalties, and it’s important to keep the following in mind:

• Focus on creating valuable content that naturally generates links.
• Use anchor text in a way that makes sense and adds value to the content.
• Avoid exact match anchor text and focus on partial match, branded, and generic anchor text.
• Use anchor text that provides context about the content of the linked-to page.

Conclusion

Anchor text is an essential part of SEO and link building. When used correctly, anchor text provides context to both users and search engines about the content of the linked-to page. Avoiding penalties requires building a natural anchor text link profile that adds value and makes sense. By following the guidelines above, you can build an evergreen natural anchor text link profile that will help your website or your clients’ websites rank higher in search results.

FAQ

Q: What is anchor text? A: Anchor text is the clickable text that appears as a hyperlink and leads to another webpage.

Q: Why is anchor text important for SEO? A: Anchor text helps search engines understand the context and relevance of the linked page. It also helps search engines determine the topic of the linked page and can influence its ranking in search results.

Q: What are the different types of anchor text? A: There are several types of anchor text, including exact match, partial match, branded, generic, and image anchors.

Q: What is exact match anchor text? A: Exact match anchor text is when the linked text exactly matches the keyword or phrase being targeted.

Q: Are there any best practices for using anchor text? A: Yes, it’s important to use anchor text that is relevant, descriptive, and natural. Avoid over-optimization and using the same anchor text repeatedly.

Q: Can using too many exact match anchor texts harm my website’s SEO? A: Yes, overusing exact match anchor text can lead to a penalty from search engines, as it can be seen as an attempt to manipulate search rankings.