What is Anchor Text?
Anchor text is the visible and clickable part of a hyperlink. It provides information to search engines and users about a page’s content, and it is relevant to the page you are linking to. It is easy to identify a hyperlink because a distinct colour and an underline commonly mark it.
Search engines use keywords in the anchor text to identify the topic of the web page.
Types of Anchor Text
Generic anchor text Branded anchor text Partial Match anchor text Exact match anchor text Phrase match anchor text Naked link text Image anchor link Random anchor text
Generic anchor text
The generic text does not reveal any information about the type of content available on the page. These anchors are devoid of keywords and do not yield fruitful results in correlation to page rankings in SERPs. It uses standard text with words like ‘website,’ ‘info,’ ‘link,’ or phrases such as ‘read more,’ ‘click here,’ etc. So why is generic text important? Because it is pretty powerful and omnipresent over the internet and uses functional language and active CTAs.
Branded anchor text
This anchor text includes your brand’s name, and it contains a clickable link where the text includes the site’s name to which the link is connecting. The branded anchor text is crucial for building your brand’s image—for example, Adidas activewear, McDonalds Happy Meal, or Canon DSLR.
Partial Match anchor text
The Partial Match text does not use the exact phrasing; instead, it adds variation. For example: “driving for beginners” = “beginner’s guide to driving”
Exact match anchor text
It includes precisely the keyword that the linked-to page is targeting. E.g., search engines.
Phrase match anchor text
It includes the link title consisting of a specific phrase for which your website is trying to rank.
Naked link text
A naked link is a hyperlink that uses the URL directly as an anchor text.
Image anchor link Images can be used as anchor links and also enhance SEO for images. You should add descriptive or alt text for the search engine to understand the image. For example Pinterest uses image anchor links to redirect users to the destination url.
Random anchor text
These comprise phrases that are not excessively generic such as ‘click here.’ However, they are not related to the target keyword either.
Natural vs. Unnatural anchors
The
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natural anchor includes text, image, or button for the user to click for further information. If you produce high-quality content, anchor text links will naturally come to your website.
the other hand, an unnatural anchor text uses spammed backlinks and keyword stuffing to maneuver a page’s ranking. Google’s SERP algorithm proactively penalizes any content using unnatural practices for SERP rankings, resulting in a substantive reduction of your audience size.
How does anchor text affect SEO?
Anchor words enable search engines like Google to know about the web pages and rank them accordingly for the right keywords. Adding internal links will allow Google to understand your website structure. Similarly, the text of the internal links provides an understanding of the content. So when you link to other content, Google will analyze the link text ad as a determinant of the topic of the linked page.
Moreover, the link text also informs users about the link’s authenticity. Additionally, you should avoid adding the focus keyphrase in the link text to avoid causing any confusion for both search engines and users. Overall, the anchor text in the backlinks is crucial in SERP rankings.
How to optimize anchor text for SEO?
There are different ways to optimize anchor text for SEO.
It would help if you used crisp words for the anchor text, however there is no recommended word length. Nevertheless, it would be best to employ words that concisely convey the crux of anchor text and prompt users to click on your link.
Page relevancy has become one of the primary metrics to determine rankings. A relevant link must improve the rankings if there are any queries related to the topic. Likewise, do not include links to spammy websites, do not use generic text, and avoid linking internal links with keyword-rich texts.
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