What is anchor text?

Example of anchor text

When we post a link to our link-building page, the anchor text in this example is “link-building.”

What are the characteristics of anchor text?

Most anchor texts can be identified by a number of visual characteristics:

1. The anchor text is clickable; your mouse cursor will change to a hand icon when you hover over the anchor text with your mouse.
2. Most anchor texts are a different color than the regular text
3. Most anchor texts are underlined

In addition, the anchor text appears in your website’s HTML code between the tags.

Is anchor text important for SEO?

Anchor text is crucial for both your website’s internal link structure and link building. Google uses anchor text to identify a page’s topic(s), and you can build authority on those topics as a result. So, when you place links to your page for link building using the anchor texts “link building,” “outsourcing link building,” and “good backlinks,” Google will better understand that your page should be found for those search terms.

In addition, anchor text ensures that your visitors will click through to your website. Ultimately, you want visitors to convert, and anchor text contributes to the conversion rate in this process. When you guide visitors to the right pages using the right anchor text, you’ll achieve a higher conversion rate.

These extra clicks also help lower your bounce rate and increase the number of pages per session, which Google will reward

What makes for good anchor text?

Good anchor text provides an accurate description of the page being linked to. The anchor text should contain enough information so that your visitors and Google know what the linked page is about.

Examples of anchor texts that have little value for Google include:

• Click here
• Read more
• Check this out
• This page
• This article
• Here
• This product

An example of good anchor text is: Optimizing Google My Business.

This anchor text provides a good description of the linked page and also includes a keyword that should help users find the page.

What types of anchor text are there?

There are several types of anchor text:

• A brand name (such as SmartRanking)
• A standard anchor text with less value (such as Klik hier)
• Keywords (such as Linkbuilding and Linkbuilding uitbesteden)
• A URL (such as https://smartranking.nl/)

Guidelines for Using Anchor Text

For internal links, it’s best to use anchor text that’s as relevant as possible. When you start link building, it’s important to use a variety of anchor texts. A variety of anchor texts includes:

• A few anchor texts with little value
• URLs as anchor text
• Your company’s brand name
• Keywords

A good anchor profile contributes to your website’s authority and a natural backlink profile.