Search engine optimization is vital for every business, no matter what industry you are in. It helps you to improve the design of your website, make it more user-friendly, and, most importantly, it contributes to you getting on that highly coveted first page of Google.
If you are still not sold on the importance of impressing Google and other popular search engines, you may want to consider this:
Roughly 71% of traffic doesn’t leave the first page of Google, with some sources stating this could potentially be up to a whopping 92%.
What does this mean for your business?
Put simply, if you’re not on the first page of Goggle, your organic traffic numbers are going to suffer.
Fortunately, this is where the power of SEO comes into play, which includes choosing the right anchor texts.
What is Anchor Text?
Anchor text refers to the clickable words used to link one web page to another. Google uses external anchor text to help understand what your page is about and also to decide what keywords it should rank for.
For example, if we linked a page from this article with “SEO experts” as the anchor text, this would indicate to Google that the linked page has something to do with SEO experts. Then, if other people do the same thing, this will increase Google’s confidence that the page should be ranked for the term “SEO experts.”
While anchor texts typically link to webpages, they can also be used to initiate downloads and to link to documents such as PDFs or files in Google Drive.
The text that you choose for your anchors is not only important in terms of telling Google algorithms what your content is about but also to tell your readers what to expect before clicking on a link.
So, as you can clearly see, anchor text is a very powerful tool in increasing your site’s ranking, meaning that you need to take it seriously if you want to rise in the ranks of Google and grow your business online.
How to Write Anchor Text Successfully
Although you may think that anchor text is simple to write, you need to make sure that you adhere to Google’s guidelines or risk being penalized.
To stay on the right side of Google, follow the below top tips for writing anchor text:
Use anchor text naturally
Trying to force an anchor text into your content or add specific keywords that do not make sense to the page will not impress Google or your site visitors. Instead, focus on using natural-sounding anchor texts, and don’t be afraid to use words such as “is” and “the” to make your anchor text more understandable.
Use different types of anchor texts
Do not fall into the habit of using the same type of anchor text every time, as this can become boring for users and will prevent you from identifying what works best for your site. As a general rule, try to strive for:
- 30-40% branded anchors
- 30-40% partial match anchors
- 20-30% generic, exact match, naked, and other anchors
(Find out more about the different types of anchor texts and how to use them further down in the guide).
Make the anchor text relevant to the landing page
Link relevancy is crucial if you want to get on the first page of Google, so any anchor text you use must directly relate to the page it is linking to. To ensure your link sends strong relevancy signals to search engines, make sure that your chosen anchor text is as descriptive of the target page as possible.
Keep the anchor text succinct
Although there aren’t any specific rules when it comes to the length of anchor text, it is a good idea to keep your link text short and sweet.
If you are in any doubt about which words to use, ask yourself the below questions:
How can I best describe the linked-to page in the most concise way possible?
What exact word or phrase would encourage me to click on the link?
If you do this before writing each anchor text, you are guaranteed to get favorable results.
Don’t be keyword-heavy
Keywords are important when it comes to linking, but you don’t want to cross the line and overdo it with too many keyword-heavy internal links. When Google released the Penguin algorithm update, it became clear that they were looking more closely at the keywords used within anchor text and, more specifically, whether too many of a site’s inbound links contained the exact same anchor text.
Don’t stop using keyword and topic-specific anchor text altogether, as these are still the most effective way to get great linking-building results. However, intersperse these with a variety of more natural-sounding anchor texts where possible.
What are the Different Types of Anchor Text?
Anchor text is not as straightforward as highlighting words and linking them to a page. You have to look at the different types of anchor texts and decide which one best complements your overall SEO and link-building strategy.
Below are the different types of anchor text you can choose from:
Exact Match: This is when the anchor text is the exact keyword or phrase that you want to rank for.
Examples of exact match anchor texts include:
- Link building
- SEO experts
Partial Match: If the anchor text has all the words in the query but not as an exact phrase, this is called a partial match. Examples of this are:
- Useful link building tools (when you are linking to a page about “link building tools”)
- Ultimate SEO guide (when you are targeting “SEO guide”)
Branded: The anchor text is the name of the brand.
Examples of branded anchor texts include:
- Click Intelligence
- According to Wikipedia
- As The New York Times reports
Naked URL: When the anchor text is the raw, naked URL, i.e. how it would appear in a browser.
Examples of naked anchor texts include:
- https://www.clickintelligence.com/anchortext/
- thenewyorktimes.com/us
Generic: A generic anchor text doesn’t include any keywords but, instead relies on the surrounding content for context clues about what is on the linking page.
Examples of generic anchor texts include:
- Click here
- Read more
- More info
- This page
Image links: When the anchor text is the alt text of the image.
Examples of image anchor texts include:
- Click Intelligence link building strategy guide
- The New York Times travel guide
Why is Link-Building Important?
Internal linking should be a crucial part of your overall SEO strategy, enabling you to transfer link authority from one web page to another. As a general rule, your homepage should have the most links pointing towards it but by using internal linking, you can distribute this authority across the other pages of your site. To do this effectively, you need to choose the right keywords for your anchor text so that Google can understand what your page is about and how to rank it.
The same concept applies to backlinks that are pointing to your site. By using strategic anchor texts that include keywords, you can pass authority from one site to another and influence keyword rankings.
Conclusion
Anchor text is an important factor in your search engine optimization strategy, helping Google to understand what your pages are about and enabling them to rank them accordingly. It is also crucial for improving the overall user experience for your site visitors, telling them where they can find out more information and what is on the other side of your links.
As a marketer or business owner, you need to make sure you are choosing the right anchor texts, as well as the most relevant surrounding words for all your web pages. Be sure to focus on relevancy and diversity when it comes to anchor text and, most importantly, only link to reputable sites.
