Anchor Text Optimization – The No. 1 Guide to Optimizing Anchor Text for 2023

What is Anchor Text?

Anchor texts are those clickable texts when clicked will take you to a different location or different document like in the above image: how to design a website for SEO.

Also, we can define it as visible texts that are when linked with hyperlinks will take you to another location or another document.

Normally, they are displayed in blue color but we can customize it using HTML and CSS.

For example – In the above image if you click on “how to design a website for SEO”, you will come across a page https://data-flair.training/blogs/website-design-seo/ that explains the strategies of website design in SEO.

Search engines use external anchor texts to show how other looks at your page and the extension part also indicates what the page is all about.

If the anchored texts are relevant as per the content then there is a chance of your website getting a higher rank.

Types of Anchor Text

Following explains different types of anchor texts in SEO in detail:

 1. Generic Anchors

Generic anchor text in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) refers to employing anonymous or widely used words or phrases as the clickable text of a hyperlink. The visible and clickable portion of a link that consumers view on a webpage is called the anchor text. Additionally, it is critical that search engines comprehend the relevance and context of the linked page.

Common examples of generic anchor text include the phrases “click here,” “learn more,” “read more,” and “visit this link,” as well as the URL itself.

2. Exact Match Anchors

Exact match anchors are those anchor texts in which the attached links to the texts match exactly with the searched and displayed results. The page title also matches with the anchor texts. You can consider this as the most trustworthy anchor texts and search engine also gives priority to these anchor texts.

Example- https://data-flair.training/hadoop-spark-developer-course/

In the above example Hadoop spark developers course is the anchor text, now, if the displayed text on the web page matches with the anchor text, then it will be an exact match anchor text.

3. Branded Anchors

These are keywords which represent the name of the business entity or name of the organization. This anchor signifies the brand name attached to the blog or some other web pages.

Example- data-flair, a brand name is attached with https://data-flair.training/blogs/ which shows brand name i.e. DataFlair

4. Naked Anchors

These anchor texts are basically the backlinks that take you to a website by a URL. These are not attached to any other links.

Example: https://data-flair.training

5. Partial match Anchors

These texts have partial details about the web page. It also shows variation in the added keywords.

For example: Here, anchor text is Hadoop tutorial but when you click on the page heading shows Hadoop tutorial for beginners.

6. Image Anchors

Image anchors are a term used in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to describe the use of photos as clickable components with related hyperlinks. Users who click on the picture are taken to the website or resource that the hyperlink designates. Other names for image anchors include “linked images” and “clickable images.”

To provide a thorough and user-friendly experience, keep in mind that while picture anchors can improve user engagement and aesthetic appeal, a balance with text-based connections must also be maintained. When utilising image anchors, keep in mind the accessibility and SEO implications by including a descriptive alt text and connecting to pertinent and worthwhile content.

7. Long–tail Anchors

These are long tail keywords that when typed on the search engine will take you to the website that contains that exact keyword. These are similar to partial match anchors except that their length is longer.

Example- “most reliable car buying tips’  

Why Anchor Texts are Important

Search engines change their algorithm every year and you should stay updated with it. There are many factors that matter for your website ranking and link relevancy is one of them. It means how article A is related to article B which will talk about their hyperlinks being anchored with each other. There is a high probability that if both the links are exactly related to each other then it can elevate your website’s ranking.

It also depends on the topic and content of the web page. The search engine looks for how the content of one page takes you other pages. There has to be a proper connection between the content.

Anchor Text Keyword Density  

Penguin algorithm has updated the search engine’s algorithms regarding keyword used in the anchor text. With this updation, Google closely watches your internal web pages. If numerous pages within the website have the same anchor texts then it is liable to attract the penalty from Google.

In general, you should use the related anchor for keyword and topic according to the relevancy. For better SEO results use natural keywords rather than using spammy keywords for every anchor hyperlinks.

Best Practices for Anchor Text Optimization

• Always use anchor texts that are relevant to your website’s content.
• Put all the above discussed different types of anchor texts i.e. generic anchors, branded anchors, long trail anchors, image anchors in your website.
• Don’t link anchor texts with any spammy website or to any adult content.
• While using anchor texts are always recommendable, it is highly advisable to avoid using internal links within the same content.
• To create trust among the readers among the user, you should mention guest posts in your web content and it should always have some anchor texts.
• Don’t forget to keep an eye over the progress report of your anchor texts by using different tracking tools.

Summary

This blog may have helped you in various ways but anchor text will be a lot easier to handle if you know the process of link building as it will make you more clear about the idea of when and at which place to give links so that you can get maximum clicks on the page.

Putting feedback about how you felt of the blog will be highly appreciable.