Anchor text is a useful tool for directing readers from one page of your website to another. Strategic use of anchor text can improve your customer experience.

Anchor text is like a bridge that connects one piece of content to another. You can use anchor text to send readers to websites or pages that provide additional information or support your claims. It is also an important tool for building your search engine rankings and online reputation.

Before you start linking to other sites, it's important to understand what anchor text is, how it relates to your page's search engine optimization (SEO), and how you can benefit from optimizing your anchor text.

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is clickable text on a web page that opens another page or website. When someone clicks on the anchor text, they are redirected to the page linked to that text. Clicking on the link text or hyperlink takes you to the website, article, blog post, newsletter, or page related to the anchor text.

For example, when writing a blog post about how to grow your YouTube channel and get subscribers, you might include anchor text to link to credible sources or recent studies that support your claims or provide additional information.

What role does anchor text play in SEO?

Anchor text serves a purpose in search engine optimization (SEO) by providing context to search engines to determine keywords and topics related to a web page. This means that strategically using anchor text optimization can help your page rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Search engines regularly crawl and index websites, and use metrics like keywords and titles to determine which search queries best match the content of each page. When a search engine discovers anchor text on your site, it uses that anchor text to better understand the content of the linked page. Including appropriate keywords in your anchor text helps search engines “understand” your site’s content and rank your site.

When considering an anchor text optimization strategy, your tactics should vary depending on whether you are linking internally (within your own website, i.e. internal linking) or if you are linking from a third-party website (earning backlinks). In the latter case, over-optimizing anchor text can cause Google to consider it as a spammy link.

6 Types of Anchor Text

1. Brand name
2. exact match
3. Partial match
4. common
5. Image Link
6. Use the URL as is

Anchor text doesn’t have to be the same word every time you insert a link. You have the flexibility to choose the anchor text that sounds most natural in your content. Here are some types of anchor text you can include on your website:

1. Brand name

Brand name anchor text uses the name of the specific company or website that the text links to. For example, if you were writing an article about e-bikes, you might write, “ Cowboy sells smart e-bikes and lets you schedule a test ride before you buy.” In this case, the brand name “Cowboy” is the anchor text and links to the company’s main page.

Brand name text is useful when you want to make it clear to readers which site they are going to, or when you want to recommend the entire site rather than a specific article or page.

2. exact match

Exact match anchor text consists of text that is identical to the topic of the linked page. This is often an exact match keyword that helps improve SEO rankings. For example, in an article about "earned media," an exact match anchor text might be, "Earned media is any type of promotion your business receives that you didn't pay for or create yourself." In this case, the link will go to an article with a URL that includes the phrase "earned media." Exact match anchor text can lead to higher click-through rates by clearly explaining to readers what content they will see when they click.

3. Partial match

Partial match anchor text contains only a few words that are identical to the topic of the linked page. Partial match anchor text allows you to create text that is natural without having to match the exact wording of the linked page. For example, in the sentence "You can use a variety of SEO strategies to improve your site's ranking.", the anchor text links to an article with the URL "seo checklist online store." The partial match anchor text "SEO strategies" is more reader-friendly than the text in the linked article URL.

4. common

Generic anchor text uses generic or non-descriptive phrases like “Click here” or “Read more” to encourage link clicks. Generic anchor text is great for providing a useful content resource without distracting the reader from the page.

5. Image Link

Although not text, images can also act as anchor text. In this case, the image is considered a link and includes alt text, a descriptive text attribute embedded in the image’s HTML code. When the user clicks on the image, they are taken to the linked page or source in the image’s alt text. Image anchor text is especially useful when you want to provide a link to the image’s source.

6. Use the URL as is

Anchor text that uses the URL of the linked page as text. For example, a literal anchor text of " www.shopify.com " links to the same page. Naked URLs are similar to branded anchor text, but are useful for showing readers that they are being directed to a specific link or to the homepage of your site.

How to Use Anchor Text Effectively

1. Use related keywords
2. To attract clicks
3. Place links naturally
4. Developing a Third-Party Link Building Strategy

Properly using and optimizing anchor text is essential to improving your site’s search engine optimization (SEO). When deciding when, where, and how to use anchor text, here are some guidelines you can follow:

1. Use related keywords

Use words or phrases related to the topic of the linked page to structure the anchor text for internal and external links. Irrelevant anchor text can confuse readers and result in a negative user experience. Keyword-containing anchor text helps SEO, but avoid overusing keywords in irrelevant places. Search engines can lower your rankings if they detect excessive use of the same keyword.

2. To attract clicks

When readers click on the anchor text, search engines recognize that the link is valuable information, which can improve your website's SEO. If you want a high click-through rate, make sure that your anchor text clearly describes the content it links to. Also, link to both internal and external pages that provide new or useful information to readers.

3. Place links naturally

When search engines crawl your site, they evaluate the variety and placement of your anchor text links. If your anchor text is naturally distributed throughout your pages, it indicates that your links are carefully chosen for your readers, which can help your site rank higher. This strategy applies to both internal and external links, so consider both when planning your natural link placement.

4. Developing a Third-Party Link Building Strategy

Building backlinks is the process of creating links to your site using external anchor text from third-party sites (also known as inbound links). When developing your content strategy, aim to create valuable, authoritative content that other sites are likely to use as a resource. A strong link building strategy proves to search engines that your content is relevant and useful to readers searching for your target keywords.

Arthur Camberlein, technical SEO and data specialist at Shopify, advises, “Use exact match or partial match anchor text as much as possible to link to semantically close pages internally, avoid using parameters in internal links, and never link to the same page twice within an article.”