Why is anchor text important to SEO?
Why is anchor text important to SEO?
An anchor is a text you click to move from one internet destination to another; it literally anchors two different locations on the internet together.
While anchors typically link webpages, they can also initiate downloads and link to documents like PDFs or files in Google Drive. That is why you should only click anchors from sites you trust, and hover over the link with your mouse – but don’t click! – to make sure the URL looks legitimate.
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Anchor text is important for SEO because anchor quality affects the way Google algorithms assess links. If you use too many keywords not related to the text around the anchor, the risk of penalties increases dramatically.
Webmasters often wonder if anchors are a good SEO practice. The answer is unequivocal: it is necessary to pay great attention to anchor texts in link building.
How to benefit from anchors?
Use unique anchor text.
Analyze link profiles of your competitors.
Choose relevant donor sites.
Integrate the link into content properly.
Do not focus on one anchor type.
Anchor text is the part of a link that is visible to users and it is important for SEO for many reasons. What you write as anchor text, for both internal and external links, can positively or negatively influence your rankings.
Anchor text is the part of the link that is clickable and visible to users. It is placed between the opening <a href> and closing anchor tag </a>. Here is an example of an anchor text:
<a href="https://example.com">This is an anchor text</a>
Here is another example of anchor text in Google Search results.
Anchor Text in Google Search Results
Anchor Text in Google Search Results
Google is using the pagetitle value as the anchor text for their search snippets.
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What does the anchor text do?
The anchor text gives a strong indication to both search engines and users about the page you’re linking to.
A hyperlink that you add to your site can either point to other pages on your site (that’s an internal link) or to pages on other websites (that’s an external link).
In both cases, by providing for a meaningful anchor text, you help search engine crawlers and users understand what the target page is all about.
Here is another example of an anchor text used for an internal link. By looking at the value “on-page SEO”, you know that if you click the link, you will read more about the topic.
Anchor Text Example
Anchor Text Example
Different Types of Anchor Text
There are different types of anchor text you can use when creating a hyperlink.
If you are new to SEO, you first need to understand the terminology so that you can follow the guidelines outlined below.
Branded – using your brand name as anchor text, for example: Reliablesoft
URL – using the permalink of a page without text, for example: https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-strategy/
Domain name – using your domain name as anchor texts, for example: reliablesoft.net
Generic – used very often, for example: read more, or click here
Exact match keywords – using keywords for the link, for example: “You can learn more about SEO Keywords and…”
Partial match – using keywords with additional text, for example: “You can download our SEO checklist.”
Page Title – using the page title as is, for example: “The Ultimate DIY SEO Tutorial (Step by Step) For Beginners”
Best SEO Practices for Anchor text
Although anchor texts have been around since the beginning of the Internet, still a lot of webmasters don’t follow best practices when writing them.
Writing optimized anchor text for both your internal and external links can help your SEO in a number of ways.
Optimized anchor text in internal links can help search engines understand the site structure
Anchor text in incoming links can help you rank higher for specific search terms.
Good anchor text in external links helps users understand if this is a link they want to click.
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