Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink that directs users to another webpage. In SEO, it provides context about the linked content to search engines. Using relevant and descriptive anchor text can improve site rankings and enhance user engagement by guiding visitors effectively.
What is Anchor Text?
Anchor Text refers to a hyperlink’s visible and clickable text, such as Nextwinz Digital Service Company Limited. It will look like this in the HTML source code:
Generally speaking, the default style of anchor text on a web page is blue text with an underline, but you can also change it to the style you want through HTML or CSS.
The Role of Anchor Text in SEO
Search engines use the anchor text of external links as one of the sources of information for understanding the target web page because it can reflect how other people view the content.
For example, Nextwinz Digital – provides professional Google SEO optimization services to help the overall growth of the brand
The anchor text of the above paragraph is “Google SEO Optimization”, and users who click on the link can easily guess that after clicking, they will see the official website or related introduction of Nextwinz Digital’s SEO services.
Suppose many web pages use “SEO”, “SEO optimization”, “search engine optimization”, and other words as anchor text when linking to Nextwinz Digital. In that case, the search engine will judge that this website is likely related to SEO.
Types of Anchor Text
Exact Match Keyword
If the anchor text is the same as the topic and main keywords of the link’s target page, it belongs to the “exact match” type. For example, the anchor text is “SEO, ” which links to a page introducing SEO.
Partially Matched Keywords
This type of anchor text contains keyword variations or related words on the linked target page. For example, the anchor text is “SEO optimization methods” and links to a page introducing SEO.
Brand Name
Use brand names in the anchor text; for example, “Nextwinz Digital” links to its official website.
Hybrid
Add keywords to the brand name; for example: “Nextwinz Digital’s SEO services” includes keywords such as “Nextwinz Digital” and “SEO services”, which also strengthens the connection between the two.
Website
https://www.nextwinz.net/ is an example of using a URL as anchor text.
Common Words
Words unrelated to a specific topic are widely used as anchor text in links, such as “click here.”
Picture
If you set a hyperlink on an image, the alt text of the image may be treated as anchor text by search engines, for example:
<a href=”https://www.nextwinz.net/”><img alt=”Nextwinz Digital” src=”team one-official-website.jpg” /></a>
In the example above, “Nextwinz Digital” may be considered information replacing the anchor text.
LSI Keywords
LSI is the abbreviation of Latent Semantic Indexing, which can be translated as “latent semantic indexing“. The search engine will find the phrases associated with your LSI keywords.
For example, search for “SEO optimization” on Google. You can see some search terms related to the search term at the bottom of the page: “SEO optimization tools”, “What is SEO and how it works“, “SEO Keywords”, “SEO Checker”, etc.
Things to Note When Setting Anchor Text
Be brief
Although there is no limit to the length of anchor text, try to keep it short. When considering what anchor text to use, consider the following:
- How can I describe the linked web page most accurately?
- What kind of anchor text will make users more likely to click on the link?
Keep reading natural and fluent
You should avoid using too many “too precise” keywords in the anchor text and try to link the anchor text to high-quality content websites.
At the same time, using descriptive words is recommended when determining the anchor text instead of too many general words (such as click here, click here). This can achieve a smooth combination of anchor text and article content, ensure smooth reading, and will not give users the feeling of being forced to click to read.
Avoid over-optimization
Google does not use the number of links alone to judge the quality of a website. Instead of deliberately inserting many stiff and unnatural external links, it is better to naturally insert appropriate external links based on the article’s content. This will achieve an invisible content expansion without affecting the user’s reading experience.
For example, we want to insert an article related to travel. In that case, we should not cram the word “travel” everywhere on the website, add EM tags, STRONG tags, etc., but should add content that users will be interested in on the web page content, such as European travel/domestic travel/2022 travel recommendations/self-guided tours… etc., to make the anchor text more diversified.
Relevance
The previous article about external links explained that whether the webpage where the external link is located is relevant to the webpage to which the link reaches is an essential factor. Links with high relevance can improve the ranking ability of the linked page for related keywords.
The relevance of links mainly comes from the following:
- The subject of the page the link is on
- The content of the page where the link is located and the anchor text
Whether the pages at both ends of the link are related or the text content is related affects the user’s behavior after clicking the link.
For example, if there is a page introducing Guangzhou’s morning tea, linking it to the official website of each morning tea will bring more relevant signals than connecting it to the introduction of the zoo.
Avoid linking to spam sites or being linked to by spam sites
Also, check the external links regularly to see any links to spam websites or error pages. In addition, to earn advertising revenue, some websites open a section on the website where brands can place dozens of external links. Although such links are good for product quality, they are often irrelevant to the brand, a chronic poison to the website’s SEO.
Keyword density
After the Penguin algorithm update, search engines may consider it unnatural if too many websites link to the same target website using the same keyword in the anchor text. Using keywords in anchor text is still an SEO recommendation, but using different words as anchor text more naturally and diversely can bring better results.
Although most search engines no longer rely solely on keyword density to determine the relevance of content, doing so can try to balance article readability and SEO ranking optimization and strive to achieve a win-win situation.
Generally speaking, if other websites spontaneously add external links to our website, they should use different anchor text. Using a variety of distinct but related anchor texts can better simulate the natural anchor text distribution.
Of course, the practices mentioned above are usually based on the assumption that you can control and deploy external links and anchor texts. You should simulate the natural distribution of anchor texts and consider relevance and user experience.
However, there are many times when you may need to promote an article on a website that you do not control, such as news media, publishing platforms, affiliate websites, etc.
At this time, instead of simply placing a website link below, you can tell the other party the written link and anchor text and ask them to add it below as the source in the form you want. You can get a relatively ideal anchor text format if the other party cooperates.
Place the anchor text where users can quickly notice it
Because many users often “scan the content” instead of “read the content”, the usual browsing order is page title > subtitle, and then users will focus on the first picture, first paragraph, and first line. It is very suitable to place relevant anchor text near these positions, which can increase the click rate of links within the page and the user’s reading depth.
But be careful not to place too many interfering elements in the user’s line of sight. When your anchor text meets the user’s needs, he will click in to see if it matches the content he wants to browse. Otherwise, it will bring adverse effects.
Summarize
In short, anchor text also plays a vital role in SEO. Still, it would help if you followed various precautions when setting anchor text to ensure its effectiveness and naturalness. By using different types of anchor texts reasonably, keeping them short, natural and fluent, avoiding over-optimization, focusing on relevance, controlling keyword density and placing them in the right place, you can improve the website’s search engine ranking and user experience, laying a solid foundation for the website’s development and success.
Nextwinz is a digital marketing service company in Dhaka Bangladesh, owned by Yiluqihang China. We provide digital services worldwide & offer Website design, SEM (Google Ads), SEO, and SMM. Best 360° digital marketing company in Bangladesh.
