How to create the perfect anchor text

Article topics

1. What is anchor text?
2. Why is good anchor text so important?
3. The different types of anchor text
4. Do images count as anchor text?
5. Top tips for creating anchor text that drives clicks
6. In conclusion

When writing pages for your website, whether an article, product page, or about us section, your content needs to provide value to visitors.

Well-placed anchor text doesn’t just offer additional information and encourage visitors to stay on your site for longer but can help with search engine optimisation (SEO) too.

If you’re not sure what anchor text is, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide. Together we’ll look at the benefits of good anchor text, the different types of anchor text you can use, and how to craft anchor text that gets visitors clicking!

What is anchor text?

Anchor text (or link text) refers to clickable text on a page that takes a visitor somewhere else.

For example, in the sentence ‘If you’d like to know more about digital marketing, visit the Xigen Insight’s blog,’ Xigen Insights blog is the anchor text.

Anchor text can lead to another page on your website, an external website, or open your default email client to send a message to an email address.

Here’s how anchor text looks in HTML code:

Why is good anchor text so important?

Solid, contextual anchor text has a lot of benefits:

• It’s a ranking factor. Google has confirmed that high-quality anchor text provides search engines with additional context about your page. This means you’re more likely to rank for relevant search engine queries
• It helps with SEO. You can optimise your anchor text for your target keywords of choice, improving your rank even further
• It helps the search engines crawl your site. Optimised anchor text makes it easier for search engines to crawl your website. This means the updated version of your site is more likely to appear in the search engine results
• It keeps people on your site for longer. Relevant and engaging anchor text encourages people to stay on your site and learn more, increasing the chances of conversion
• It makes for happier visitors. Accurate anchor text is more accessible, provides a better user experience, and increases trust in your business

The different types of anchor text

Not all anchor text is the same. There are five key types you can use on your webpage.

Branded

This is when you use a brand name as your anchor text. This can be just a brand name (e.g. ‘Xigen’) or a combination of a brand name and additional keywords.

Let’s say your keyword is ‘digital marketing’ – your branded anchor text could be ‘Xigen’s digital marketing services.’

Exact match

Exact match anchor text is an exact replication of your chosen keyword. For example, ‘digital marketing.’

Partial match

Phrase match anchor text contains some, but not all of your chosen keywords. For example, ‘marketing specialists’ or ‘digital services.’

Phrase match

Phrase match anchor text contains your chosen keyword as well as additional words. For example, ‘digital marketing guidelines’ or ‘how to do digital marketing.’

Naked

Naked anchor text uses the URL of a site. For example: www.xigen.co.uk.

Google advises not to use URLs as anchor text – this is because a URL typically doesn’t give you much context about what a page is about.

However, they can be useful in certain circumstances. For example, if you’re citing a specific website in a technical or academic document or have a new web domain you want to promote.

Do images count as anchor text?

Yes! If you use an image as a link on your page, this counts as anchor text.

In this situation, the search engines use the image’s alt text as the anchor text, so it’s vital that your alt text is descriptive and clear. Here are some tips to help you:

• Keep your alt text to 140 characters or less – you don’t need to include words like ‘image of’ or ‘picture of’
• Include as much detail as possible
• Use your keywords if relevant (more about this later)
• Use blank alt text (alt=””) on any decorative images that don’t provide value

Top tips for creating anchor text that drives clicks

Now that you know what anchor text is, how do you optimise it to get the best results on your pages?

We asked our SEO specialists to share their expertise.

1. Use your keywords (but don’t shoehorn them in)

Anchor text is a great way to use your target keywords for a selected page alongside other elements like meta descriptions and page titles.

However, it’s essential only to use them where it’s natural to do so. Shoehorning keywords in for the sake of it can make your content spammy and even lead to penalties in Google.

Here are some things to consider:

• Don’t force keywords in. If a keyword in anchor text feels unnatural or disjointed, take it out
• The search engines are smart enough to understand synonyms, so use them to mix things up. For example, instead of ‘black trainers,’ say ‘black running shoes’
• Try different types of anchor text types to add variety

2. Keep your anchor text relevant

Your anchor text must be relevant to the page you’re linking to. For example, if your anchor text says ‘search engine optimisation,’ you shouldn’t link to a page about cryptocurrency.

Irrelevant anchor text doesn’t just make your page spammy but can lead to a loss of trust amongst visitors.

3. Avoid generic anchor text

It’s vital that your anchor text shows visitors what they can expect at a glance.

We recommend avoiding generic anchor text that contains terms like ‘click here’ or ‘learn more’ as it doesn’t tell visitors what the linked page is about.

Too much generic anchor text can also make your website appear spammy, which can lead to penalties in the search engine results.

The occasional ‘click here’ won’t do too much harm as the search engines take the content around the anchor text into consideration – more about that later.

However, using more descriptive anchor text is better as this increases the odds of visitors clicking.

4. Ensure a good balance of anchor text types

The same type of anchor text types on a page can be a red flag to the search engines.

This is because repeatedly using the same anchor text types is a tactic often used by spam websites to try and gain prominence in the search engine results.

Some SEO experts recommend a specific proportion of anchor text types per page, but in our experience, this is hard to do. It’s best to ensure a healthy mix. For example, if you use branded anchor text, balance it out with a partial or phrase match anchor text.

Tools like Moz Pro can help you check which anchor text you use on a page. This can help you see the different types of anchor text at a glance and identify if anything needs changing.

As well as on your own site, it’s essential to ensure a good balance of anchor text on websites that link back to you. This helps establish trust in your site and boosts your search engine rankings.

5. Keep it short and sweet

While there’s no limit on how long anchor text can be, it’s best to keep it concise.

Overly long anchor text can look spammy and behave unpredictably on some devices, for example, on a mobile phone where the screen is smaller.

We recommend keeping anchor text under five words, eight as an absolute maximum.

Be succinct – don’t say ten words when one will do.

6. Focus on usability

Anchor text can enhance the user experience of your page, but it can also diminish it. This can make the difference between someone converting on your site or giving up and looking elsewhere.

Ways you can use anchor text and keep website visitors happy include:

• Differentiate between anchor text and non-anchor text. For example, by underlining or boldening links. Be mindful of just using colour as this can cause issues for people with disabilities, like colour blindness
• Keep anchor text well-spaced. Too many links in a short amount of text can be hard to click on, especially on a mobile phone. If you do need to have multiple links in a short amount of text, don’t place links directly next to each other
• Regularly check for broken links. Broken links can frustrate page visitors and have a negative effect on SEO

7. Consider the text surrounding your anchor text

Google doesn’t just read your anchor text but the text surrounding it to gain additional context about your page.

Use this to your advantage and provide detailed, keyword-optimised information before and after your anchor text.

In conclusion

Not many people think about anchor text when creating web content. However get your anchor text right, and you’re one step closer to ranking high in the search engines!

Remember that variety is the spice of life when it comes to good anchor text. Mix up your link text to get the best results.

Need a little extra help with your SEO? We offer a range of SEO services to increase the chances of ranking on the first page of Google. Contact our expert team today to find out more.