Anchor text

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. In the HTML below, "our pricing page" is the anchor text:

<a href="/pricing">our pricing page</a>

It's the most direct signal a link can give about the destination. Users rely on it to decide whether to click; search engines use it to understand context and relevance.

Why anchor text matters for SEO

Search engines treat anchor text as a description of the page being linked to. A link that says "best running shoes for flat feet" tells Google something specific about the destination's topic. Aggregated across many links, anchor text helps establish what a page is about and what queries it should rank for.

A link that says "click here" tells nothing.

This is true for both: - Internal links — within your own site, anchor text reinforces topic relevance and helps with site architecture. - External links (backlinks) — anchor text from other sites is a strong ranking signal, though one Google watches for manipulation.

Types of anchor text

• Exact match — anchor text is the exact target keyword (e.g., "running shoes" linking to a running shoes page).
• Partial match — contains the keyword in a natural phrase (e.g., "these running shoes for marathons").
• Branded — uses the brand name (e.g., "Nike", "ASOS").
• Naked URL — the URL itself as the anchor (e.g., "https://example.com/page").
• Generic — unhelpful phrases like "click here", "read more", "this link".
• Image — when an image is the link, its alt attribute serves as the anchor text equivalent.

What good anchor text looks like

• Descriptive. A user should be able to guess where the link goes from the anchor alone.
• Natural. It reads as part of the sentence, not a forced keyword insertion.
• Varied. A healthy backlink profile has a mix of branded, exact, and partial-match anchors. An over-optimised profile (too many exact-match anchors) is a classic spam signal.
• Unique per destination, where possible. If two different pages on your site both have anchors that say "learn more", neither benefits from clear topical signals.

Common mistakes

• "Click here" and "read more" everywhere. Useless for SEO and bad for accessibility (screen reader users often navigate by listing all links on a page).
• Over-optimised exact-match anchors in backlinks — suggests paid links and is a manual action risk.
• Stuffing the same anchor text across many internal links to the same page — provides no incremental signal.
• Mismatch between anchor and destination. If a link says "free shipping policy" but goes to the homepage, users and crawlers are misled.

Low-hanging fruit

Internal links are within your direct control and are a relatively low-effort task to get right. If the anchors are vague or inconsistent, you're leaving topical signals on the table.

Bots, crawlers, and linking

Disclaimer: All information contained herein is for informational purposes only. It is not advice or instructional.