Anchor Text Optimization: Definition and Best Practices

The SEO world is full of tactics and strategies that change rather quickly, and we are often faced with new terms and phrases that become part of our daily lives later on. Today, we will be taking a long dive into the concept of one such phrase: anchor text optimization. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk anchor text! 

Behind every piece of well-written content, this one critical element often goes unnoticed. It’s a small but rather mighty factor that can significantly impact your search engine visibility if and only if optimized correctly.

Once you master using your anchor text correctly and optimizing it based on your needs, you’ll have a better chance of search engines understanding your content and categorizing it correctly.

For all this to happen, you first need to learn what anchor text actually is, explore the many types of anchor text, how you can use them to your advantage, and identify anchor text optimization tactics.

Phew, that was a lot to take in! But no worries, we’ll go through all this step by step.

Anchor Text Definition

Anchor text is the clickable text with a hyperlink that acts as a digital bridge between two different web pages.

Ever read an article online? 

Oops, stupid question. You’re reading one right now 🙂

Chances are that while reading an article online, you’ve stumbled upon a phrase that piqued your interest and noticed that it is underlined and highlighted in a different color. Then, you discover that clicking on this text takes you to a completely different webpage where you can read more about the phrase.

And that’s your anchor text right there.

Anchor texts and anchor text optimization usually serve two purposes: improving user experience and SEO. They provide users with context about the linked content and help search engines understand the content and relevance of the linked page.

What is Anchor Text Optimization?

We have now clarified what is anchor text in SEO, so let’s talk about anchor text optimization. 

Anchor text optimization is the process of strategically choosing the clickable text (aka the anchor text) for links within your content.

This is a crucial factor in link building practices and SEO, as the anchor text used in these backlinks can influence how search engines perceive your website and how you rank.

Why is an Anchor Text Important for SEO?

Search engines like Google consider backlinks a vote of confidence for the linked content, and the anchored text is an important part of those backlinks. 

When other websites link to your page using relevant keywords or phrases in the anchor text, it not only affects your anchor text optimization but also signals to search engines that your content is actually valuable and trustworthy. This, in turn, can end up positively impacting your website’s ranking for those exact keywords.

However, there’s a fine line between optimization and manipulation when working with anchor texts.

Over-optimizing your anchor text by stuffing it with the same keyword over and over again on different websites can backfire and ruin your SEO strategies. Search engines are getting smarter by the day and can easily detect unnatural linking patterns in your anchor text optimization, which could lead to penalties and push your website’s rankings down. 

We don’t want this happening now, do we?

For example:

If you’re trying to rank for the keyword “best activewear” over-optimization might look something like this:

“best activewear for men”

“best activewear for women”

“buy best activewear”

“cheap best activewear”

However, if you were to optimize it correctly, it would have a variety of different types of anchor text, such as:

“discover our top-rated activewear picks”

“comfortable activewear by Nike”

While it might seem tempting to stuff keywords into your anchor text, it’s essential to maintain a natural balance and variety.

And this brings us to the importance of leveraging anchor text optimization and maintaining a diverse anchor text profile.

Imagine that every backlink leading to your website had the same anchor text. It might get the message across, but it wouldn’t look very natural to the readers and search engines, right? 

An unnatural anchor text distribution, which relies heavily on the same phrase repeatedly, can raise red flags and potentially harm your SEO efforts. To avoid this, you must conduct an anchor text analysis regularly.

Anchor Text Types In SEO

So, we’ve established the anchor text definition and know the importance of maintaining a healthy anchor text; let’s explore the different types of anchor text that you can use in your anchor text optimization plan to diversify your anchors.

To learn more about this topic, we recommend reading our related post on anchor text types and their influence on SEO.

Exact match

An exact match anchor is basically a clickable phrase that uses the exact keywords you want people to find your webpage for.

Here’s how it works.

You have a webpage about “digital marketing services.”

You want people searching for “digital marketing services” to find your page.

An exact match anchor would be the text “digital marketing services” itself, linked to your webpage.

So, when someone clicks on “digital marketing services”,  they land on your webpage about digital marketing services. It’s the easiest way to clearly show both users and search engines what your webpage is all about.

However, it’s important to leverage anchor text optimization, use a variety of anchor texts, and not overdo exact match anchors. Believe me, repeatedly using the same exact match anchor texts will have consequences and might even get you a penalty from Google, so make sure to avoid this.

Partial match

Think of partial match anchors as the cousins of exact match anchors and play a huge role in anchor text optimization.

If we were to make up a definition for it, it would look something like this:

Partial match anchors are clickable texts that include some but not all of your target keywords.

Sounds a bit complicated, I know, but not to worry, an example will fix it!

Let’s take the same phrase, “digital marketing services”. If your exact target keyword is “digital marketing services,” your partial match anchor might be:

“best digital marketing services for startups”

“digital marketing services in California”

“affordable digital marketing services”

All these options mention “digital marketing services” but add more details to the original phrase, making it more natural and informative. 

Of course, these are just some examples of different variations, so feel free to experiment with others. Just make sure it attracts the readers and is not something too specific or niche. 

You must be able to differentiate between an anchor text that is specific enough for users to find you or one that is too niche, and no one will be using those keywords. To put it into perspective:

“Best SEO Tools for Small Businesses” – this keyword is specific but not sooo specific that it’s unlikely to be searched for or used.

“Python-based Keyword Research Tool for E-commerce Startups” – this one is too specific and gives too much detailed information that users will probably not need. 

Using partial match anchors to ensure healthy anchor text optimization is crucial because they sound more natural in sentences and show search engines that you’re not just keyword stuffing. Thanks to their more detailed descriptions, partial match anchors also help target potential customers even better.

Naked (URLs)

Naked anchors, also called naked URLs, are essentially hyperlinks that skip the fancy wrapping.

Usually, a hyperlink is like a mystery box. The clickable text (aka the anchor text) is the wrapping paper, giving you a hint about what’s inside (aka on the webpage you’re about to visit).

But with naked anchors, the mystery effect is gone, and you see the whole present – the full URL – before you even click on it.

Here’s how they work:

Imagine you have a source listed on your webpage.

Instead of writing “Click here” and adding a hyperlink to the word “here,” you’d simply write the entire web address: “See more at example.com.”

Now, let’s review the pros and cons of using naked anchor texts to improve your anchor text optimization efforts.

Pros:

• Transparency: Users see exactly where they’re going before they click, which can be helpful for citations or formal documents.
• It’s easy to copy and paste, and if someone needs to type in the URL manually, it’s readily available.

Cons:

• Less user-friendly: A long URL can be clunky and completely interrupt the flow of your text.
• Less informative: They give users less context about the linked page’s content.
• Weaker SEO: Search engines get some clues about your page from the anchor text; however, naked anchors don’t provide much information.

So, while naked anchors can be useful in anchor text optimization, they’re generally not the best choice for most website content. 

It’s usually a better and safer option to use descriptive anchor text that helps users and search engines understand your page and keep naked URLs for emails and social media.

Generic

Generic anchor texts are simple phrases like “click here” and “learn more” that do not refer to any keyword at all. 

Here’s what it might look like:

They tell you that there’s something there but don’t give a clue what it actually might be. In the screenshot above, the anchored text is simply “Click Here”, and obviously, if you don’t know the context or at least the rest of the sentence, you will have absolutely no clue what the linked content might be.

While generic anchors might seem okay on the surface, they are not really ideal for a few reasons:

• Uninformative: They don’t help users know what to expect when they click.
• Weak SEO: Search engines get hints about your webpage from the anchor text, and generic anchors don’t provide much.
• Unnatural: A bunch of generic anchors can make your content look spammy.

However, this is not to say that generic anchors are completely useless. In fact, they can be okay in small doses.

For instance, using “click here” for a call to action button is quite alright. The key is to use them sparingly and focus your anchor text optimization efforts on more descriptive anchor texts that benefit both users and search engines.

Branded

A branded anchor text uses the name of a brand or company as the clickable text in the hyperlink.

Here’s a great example of this:

The hyperlinked text simply contains the brand name “Fossil” and nothing else, and in this case, we probably don’t even need any more information.

These types of anchor texts are usually used when linking to homepages and are great for brand recognition. 

They use your exact brand name or sometimes a really close variation of it. For instance, for our SaaS link building agency “SayNine,” the branded anchor text might be “SayNine” or “SayNine’s” and so on.

As we mentioned before, branded anchors are great for brand recognition in anchor text optimization because every time someone sees your brand name as a link, it reinforces your brand in their mind. 
However, remember that more than one type of anchor is needed to ensure a well-rounded SEO strategy, and branded anchors are no exception. This is why it’s really important to use them for anchor text optimization to maintain a diverse backlink profile and avoid being suspicious.

Natural

Natural anchors are essentially the opposite of those generic placeholders we discussed earlier. 

Instead of vague terms, they use words and phrases that flow naturally within your content and accurately represent the content of the linked webpage. They also play an important role in making your anchor text optimization more effective.

You might be thinking, why add anchors that don’t provide much value to your SEO strategy?

Well, you have to keep in mind that your main goal is building a natural backlink profile, which will help you avoid over-optimization.

By incorporating natural anchors, along with the other anchor types, into your anchor text optimization strategies, you’ll make your backlink profile look squeaky clean.

So, make sure to use natural keywords whenever possible without breaking the flow of the content and sounding awkward. 

Here’s what that might look like:

In this screenshot, once you read the paragraph that contains a hyperlink, you’ll see that it flows naturally, and the anchor text does not make your content sound weird. Here’s how I look at it: if the anchor text seems like it was added after the whole thing was written, then it’s not natural.

Why Is It Good to Have a Mix of Anchor Texts?

Search engines, particularly Google, analyze the text surrounding a link, also known as anchor text, to understand the context and relevance of the linked page.

So, when you have a diverse anchor text distribution, you give search engines a clearer picture of your content and increase your chances of having a more natural backlink profile.

By using a good mix of different anchors in your anchor text optimization, you can increase your credibility. Only using one type of anchor might raise suspicions and potentially lead to penalties, while using a varied anchor text ratio demonstrates a more organic link building strategy and enhances your chances of ranking higher. 

Moreover, once you start managing your anchor text distribution, you can target a broader spectrum of relevant keywords, which will help you attract traffic from different search queries.

And, of course, a good diversity of anchor types in anchor text optimization can enhance readability for the users, while overstuffing the same keywords in anchor text can make your content appear spammy and ruin the user experience. 

What is the Ideal Anchor Text Ratio?

As it usually is with these types of questions, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, SEO experts generally recommend a balanced distribution in anchor text optimization strategies focusing on natural language. Let’s see what this might look like:

For branded anchors that include your brand name, its variations, and your website URL, the ideal ratio depends on the type of page you’ll be using it in. For home pages or landing pages, for example, it can be the overwhelming majority, but not for blog pages.

For natural anchors that describe your content but don’t necessarily contain keywords, the important thing is to keep them as natural as possible. I mean, the word “natural” is literally in the term.

Partial match anchors that include the relevant keywords but not the entire phrase of your target keyword can usually make up the majority of your anchor texts but, again, maintain a smooth flow.

There is some debate about the exact match anchor text ratio. Some say it shouldn’t be more than 5%, and others believe it can be up to 10%. Just remember that these anchors directly match your target keywords; using them unnaturally will do you no good.

You can check out these numbers by regularly conducting an anchor text analysis and improving your anchor text optimization strategies based on your research. Also, keep in mind that these numbers refer to inner pages; usually, the home pages and landing pages might have anchor text ratios that are different from what we discussed.

6 Tips to Improve Your Anchor Text

Now that we’ve established what anchor text is in SEO, why good anchor text optimization is so important, and the different types of anchor texts, I’ll say you’re ready to explore our six tips for improving your anchor texts and mastering your SEO strategies.

Use the Right Keywords

Well, this one’s kind of obvious. If you don’t use the right keywords, your whole link building efforts and even your whole SEO strategy are out the window. Keywords are at the core of any successful SEO campaign, so take your time and select them carefully.

Consider factors like Keyword Difficulty and Global Volume to find the most relevant keywords that will work best for you and your anchor text optimization efforts. 

In general, you want your KD to be somewhere around medium and your GV, well, the higher, the better, but I wouldn’t target anything below 1000-1500. Of course, you’re free to go for keywords with higher KDs, as long as your content is good enough, you’ll have the chance to rank even with hard keywords.

As an SEO content writer, anchor texts are a huge part of my job, and identifying the right ones is a must. My favorite tool for this complicated keyword research process is Ahrefs, as it has a huge and precise toolkit containing all the data I need.

Now, let’s take a look at how you can analyze these crucial metrics. 

The following screenshot clearly shows that the keyword “link building services” has really good metrics. The KD is a bit higher than I would prefer, but we shouldn’t rule it out, and the search volume is great.

While including relevant keywords in your anchor text is important, avoid keyword stuffing at all costs. Instead, focus on incorporating natural variations of your target keywords. For instance, if your target keyword is “running shoes,” you could use anchor text like “best running shoes for women” or “waterproof running shoes.”

Create Valuable Content

By using the right anchor text, you’re setting the foundation for readers to visit your page. However, the greatest challenge is yet to come. You have to keep them engaged and make them stay on your website.

How do you do this?

Easy! By creating informative content that genuinely provides value to your readers.

And do that, you need to:

• Identify who your readers are and tailor your content to their needs.
• Define clear goals of what you want to achieve with your content.
• Choose the right format for your content, be it a blog post, a video, or even a podcast.
• Conduct thorough research before writing, use clear and concise language, avoid being too technical, and use visual elements.

Clickbait tactics, where the anchor text promises something the linked content doesn’t deliver,  damage your website’s credibility and user trust and should never be a part of your anchor text optimization. When users consistently find valuable information behind your anchor text links, they’re more likely to click on future links, ultimately improving your website’s traffic and engagement.

And, of course, search engines also prioritize well-structured content that provides a smooth user experience.

Keep the Anchor Text Natural

Your anchor text should read seamlessly within the context of your writing. Avoid clunky phrases or grammatical errors that disrupt the flow of your content. 

Yes, maybe those keywords have better metrics, but is anyone really searching for them? Didn’t think so.

This means that you can’t completely shift your focus to keywords with lower keyword difficulties and higher search volumes. You have to keep the user experience in mind when coming up with anchor text optimization tactics and give it the most importance.  

One pro tip I can give you is reading your content aloud. If the anchor text sounds forced or unnatural, it’s probably best to rephrase it or replace it completely, depending on the level of unnaturalness. 

Aim for clear and concise wording that accurately describes the content on the linked page, and use variations of it to keep your anchor text ratio as natural as possible. Failing to do so will negatively affect your anchor text optimization, and all your hard work will go to waste.

Avoid Over-Optimizing Your Anchor Text

I think we mentioned this more than once in this article that anchor text optimization is good, but over-optimization is also a thing, and it can easily mess up your efforts. This is especially true when it comes to exact match anchors as it’s a clear trigger for spam filters from search engines.

To prevent this from ever happening and maintain a healthy balance, it can be critical to incorporate a variety of anchor text types.

Use long-tail keywords to provide more specific context, use synonyms and related terms to demonstrate a broader understanding of your topic, and even leverage branded anchor text to help you build brand awareness.

By using a mix of anchor text types, you can create a more natural reading experience for users and avoid raising suspicious activity with search engines. Make sure to conduct an anchor text analysis regularly and monitor your anchor text optimization efforts closely.

Maintain the Right Anchor Text Ratio

There’s no magic formula for a perfect anchor text ratio that will work for everyone. 

The best you can do when dealing with anchor text optimization is to try to avoid overusing and underusing your different keywords. 

Overusing certain keywords may result in being flagged as spam and hurt your authority and, therefore, ranking. Underusing means missing opportunities to highlight relevant keywords to search engines.

Go back to the part where we discuss the percentages of different types of anchor texts and try to keep up with those numbers in anchor text optimization. This is not a must, not at all, but having specific percentages in mind might make it easier for you to manage your anchor text ratio.

Try to achieve a good balance of prioritizing user experience and search engine relevance.

Place Anchor Texts in Visible Parts 

The way you place your anchor text in the content can significantly improve its discoverability. 

Here are some things to consider when it comes to placing your anchors.

Although this is not certain, search engines are believed to prioritize the beginning of content to grasp its core topic. Adding relevant anchor text within the first paragraph or two as part of your anchor text optimization gives them a clear roadmap to what this content is all about. 

However, it definitely does not mean that you should dump all your anchor texts at the beginning of an article. Quite the opposite: You should use anchor text distribution naturally and spread it throughout the body of your content to be able to achieve your anchor text optimization goals effectively.

This serves two main purposes:

• It helps the readers discover relevant resources and delve deeper into specific points as they go through the content.
• It helps search engines understand how different content sections relate to each other.

Last but not least, don’t underestimate the power of CTAs! Use anchor text effectively within your call to action.

Here’s one example of this:

The process of placing the anchors is often overlooked, however, it can also play a role in the way you rank, so never ever overlook it.

Conclusion

Let’s sum up everything we’ve learned today:

• Anchor text is the hyperlinked text that leads to a different web page.
• Anchor text ratio is how your anchor text is distributed throughout your backlink profile.
• Anchor texts can be an exact match, partial match, naked, generic, branded, or natural.
• Maintaining a healthy anchor text mix is crucial for anchor text optimization, as it improves the user experience and signals credibility to search engines.
• To improve your anchor text optimization strategies, you must use the right keywords, maintain a natural content flow, avoid over-optimization, maintain the anchor text ratio, and place the anchors correctly.

Well, this brings us to the end! I hope you learned something new today and are ready to conquer the world of anchors!

FAQ about anchor text optimization