Why Is Link Anchor Text Important?

Well-written link anchor text improves SEO and boosts a website’s user experience (UX).

First, there are 9 types of Anchor Text:

1. Branded: Use a brand name as your link’s anchor text. (Example: Amazon.com)

2. Compound: Use a brand name as your link’s anchor text, plus some additional words for context. (Example: Apple’s New iPhone Air)

3. Exact Match: Exact Match anchor text (sometimes called “money” anchor text) is when the link anchor text matches the exact keyword the linked page is targeting. (Example: both the page keyword and the anchor text are “Best LMS Plugin For WordPress”)

4. Partial Match: Partial Match anchor text is when the link anchor uses part of the keyword the linked page is targeting. (Example: the page keyword is “Best LMS Plugin For WordPress” and the anchor text is “Best LMS Plugin”)

5. Related: Related anchor text uses a related term or synonym instead of the keyword the linked page is targeting. (Example: the page keyword is “schema markup” and the anchor text is “structured data”)

6. Naked: Naked anchor text uses the link’s exact URL as the anchor text. (Example: domain.com/services)

7. Generic: Generic anchor text uses non-descriptive words or phrases that don’t tell users (or search engines) about what they’ll find by following the link. (Examples: “Click here” or “More info”)

8. Image: Use an image for a link. The image alternative text (alt text) is used as the link’s anchor text.

9. Post or Page Title: Use the exact title of a page/post for the link anchor text. It’s simple and makes it clear to users and search engines what the linked content is about.

A link’s anchor text tells a search engine what a link is about (the topic of the content).

Here’s my 4-part recipe for writing link anchor text:

1. Make links natural.
2. Keep Links short. (5 words or less)
3. Be descriptive.
4. Make links underlined and/or highlighted in a different color.

Search engines and users rely on links to understand the relationship between different pages.

Search engines view links from one site to another as endorsements.

A little time spent crafting anchor text for your links has big SEO and UX benefits for your website.

Cheers!