Posted on January 17, 2023

Anchor Text Meaning Explained: How to Use it for Improved SEO and Higher Search Engine Rankings

The anchor text meaning is the clickable text in a hyperlink. For optimal SEO, it is important to ensure that the anchor text used in links is relevant to the page it is linking to, not generic text. Anchor text often underlined and in blue, is a key signal for search engines to understand the topic of a web page. It is also possible to change the color and underline through HTML code.

Anchor text is one of the important aspects of a site. This one text is clickable and will direct visitors to another site or page.

In the world of content marketing, anchor text is something that you cannot escape from creating content. Why?

In this article, We will explain various things related to anchor text. If you are curious, come on, read this article until finish!

What is Anchor Text Meaning?

Anchor text is a series of text that is hyperlinked to a URL. So when you click on the text, the browser will redirect to the web page from that URL.

Another term for this is a label link or title link .

You can see an example of anchor text from the image below.

Have you ever read an article on a site and found that there is one word that has a different color? Then when you click on the word, another site or page opens.

If so, that’s what is called anchor text meaning.

Reporting from Alexa, anchor text is words that can be clicked and hyperlinked with other links. By clicking on the word, you will be greeted with a specific page or document.

Some people refer to anchor text as a link label or link title.

Usually, anchor text is marked with a different color, such as blue. There are also those who use underlines or underscores to mark anchor text.

Then, what is the function of anchor text?

In principle, the function of anchor text is to give context to a  hyperlink. The text gives an idea to the user where the hyperlink will lead.

In addition, label links will make web content more readable.

Just imagine if in a piece of content, the hyperlink is “naked” with the full URL. You must be bothered.

Referring to the function, you must ensure that the label links and hyperlinks are relevant.

For example, if the label link says “benefit of backlink”, the hyperlink must point to a web page that provides an explanation of benefit of backlink.

Not only helping users, label links also help search engines understand the context of the specific content or a website more broadly.

That is, the link label sufficiently affects SEO.

Search engines always run indexing to categorize online assets. These assets will later become recommendations for user searches. If the user ‘s keywords are relevant to a website, the web page will appear in the SERP.

Well, link labels are one of the elements to assess the relevance of web pages. In other words, search engines use these elements to categorize them and adapt them to the topic that the user is looking for.

This applies both to internal links and backlinks. That is, it is an important element when you run link building.

However, it doesn’t work that simply. The reason is, SEO consists of many aspects and link labels are only one of many other aspects.

You can optimize label links for SEO. But before that, you must first identify the types.

Types of Anchor Text

Here are some tips for making anchor text .

Exact Match Anchor Text

Anchor Text, also known as link label or link title, is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. These words play an important role in determining the ranking of pages by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Anchor Text links are often underlined and blue, but can be styled differently through HTML code. Bare URLs or Anchor Text URLs, which have no visible text, are also common on the web. The proper use of anchor text can help the linked page rank for specific keywords in search engines.

The exact match anchor text has the same keywords highlighted as the targeted keywords of the web page.

Variation of Anchor Text

When a website aggressively builds the exact same Anchor Text links, Google’s spam filter is triggered. It’s not natural for the web pages that link to your website to all have the exact same Anchor Text. A slight variation of Anchor Text is natural, as is the case for most internet links which are plain URLs.

Anchor Text Manipulation

As a result of signaling search engines for relevance, it is possible to over-optimize your Anchor Text links.

Targeted Anchor Text

Link builders, or SEOs who specialize in building links to websites, often control the anchor text of the links they create from other websites. This Anchor Text is targeted – the keyword in the Anchor Text will get match the targeted keyword of the page the SEO is trying to rank for.

Tips for Making Anchor Text

Here are some tips for making anchor text .

1. Branded

One of the most widely used types of anchor text is branded.

As the name implies, branded anchor text is text that mentions the name of a brand and a hyperlink leads to the brand ‘s official website .

Example: I made backlink using Stalinks Backlink Builder

2. Naked URLs

Naked URLs are a type of anchor text that is written exactly the same as the site’s link . However, writing naked URLs is less user-friendly than other types of anchor text .

Example: Visit Stalinks.com to find your best backlins!

3. Exact matches

The next type of anchor text is exact match.

Exact match is text that is made exactly the same as the keywords used.

Example: You use the keyword “learn digital marketing ”. Then “learn digital marketing” as well as the anchor text .

4. Partial matches

Partial match is text that contains keywords and other additional words.

For example, if you want to rank for the keyword “learn digital marketing”, you can use the anchor text “digital marketing study tips” in your links..

5. Generics

Different from other types of anchor text, generic does not hyperlink to sites or pages that can increase the reader’s knowledge about the site.

Generic mentions something simple and broad.

Example: Click here for more information!

6. Images

Apart from being in text form, you can use anchor text in the form of images or pictures.

How can an image be an anchor text ? Easy, really!

You only need to change the alt text of the image according to the anchor text you want. Thus, Google will read the alt text of the image.

If you don’t enter alt text, the photo will read as no text.

Example: alt text on your photo you write “best stalink backlink builder ”

Make anchor text with scripts

If you do not use a CMS, anchor text can be created by inserting a script on your website. The following is an example of an anchor text script based on its type.

• Branded text

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/”>Stalinks</a>

• Naked anchor text

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/blog/”>https://www.stalinks.com/blog/</a>

• Exact match

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/blog/”>blog</a>

• Partial match

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/link-builder/”>stalinks backlink builder</a>

• Generic anchor

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/blog/”>read here</a>

• Image

<a href=”https://www.stalinks.com/guest-posting/”>alt image guest posting</a>

Anchor Text Overuse & Manipulation

If you use many keywords in your anchor text, it can be seen as over-optimization and can negatively impact your website’s search engine rankings.

Strategic Targeted Anchor Text

Link builders, or SEO professionals who specialize in building links to a website, often choose the anchor text used in links they build from other websites. These anchor texts are chosen strategically, with the keywords in the anchor text matching the targeted keywords of the page they want to improve the ranking of.

Anchor Text Backlink

A backlink is a link came from another website. The backlink anchor text is the text used in the link that other websites use when linking to your website. The anchor text of these backlinks helps search engines determine the most relevant keywords for a web page to rank for.

Backlinks: One-Way Anchor Text

Website A links to website B with anchor texts backlink and website B does’t link back to website A, then it is called a one-way anchor text backlink. One-way anchor text backlinks occur when website A links to website B with an anchor text, but website B does not link back to website A. This type of backlink is highly valued by SEOs as it allows the transfer of PageRank from one website to another. It is believed that the more one-way anchor text backlinks a website has from high PageRank sites, the higher it will rank in search engines.

Excessive Anchor Text

Just like overusing keywords, you can also have too much anchor text on a page. When a page has an excessive amount of keywords linking to multiple pages within the same website or all to the same page but with different anchor texts, it is considered excessive anchor text. This can lead to Google penalties as it is seen as a spammy and user-unfriendly practice.

Anchor Text Balance

Because link builders are actively building links to their website with targeted anchor text, certain keywords will have a higher percentage of a page’s overall anchor text distribution.

Spam Anchor Text

A spam anchor text is a link with text that has no relationship to the page it exists on or the page it is linking to. Spam anchor texts are a common tactic used in black hat SEO to temporarily rank for competitive keywords or to harm a competitor’s website or individual through negative SEO and Google bombing.