Anchor Text

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

Why anchor text matters

• Relevance signal: anchor text tells Google how other pages describe the target page. Many links using “SEO audit” towards a page reinforce that it is about SEO audits.
• User expectations: good anchors tell visitors what they will find before they click.
• Accessibility: screen reader users often browse lists of links, so “click here” repeated twenty times is useless to them.

Types of anchor text

• Exact match: the target keyword exactly, such as “SEO audit”.
• Partial match: the keyword with other words, such as “how to run an SEO audit”.
• Branded: the brand name, such as “Paul Hoda”.
• Naked URL: the address itself, such as paulhoda.uk.
• Generic: “click here”, “read more”, “this website”.
• Image anchors: for linked images, the Alt Text acts as the anchor text.
• Related or descriptive: words describing the topic without the exact keyword, such as “checking a website for problems”.

Anchor text for internal links

For Internal Linking, you control the anchors, so use them well:

1. Use descriptive anchors that match the target page’s main topic.
2. Keep anchors close to the target’s keyword, without adding unrelated words from the linking page.
3. Vary the wording naturally across the site, while keeping it accurate.
4. Avoid using the same anchor for two different pages, which confuses relevance and can cause Keyword Cannibalisation.
5. Avoid generic anchors such as “click here” for important links.

Google is generally tolerant of exact-match internal anchors, as long as they are natural and helpful.

Anchor text for backlinks

For external links, anchor text is a much more sensitive signal. A natural backlink profile contains mostly branded, naked URL and descriptive anchors, with a smaller share of exact-match keywords. A profile dominated by exact-match commercial anchors, such as hundreds of links saying “cheap SEO London”, is a classic sign of manipulative Link Building and can trigger link spam systems or manual actions.

You usually cannot control the anchors other sites use, and you should not try to dictate exact-match anchors in guest posts or outreach.

Context around the anchor

Google also looks at the words around a link, not only the anchor itself. A link with a generic anchor in a paragraph clearly about a topic still carries relevance. This is one reason contextual links in body text are more valuable than links in footers or sidebars.

How to review your anchor text

• Use an SEO crawler to export internal anchors and spot generic, empty or duplicate anchors pointing to different pages.
• Use a backlink tool to see the distribution of external anchors, and watch for sudden spikes in exact-match anchors that may signal negative SEO or Toxic Backlinks.
• Check that each important page receives links with anchors that reflect its main keyword.

Key Takeaways

• Anchor text is the clickable text of a link.
• Descriptive internal anchors help Google understand target pages.
• Natural backlink profiles are mostly branded and descriptive.
• Too many exact-match commercial anchors look manipulative.
• Do not use the same anchor for two different pages.

Related Terms

• Internal Linking
• Backlinks
• Link Building
• Black Hat SEO
• Link Equity

Wondering what to fix first on your site? Get a free check of your site’s SEO, or keep learning in the SEO Encyclopedia.