What Is Anchor Text? Types, Examples & SEO Best Practices

You link to your best pages every day, but the words you wrap those links in are usually an afterthought. “Click here.” “Read more.” “This page.” Each one is a wasted signal. Google reads the words inside a link to work out what the page on the other end is about, so vague link text tells it nothing and quietly caps how well those pages can rank. The fix costs nothing and takes seconds. This guide covers what anchor text is, the main types, how to write it well, and how to check what already points at your site.

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is the visible, clickable words in a hyperlink. It is the part a reader actually sees and clicks, usually shown in a different colour and often underlined, while the destination web address stays hidden in the code. You will also see it called link text or a link label. They all carry the same meaning, so the anchor text definition rarely trips people up. What varies is how well it gets used.

Those few words do real work. They tell readers where a link goes before they click, and they give search engines context about the page on the other end. Google treats links as a signal for how relevant a page is, and uses them to find new pages to crawl, so the words you choose feed straight into how search engines make sense of your site.

What does anchor text look like?

To a reader, anchor text is the coloured, underlined phrase inside a sentence. Hover over it and your browser shows the destination address, usually in a corner of the screen. Click it and you travel to that page.

In the code, the anchor text sits between the opening and closing tags of an HTML anchor element. The <a> element and its href attribute create the hyperlink, and the words between the tags are the anchor text:

<a href="https://example.com/seo-guide">beginner's guide to SEO</a>

Here, https://example.com/seo-guide is the destination and beginner’s guide to SEO is the anchor text. A reader sees only the anchor text. Both people and search engines lean on those four words to guess what sits behind the link.

Anchor text vs related terms

A few words get used interchangeably around this topic, and one of them means something completely different. Here is how they line up.

Anchor text vs hyperlink

The hyperlink is the whole clickable element: the anchor text you see plus the destination address hidden in the code. The anchor text is only the visible words. So every anchor text is part of a hyperlink, but the hyperlink also carries the URL you never see on the page.

Anchor text vs link text vs link label

These three are the same thing. “Link text” and “link label” are just alternative names for anchor text. If a plugin or a colleague uses one term over another, they are pointing at the same clickable words.

Anchor text in education (a different meaning)

Search for anchor text and you may run into a teaching definition that has nothing to do with SEO. In literacy instruction, an “anchor text” is the main book or passage a lesson is built around, often paired with an anchor chart on the wall. That is a separate idea from the web link text this guide covers, so keep the two apart if you work in both worlds.

Why does anchor text matter for SEO?

Anchor text SEO is a small ranking signal that most people leave on the table. Good anchor text for SEO shapes how search engines read your links, how authority moves around your site, and how easily readers find their way. If you run SEO services or manage your own site, these are the four reasons it earns attention.

It helps search engines understand the linked page

When a link uses descriptive anchor text, it tells the search engine what the destination page is about. Google says good anchor text is descriptive, concise and relevant to both the page it sits on and the page it points to. A link that reads “anchor text best practices” gives far more context than one that reads “this article.”

It passes link equity (ranking power)

Links pass ranking signals, sometimes called link equity or “link juice,” from one page to another. A relevant anchor on a link from a trusted page can lift the authority of the page it points to. The clearer the anchor, the more useful that signal is, because it ties the ranking value to a specific topic rather than a vague “click here.”

It shapes user experience and accessibility

Descriptive anchors help everyone, but they matter most for people using screen readers. Assistive software can pull up a list of every link on a page, and a list full of “read more” entries is useless. Google itself flags “click here” style links as a common mistake for exactly this reason. Clear anchors let readers decide whether a link is worth following before they click.

Anchor text diversity keeps your link profile natural

The mix of anchors pointing at your pages should look like something real people wrote. A healthy profile blends branded anchors, partial matches, plain URLs and the odd generic phrase. When almost every inbound link uses the same exact-match keyword, it stops looking natural, which is where the next few sections come in.

Types of anchor text (with examples)

Most anchors fall into one of nine types. You will use several of them on any given page, often without thinking about it. Here is each type with anchor text examples you can recognise straight away.

Branded

Uses a brand or website name as the anchor. Example: a link that reads Roots Digital pointing to the homepage.

Brand + keyword (compound)

Combines the brand with a descriptive term. Example: Roots Digital SEO services.

Exact-match

The anchor is the exact keyword the target page targets. Example: anchor text guide linking to a page about anchor text guides. Powerful, but easy to overuse.

Partial-match

A variation of the target keyword with extra words around it. Example: this guide to writing anchor text.

Related / LSI

A phrase related to the target topic without matching the keyword. Example: on-page SEO basics linking to a broader SEO page.

Naked URL

The raw web address used as the anchor. Example: https://glutenfreepleasure.com/__proxy_domain/www.rootsdigital.com.sg.

Generic (“click here”)

Vague phrases like “click here,” “read more” or “this page.” They give no context and are best avoided.

Image (alt text as anchor)

When an image is the link, the search engine treats the image’s alt text as the anchor. Write descriptive alt text so linked images still carry meaning.

Page-title / article-title

The full title of the destination page used as the anchor. Common, natural, and clear about where the link goes.

Google confirms the image case directly: where an image is a link, it uses the alt text as the anchor text, so descriptive alt attributes matter as much as the words in a text link.

What does a healthy anchor text distribution look like?

Your “anchor text profile” is the overall mix of anchors pointing at a page. There is no official ratio, and Google has never published one, so treat any percentage as a rough guide rather than a rule. The goal is simply a spread that looks like real people linking, not a single keyword repeated hundreds of times.

As an illustration only, a natural-looking inbound profile might lean heavily on branded and URL anchors, with exact-match kept small:

Note the figures are illustrative, not targets to hit. The safer habit is to write descriptive anchors and let the mix stay varied, rather than chasing a specific percentage.

How to write good anchor text

Good anchor text reads naturally and still tells the reader where the link goes. Six habits cover most of it.

Keep it succinct

Aim for a few words or a short phrase, not a whole sentence. There is no strict character limit, but shorter anchors are easier to scan and clearer about their destination.

Make it descriptive and relevant to the target page

The anchor should describe the page it links to. A quick test: read the anchor on its own. If you cannot tell what the linked page is about, rewrite it.

Keep it natural in the sentence

The anchor should fit the sentence it lives in. If you have to bend a sentence awkwardly to fit a keyword, the keyword is winning over the reader, and that is the wrong way round.

Avoid generic phrases like “click here”

“Click here” and “read more” give search engines and screen-reader users nothing to work with. Google lists this as a common mistake in its link best practices. Swap them for a few words that describe the destination.

Vary your phrasing

Do not point every internal link at a page with the identical anchor. Mixing exact matches, partial matches and branded phrases keeps the profile natural and avoids the over-optimisation Google watches for.

Don’t mislead the reader about the destination

The anchor must match what the reader lands on. An anchor that promises one thing and delivers another erodes trust and can look manipulative to search engines.

Anchor text and internal vs external links

The advice above applies everywhere, but your control over the anchor changes depending on whether the link is yours.

Internal links: you control the anchor

You write every internal link on your own site, so you choose every anchor. Use that control to guide readers and to signal what each page is about, while keeping the phrasing varied. If you are not sure what anchors already point around your site, an SEO audit is the quickest way to see the full picture.

External / inbound links: you influence, not control

You cannot dictate how other sites link to you. You can influence it through outreach, digital PR and a memorable brand, but the anchor is ultimately their choice. That is exactly why forcing exact-match anchors on inbound links is risky: a run of identical commercial anchors from other sites is one of the clearest signs of a link scheme. The same care applies to local SEO citations, where a natural spread of branded and URL anchors looks far healthier.

Anchor text spam and over-optimisation (what to avoid)

Anchor text used to be easy to game, so Google built defences against it. The Penguin system, which launched in 2012 and now runs inside Google’s core algorithm, targets manipulative link building. Four patterns cause most of the trouble, and Google’s spam policies name them directly.

Over-using exact-match keywords

When a large share of links use the exact same keyword anchor, it looks coordinated rather than earned. This is the single most common trigger. Vary the phrasing so no single exact-match anchor dominates.

Keyword-stuffed anchors

Cramming several keywords into one anchor, such as “best cheapest fastest SEO agency Singapore,” reads as spam to both people and search engines. Keep anchors to a natural phrase.

Irrelevant anchors (anchor–page mismatch)

An anchor that has nothing to do with the page it points to confuses everyone. If the anchor says “office furniture” and the page is about SEO, that mismatch is a red flag.

Paid or manipulative link anchors

Google’s spam policies specifically call out optimised anchor text in paid articles, guest posts and press releases distributed across other sites. If a link is paid or sponsored, tag it correctly rather than trying to pass ranking credit through a keyword-rich anchor.

How to add anchor text across platforms

Adding anchor text means selecting some words and attaching a link to them. Almost every editor does this the same way: highlight the text, open the link tool, paste the address. Here is how it works across the tools you are most likely to use.

WordPress

WordPress handles anchor text in the block editor, and SEO plugins add a few extra checks on top.

Using the block editor

Highlight the words you want to link, click the link icon in the toolbar (or press Ctrl+K, or Cmd+K on Mac), paste or search for the destination, then press enter. The highlighted words become your anchor text.

Using Yoast or RankMath

The link step is the same. What these plugins add is guidance: they flag things like links that compete with each other on the same page, so you can keep your internal anchors clean.

Shopify

In the Shopify rich text editor, highlight the text, click the insert-link button, add the destination URL and apply. The same rules apply to product and collection pages, which matters if you are working on Shopify SEO.

Wix

Highlight the text in the editor, click the link icon, choose “web address,” paste the URL and save. Wix keeps the anchor text as whatever words you had selected.

Squarespace

Select the text in a text block, click the link icon in the formatting bar, paste the URL or search for an internal page, then save. The selected words become the anchor.

Webflow

Highlight the text inside a rich text element, click the link icon, and add the URL or pick an internal page. Webflow applies the link to the selected words.

Google Docs

Select the text, press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac), paste the URL or search for a document, then press enter. Docs turns the selected words into the anchor text.

Microsoft Word

Select the words you want to link, then press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog. Type or paste the address, and use the “Text to display” field if you want the visible anchor to differ from the address. Microsoft’s own tip is that link text should describe the destination, which is the same rule as on the web.

Plain HTML

If you are hand-coding a page, wrap your anchor text in an anchor element with an href attribute:

<a href="https://example.com">your anchor text here</a>

How to check and audit your anchor text profile

Checking your anchor text means looking at two things: the anchors you use on your own pages, and the anchors other sites use to link to you.

For your own internal links, your CMS is enough. Open a page and read each link’s anchor on its own. Anything vague (“read more,” “here”) is worth rewriting.

For inbound links, you need a backlink tool. Most SEO platforms have an anchor text report that shows the anchors pointing at your domain or a single page, along with how often each appears. When you review it, look for three things:

• A distribution that leans branded and varied, not one exact-match phrase repeated over and over.
• Over-optimised anchors, where a single commercial keyword dominates the inbound links.
• Spammy or irrelevant anchors from low-quality sites, which may need disavowing.

If you would rather have someone do this properly, an SEO audit covers the anchor profile alongside the rest of your link health.

How anchor text affects AI search and AI Overviews

Search is no longer just ten blue links. AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity now answer many queries directly, and they read your pages to do it. Descriptive anchor text helps here too.

These systems use the words around and inside a link to understand how your pages relate to each other. Clear, descriptive anchors make those relationships easier to follow, which can improve how often your pages get pulled into an AI answer. Vague anchors throw that context away. If AI visibility is a priority, our AI SEO services treat descriptive linking as part of the groundwork, not an afterthought.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Anchor text is one of the smallest changes with one of the best returns in SEO. Write anchors that describe where the link goes, keep the mix varied, and skip the “click here” habit, and you help readers, search engines and AI answers all at once. Start with the links on your most important pages, and if you want a second pair of eyes on your link profile, our SEO services can take a look.