Quick answer: Anchor text is the visible, clickable wording of a hyperlink. Write it so a person can tell what they will get before they click. Prefer natural phrases that describe the page, use target keywords where they fit without stuffing, vary the wording across your site, and avoid vague labels like “click here” or long strings of exact-match keywords. Treat internal links and outbound links with the same honesty: the text should match the destination.
Anchor text looks like a small detail. In practice it shapes how people navigate your site and how search engines understand relationships between pages. Poor anchor text wastes clicks and muddies relevance. Clear anchor text helps visitors find the right page and helps Google connect topics.
This guide covers what good anchor text looks like in 2018, how to handle internal versus external links, and the mistakes that still show up in site audits.
What anchor text is
When you write a link in HTML, the text between the opening and closing <a> tags is the anchor text:
<a href="https://example.com/local-seo-checklist/">local SEO checklist</a>
The visitor sees “local SEO checklist”. Search engines use that phrase, along with the destination URL and surrounding copy, as a signal about the linked page.
Image links are different. If the clickable element is an image, the alt attribute often acts as the effective anchor text. Empty alt on linked images is a missed opportunity and an accessibility problem.
Types of anchor text you will see
Not every link needs a keyword-rich phrase. A healthy mix looks like this:
- Exact match: the anchor is the target keyword (for example, “anchor text”). Useful in small doses on internal links when it reads naturally.
- Partial match: the keyword sits inside a longer phrase (“best practices for anchor text”).
- Branded: your company or product name.
- Naked URL: the raw URL as the clickable text. Fine in citations and references; awkward in body copy.
- Generic: “click here”, “read more”, “this page”. These tell the user almost nothing.
- Image: alt text on a linked image.
For most editorial and service content, partial match and descriptive phrases work best. Exact match has a place on carefully planned internal links. Generic anchors should be rare in the main content.
Why search engines care
Google has used anchor text as a ranking signal for a long time. Links with descriptive anchors help it understand what a page is about, especially when many different sites point to that page with similar wording.
That history also created abuse. Years of exact-match keyword spam in backlinks led to filters and manual actions. In 2018, unnatural outbound or inbound anchor patterns can still hurt. The safe approach is simple: write anchors for humans first. If the wording would sound odd spoken aloud, rewrite it.
Internal links matter too. Google crawls your site by following links. Descriptive internal anchors help it map your topic clusters and send users to the strongest page for a query. Vague “learn more” links buried in sidebars do less work.
Best practices for internal links
Internal linking is under your control, so you can set a high standard.
Describe the destination. Prefer “how to fix crawl errors in Search Console” over “this article”. The reader and the crawler both benefit.
Match the page you are linking to. If you send someone to a pagination SEO guide, say so. Do not use “technical SEO checklist” as the anchor if the page is only about pagination.
Use keywords when they fit. Including the primary topic of the target page in some internal anchors is normal and helpful. Do not force the same exact phrase into every link to that URL.
Vary the phrasing. If ten pages link to your local SEO guide, use a few natural variants rather than identical copy-paste anchors.
Link from relevant context. An anchor in a paragraph about maps rankings is more useful than the same link in an unrelated footer block.
Keep the clickable phrase short enough to scan. A full sentence as a link is hard to read. A few words or a short clause is usually enough.
Fix navigation and breadcrumbs separately. Menu labels and breadcrumb trails are anchors too. Clear labels (“Services”, “Blog”, product names) beat clever but opaque wording.
For broader crawl and structure issues, our notes on crawl errors and pagination sit alongside this topic.
Best practices for external (outbound) links
Linking out to other sites is normal in useful content. Cite sources, point to documentation, and credit tools you mention.
- Use honest anchors that name the resource (“Google Search Console Help” rather than “click here”).
- Link to pages you have checked. Broken or redirected destinations frustrate readers.
- Do not stuff commercial keywords into outbound anchors hoping to manipulate anything. That pattern looks spammy and helps nobody.
- If you are an affiliate or receive compensation, follow disclosure rules that apply in your market. The anchor itself should still describe the destination.
- Open important references in a way that fits your UX policy. Whether links open in a new tab is a product choice; consistency matters more than dogma.
Inbound links (backlinks) to your site are not something you fully control. You can influence them by publishing clear titles and by suggesting natural anchor wording when partners ask how to credit you. Asking every site to use the same exact-match keyword as the anchor is a red flag in link schemes. Prefer your brand name or a descriptive title.
Over-optimisation and other mistakes
These patterns show up often in audits:
- Every internal link uses the same exact-match keyword. It looks engineered and reads poorly.
- “Click here” as the only cue. Screen reader users and skimmers get no context.
- Anchors that do not match the destination. Promising a checklist and landing on a sales page damages trust and confuses crawlers.
- Keyword stuffing inside the anchor. “Best cheap London SEO agency services UK” is not how people write.
- Hidden or tiny links. CSS tricks that hide links or make them unreadable are against guidelines and bad for users.
- Sitewide exact-match footer links. Dozens of pages linking with the same commercial phrase in the footer is a classic over-optimisation pattern.
- Empty or missing alt on linked images. Especially in logos and card layouts.
How to audit anchor text on your site
A practical audit for a mid-sized site:
- Crawl the site with Screaming Frog or a similar crawler and export internal links.
- Review the most common anchor phrases. Look for repetition of exact-match commercial terms.
- Sample pages in your money categories and check whether in-body links describe the destination.
- Search for “click here”, “read more” and “learn more” in templates. Improve the ones in main content; template “Read more” after an excerpt is less ideal but common, so improve where you can by including the post title in the link.
- Check image links for missing alt text.
- Spot-check outbound links in older posts for broken URLs and vague anchors.
You do not need perfect uniqueness on every link. You need clarity and a natural mix.
Writing anchors in day-to-day publishing
When you draft a post or a service page:
- Add internal links while you write, not only at the end.
- Prefer linking key phrases that already appear in the sentence over bolting on a separate “click here”.
- After editing, read the page aloud. If a linked phrase sounds forced, change it.
- In WordPress (classic editor or the newer block editor), select the phrase first, then insert the link, so you do not accidentally link a whole paragraph.
FAQ
Is exact-match anchor text bad?
No. Exact match is fine when it is accurate and used in moderation, especially on internal links. Problems start when almost every link to a page uses the same commercial phrase, or when that pattern is engineered across many sites pointing to you.
Should I use nofollow on outbound links?
Use nofollow when the link is sponsored, user-generated in a way you do not vouch for, or otherwise should not pass a ranking signal under Google’s guidelines. Ordinary editorial citations to useful resources are normally left as regular links.
How many internal links should a page have?
Enough to help the reader, not so many that the page becomes a web of distractions. Quality and relevance beat a fixed number.
Do menu labels count as anchor text?
Yes. Navigation and footer links are crawled and associated with their destinations. Keep them clear and consistent.
Clear links help people and search
Anchor text is one of the simplest parts of on-page SEO to improve. Describe the destination, keep wording natural, vary internal phrases, and clean up generic or stuffed anchors when you find them. The result is a site that is easier to navigate and easier for search engines to interpret.
If you want help reviewing internal links and on-page signals across the site, our search visibility service includes crawl and content structure checks that cover anchor text, internal linking and related technical issues.
