How to Optimize Anchor Text and Why It Values More in Rankings

In your online content, how much attention do you give the anchor text? This small but essential component is often over-optimized or treated as an afterthought, both of which weaken its impact on your strategy for search engine optimization (SEO). But it can be a pivotal tool for earning backlinks and growing search rankings with proper attention.

The anchor text is the part of a connection that is accessible to site visitors, also known as a link label or link title. This anchors two positions on the page, your website with the website of the source, so that you can take you from the source to the destination by clicking on it.

By default, when unvisited and underlined and purple when visited, it appears underlined and blue (Source: W3Schools). Nowadays, it is possible to modify and customize the text style and color attributes according to the website design.

This is what an example of an anchor text on the frontend looks like, and below, this is how it looks in code, which is what Google crawlers see:

<a href=”http://www.example.com”>example anchor text</a>

SEO best practices require that the anchor text is important to the page to which you connect. This tells users what they need to expect. "For example, if the label of the link says "What are anchor links? It should lead people to a page that talks about ties between anchors. Link anchor text options are often used by search engine crawlers to understand what the destination pages are about. For meaning, Google refers to them, which, in turn, makes it more efficiently rank pages.

If you want to boost your positioning on search engine results pages, putting in the time and effort to optimize anchor text should be a priority of your SEO strategy (SERPs). For instance, in this post, we share anchor text best practices with you. We teach the basics to you as well, such as:

Types Of Text Anchor

Before you can start optimizing them, there are different types of anchor text that you need to get familiar with. They are:

•  Exact-match anchors- This ensures that the link mark is similar to the keyword of emphasis targeted by the page to which you are connecting. For eg, when the "link building services" anchor directs the reader to a page about link building services, it's an exact match.

• Partial- or phrase anchors -Here, a keyword variance is the link title, which in most cases matches the content more organically compared to exact-match versions. The "backlink packages" variant may replace "link building services" as an anchor, based on the anchor text example above.

• Branded anchors -They refer to hyperlinks which, as the anchor, use a brand name. When we refer and connect to popular companies such as Apple, Facebook, Shopify, etc., we also do this. Unless your brand name happens to be a spammy exact match domain, a branded anchor protects you from Google penalties (EMD). An EMD is a domain name that includes a target keyword that increases the chances of driving traffic to your site, such as sanfranciscoplumbing.com. But then again, it's known as spam.

•  Naked links -It is called a naked link when the URL is used as the anchor text. https://www.thrive.com will be an example of a naked link. Here, Google sees nothing but a connected URL, so there is no useful anchor for a naked connection.

• Generic anchors -"Click here" and "Read more" are two common examples. They mean well, but they don't tell people or machines specifically what to expect from the page they connect to, which is bad for conversion and SEO.

• Images -If an image is linked, Google will refer to the alt text image as the anchor text link. This is another good reason to add a description to your content whenever you insert an image.

How To Write Anchor Text

Gone are the days when web pages got to the top of the SERPs with keyword stuffing. It's about avoiding the exact-match anchor text nowadays. We listed phrase-match and branded anchors as secure bets in the section above. But what is the ideal connection format for the label?

In this, Google remains the authority. With Google algorithm changes in mind, any serious SEO company services , expert or content writer must know how to write anchor text.

According to an article in Search Engine Land citing John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google:

You probably want to concentrate more on stuff like how you can make it easier to your users that if they click on this [anchor text] like this, they can find it.

In other words, make sure you have meaning, prevent over-optimization, and let it flow naturally.

What Is Anchor Text Optimization And How To Do It

Now that you have an understanding of best practices in the anchor text, let's break them down to practical measures. You can optimize anchor text and boost your output on the SERPs with emphasis and intention.

But first: What is optimization of anchor text or SEO of anchor text? Throughout this post, we have talked about how your link anchor text will influence your search ranking indirectly. To ensure that it will lead to positive results, optimization strengthens this element.

Thrive's link building specialist, Addison Phuong, said these are the things you can do to optimize anchor text:

"Keep the anchor text natural to your content and relevant to it."

It can be detrimental to have hyperlinks that sound awkward. Instead of appealing to them, they will make the reader cautious about clicking.

"Over-optimization avoided."

Forcing a focus keyword as your link anchor text several times over, can look suspicious to Google with each version pointing to one of your sites. You can be hit with a penalty by the search giant, which adversely affects your page ranking.

"Do not link to any spam sites."

Based on backlinks or confidence votes coming from other websites, Google rates web pages. You can, in principle, earn links from any site or pass on link juice. But to avoid getting penalized, it's best to deal with a reputable platform.

"Place anchors where they can be easily seen by users."

A good example of an anchor text will be one that is put where busy individuals are more likely to see them immediately. To improve users' chances of clicking on them, place your link text near headings, subheadings, photos and the end of paragraphs.

"Link to websites that go deep or are associated with the subject."

For SEO anchor text purposes, the reader should be guided to a deeper understanding of the subject at hand. So, apart from being important, the destination page should not simply repeat the source page's information.

Conclusion

In improving your search visibility, we have addressed the vital role that anchor text SEO plays. We discussed many topics, including the types of anchor text and how to apply them to understanding the relationship between anchor text-link building and anchor text, internal links and SEO dynamics. Your anchor text should begin to support you with your on-page SEO and improve your exposure with these suggestions in hand.

It should not be overwhelming to get started with SEO Anchor Text, but it takes a deliberate effort to put everything into effect. This deliberate approach counts towards a robust SEO in digital marketing services, showing that in the smallest specifics, success can be found.