Anchor Text in a nutshell

Linking is still one of the most important activities in the positioning process. You can’t skip this step if you want to maintain, or increase, positions for your key phrases.
Skillfully carried out linking is a hint for the algorithm, how should qualify the theme of linked pages, and indicates what keywords should be displayed. This can be done by proper selection and optimization of „anchors”, means anchors texts.

Wrong chosen or not optimized anchor texts may harm the website, so you should learn the secrets of choosing the right keywords. During the development of anchors we can use many interesting options. But let’s start with explaining what anchor text is.

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is usually a small piece of text which, when clicked, takes us to the landing page In other words, it is a visible part of the link, which succinctly describes its contents. Usually also clearly distinguished from the rest of the text color. (Remember that hiding links using visual assimilation links to the rest of the content on the site is a side effect).

<a href=”example-site.com”>Anchor Text</a>

Types of anchor texts

The exact and partially-matched keyword

One of the more frequently chosen options is linking to a keyword, whether in exact match mode (watchmaker Wrocław),as well as in partial matching mode (good watchmaker Wrocław ) . Use them in moderation and use the keywords approprately during used linking. The Google algorithm has long been penalizing the consistent lack of creativity in this topic – a hundred links anchored to the phrase watchmaker Wrocław will not benefit us. It is better to get one such link in a good place than a dozen or so of the same. Let’s bet on quality, and we’ll get more on that.

A perfect distinction for exact matches will also be partial matches. We can do it in two ways. The first way is to use long tail phrases that will blur the keyword on which we ultimately care.

good watchmaker Wroclaw , watchmaker Wrocław reviews

The second method is to use part of the adjoining text that will describe our link well. Let’s remember about the anchor retention – let’s try not to cover the return that does not fit our subject matter.

If you want to know our prices, with please check our watch store offer . </blockquote >

Brand name

In the anchor content we can also insert the name of our brand. This is beneficial for several reasons. One of them may be an increase in the awareness of our brand, if we choose the right place for leaving such a link.

URL

The next way is linking to the URL. Such links look natural. Typically, online store customers share their opinions about products by linking them directly to the URL. We can use this fact, but use it in moderation, especially if the positioned website is a store, or a blog posting interesting and relevant articles.

Generic anchor text

These are all general phrases that do not indicate the subject of the page, but encourage you to click, e.g. click here , read more . While in the case of a blog, the use of anchor read more is completely justified, in the linking of the website on external sites it can cause problems. First of all, it breaks the most important rule about anchor accuracy. The generic anchor does not indicate the right subject for either the user or the algorithm. It is best to avoid this kind of anchor.

Most common errors

The most common error in the anchor optimization of texts is … they are not optimized. Generic, or repetitive, often closely matched anchors linking to the same subpage will not bring us much good.

Another mistake can also be persistent use of one type of anchor – the link profile does not look natural if we link only to keywords. In addition, Google may consider such behavior to be spammy and limit the visibility of a given subpage or impose a penalty for the entire website.

Good practices

A good anchor is concise and thematically related to the content of the subpage to which we link.

& lt; a href = "https://domain.pl/bike-tires" & gt; bike tires & lt; / a & gt;

Without these two principles, one can not talk about the good optimization of anchors. Linking bike tires to the word tires is too general – the algorithm does not know whether it is bike tires or maybe car tires? It is better to specify the word: bike tires , so that the theme of the linked subpage is clearly indicated.

Let’s also make sure that the link is attractive to the user. Let’s use phrases for the reader, for example: See women’s shoes offer . Do not forget that each link should be surrounded by valuable content for the user. Anchors should be maximally attractive as well. Do not forget that a properly optimized link is also a chance to increase valuable traffic.

The relevance of the link is now very important, which includes more than just the thematic compatibility of the anchor with the linked page. What counts is also the relationship of the page from which we link to the landing page. As already mentioned by me in the Link Builder article thematic compatibility between the landing pages and pages from which the link comes out is very important. The Google algorithm draws attention to the context of the links and ignores or penalizes those that differ too much from the original theme of the page. It can be a proof of artificial links – for Google has long been interested in naturalness and usability. Let’s get links in places that have a chance to help positions. Obtaining links to the store with electronic equipment from the gardening forum is too much of a thematic divergence … The chance for a natural occurrence of such a link is small, so let’s use common sense when choosing places.

Linking is a complicated and delicate process. It is worth to carefully analyze the strategy in terms of achieving the best results – including, among others, reasonable design of anchors.