What is Anchor Text?
TL;DR
The clickable text in a hyperlink. When someone links to your site with anchor text like "Denver plumber," it signals to Google what your page is about. Natural anchor text varies, too many exact-match anchors looks manipulative and can trigger a Google Penalty. This matters for both Backlinks and Internal Linking.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Anchor Text
What is anchor text and why does it matter for SEO?
Anchor text is the clickable words in a link. It tells Google what the linked page is about. If many sites link to your page with 'Denver plumber' as anchor text, Google associates your page with that phrase.
What's the best anchor text strategy?
Use natural variety. Mix branded anchors ('ABC Plumbing'), generic ('click here'), partial match ('plumbing services'), and exact match ('Denver plumber'). Too many exact-match anchors looks manipulative and can trigger penalties.
Can I control anchor text from backlinks?
You can't control what others write, but you can control internal link anchor text and suggest anchor text when guest posting. Focus on earning natural, varied anchor text rather than manipulating it.
Terms Related to Anchor Text
Backlink
A link from one website to another, also called an "inbound link" or "incoming link." Backlinks are a crucial ranking fa...
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Links from one page on your site to another page on your site. Internal links help visitors navigate, distribute Page Au...
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SEO activities performed outside of your own website to improve search rankings. The primary focus is building high-qual...
Read definition SEO301 Redirect
A permanent redirect that tells browsers and search engines "this page has moved forever, go here instead." When someone...
Read definition SEO302 Redirect
A temporary redirect that tells search engines "this page has moved for now, but it's coming back." Unlike a 301 Redirec...
Read definition SEOAlgorithm
The complex set of rules Google uses to rank websites. Google updates its algorithm thousands of times per year, with ma...
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