In the sentence “Book a [drain cleaning visit] today”, the words in brackets are the anchor text. In HTML, it’s whatever sits between the opening and closing <a> tags:
<a href="https://www.example.com/drain-cleaning/">drain cleaning in Austin</a>Anchor text tells readers what they’ll get if they click. It tells search engines the same thing. When many pages link to a URL using similar words, that’s a strong hint about the topic of the page.
Types of anchor text
| Type | Example |
|---|---|
| Exact match | water heater repair |
| Partial match | fast water heater repair in Austin |
| Branded | Coastline Plumbing |
| Naked URL | coastlineplumbing.example |
| Generic | click here, read more, this page |
| Image link | the image’s alt text acts as the anchor |
Why it matters
On your own site, you choose every anchor, so use that. Coastline Plumbing’s blog post about winter pipe care can link to the frozen pipe repair page with the words “frozen pipe repair”. That helps Google connect the page with the search and helps readers know where they’re going. A link that says “click here” wastes the opportunity. It’s also poor for accessibility, since screen reader users often jump between links and hear only the anchor text.
For backlinks, anchors are mostly out of your hands, and that’s how it should be. A natural link profile is dominated by branded and naked-URL anchors, with a mix of descriptive ones.
Common mistakes
- Over-optimized backlink anchors. If 60% of the links pointing at a page use the exact phrase “best plumber Austin”, it looks engineered. Google’s link spam policies target this pattern, and it’s a classic sign of paid or manipulative link building.
- Same exact anchor on every internal link. Natural variety reads better and still gives Google clear signals.
- Vague anchors like “here”, “this” or “learn more” in body text.
- Very long anchors that turn a whole sentence into a link.
- Linking the same words to different pages, which confuses both visitors and search engines about which page is the authority.
How to write good anchors
Describe the destination in a few words, in a way that reads naturally in the sentence. “Our guide to [choosing a tankless water heater]” is better than “[click here] for our guide”. Check that the anchor would make sense out of context.
How to check
RankThat’s Site Audit flags links with vague text such as “click here” and links with no anchor text at all. For links from other sites, review your backlink profile now and then so you can spot an unnatural pattern early and judge whether any are toxic backlinks. Good anchors also make your internal links more useful.