Anchor text is the clickable text of a link, and Google wants it descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to both the page it sits on and the page it points to. Its job is to set the reader's expectation of the destination (Google Search Central, link best practices). Use natural wording that names the destination, vary it across links, and avoid repeating one exact keyword.
What Is Anchor Text?
Anchor text is the visible words inside an HTML link element, written as an a tag with an href attribute. In the example below, the anchor text is the phrase "on-page SEO audit checklist".
<a href="https://aemorph.com/guides/on-page-seo-audit/">on-page SEO audit checklist</a>Readers use anchor text to decide whether to click. Search engines use it as a description of the linked page, which is why vague anchors waste the signal.
What Are the Six Types of Anchor Text?
Six anchor types cover almost every link: generic, branded, exact match, partial match, naked URL and image.
| Type | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Generic | "click here", "read more" | Avoid. It describes nothing |
| Branded | "Aemorph" | Safe for brand mentions and profile links |
| Exact match | "keyword research" | Sparingly. Repetition looks manipulated |
| Partial match | "a beginner's guide to keyword research" | Default for body links |
| Naked URL | https://aemorph.com/guides/keyword-research/ | Citations and references |
| Image link | An image whose alt text names the destination | Banners and logos |
For an image link, the alt text works as the anchor text, so write descriptive alt text and never leave it empty on a linked image. See the image SEO guide.
What Are the Anchor Text Best Practices?
Five practices keep anchor text useful and safe: write naturally, link to relevant pages, vary the wording, describe image links and vet who links to you.
1. Write naturally
Write the anchor as part of the sentence, so a reader sees what the destination offers. Google's test is to read the anchor text alone: if you cannot tell what the page is about, the anchor needs more description. Replace "click here" with the name of the thing.
2. Link to relevant pages
Link only where the destination adds to the sentence. A link from a keyword research paragraph to a keyword tracking guide helps the reader, and a link to an unrelated service page does not. Every page you care about needs a link from at least one other page on your site.
3. Vary and limit exact match
Keep anchors concise and do not pack every keyword into them. Google says to resist the urge to cram in every keyword that relates to the target page. Repeating one exact-match phrase across many links reads as manipulation, especially on external links, where Google lists optimised anchor text in guest posts and press releases as a link spam example (Google Search Central, spam policies).
4. Describe image links and keep links apart
Surround each link with context, and avoid chaining several links together, because readers struggle to tell them apart. Insert anchors in the rendered HTML as crawlable a elements, and test JavaScript-inserted links with the URL Inspection Tool.
5. Vet who links to you
Review inbound links in Search Console and a backlink tool. Links you bought or traded belong to the spam policy, so qualify paid links with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and use rel="ugc" or rel="nofollow" for user-inserted links in forums and comments. Ask owners of spammy sites to remove links that you did not earn.
How Do You Audit Anchor Text on Your Own Site?
Export internal links from a crawler, sort by anchor text and fix three patterns: generic anchors, one anchor used for many different targets and one target linked with many unrelated anchors. Rewrite generic anchors to name the destination. Give each target one or two stable descriptive phrases, then vary within them. Re-crawl after the change. Combine the results with the on-page SEO audit and the off-page SEO guide.
Choose link targets with keyword research and track the pages those links support with keyword ranking tracking.