{"id":5222,"date":"2019-10-28T08:10:12","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/?p=5222"},"modified":"2022-09-05T19:24:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T17:24:10","slug":"what-is-anchor-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/seo-blog\/what-is-anchor-text\/","title":{"rendered":"What is anchor text?"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"l-section wpb_row height_medium\"><div class=\"l-section-h i-cf\"><div class=\"g-cols vc_row via_grid cols_3-1 laptops-cols_inherit tablets-cols_inherit mobiles-cols_1 valign_top type_default stacking_default\"><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"w-image align_center\"><div class=\"w-image-h\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_632581124-e1572250008475.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"DSM Digital School of Marketing - anchor text\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_632581124-e1572250008475.png 680w, https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_632581124-e1572250008475-600x424.png 600w, https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_632581124-e1572250008475-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/shutterstock_632581124-e1572250008475-283x200.png 283w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wpb_text_column\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\"><p>The term \u2018anchor text\u2019 denotes to the text that is clickable in a hyperlink. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) best practices recommend that anchor text be suitable for the page that you&#8217;re linking to. This is rather than the anchor text being generic text. The blue anchor text that is underlined is the most commonplace as it is the Internet standard, even though it is certainly possible to alter the colour as well as the underlining by using HTML code. The anchor text <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/blog\/why-you-should-be-using-negative-keywords-on-google-ads\/\">keywords<\/a> are some of the numerous signals that search engines use to determine the theme of a page on a site.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/blog\/why-care-about-search-engine-rankings\/\">Search engines<\/a> utilise external anchor text (that is text which other website utilise to link to your website) as a sign of how other people view your page. As an extension, external anchor text shows visitors as well as search engines the possible subject of your pages. Even though website owners normally don\u2019t have any control over the manner in which other sites link to theirs, it is feasible to ensure that anchor text you use within your own website is useful, descriptive in addition to being relevant.<\/p>\n<p>If several sites feel that a particular page is relevant for a given set of terms, that page could rank well on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) although the specific keywords may not appear in the text itself.<\/p>\n<p>The anchor text is also categorised as the link label or link title. The terms which are in the anchor text assist with determining the ranking that the page will get from search engines such as Google, Yahoo as well as Bing. <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/blog\/the-value-of-anchor-links\/\">Links<\/a> which don\u2019t have anchor text are a dime a dozen on the web. These are called naked URLs or, alternatively, URL anchor texts. Various browsers will display anchor text in different ways. The proper use of anchor text can help \u00a0the linked page to rank for these keywords in search engines.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"w-video align_none ratio_16x9 has_iframe\"><div class=\"w-video-h\"><iframe title=\"Vimeo video player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/288004654?autoplay=0&loop=0&autopause=0&color=00adef&portrait=0&byline=1&title=1&controls=1&muted=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/div><div class=\"w-video-icon\" style=\"font-size:1.5rem;background:rgba(0,0,0,0.5);color:#fff\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"w-separator size_medium\"><\/div><div class=\"wpb_text_column\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\"><h2><strong>Examples of good as well as bad anchor text<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are a number of types of anchor text. These are:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Exact-match <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Anchor text falls into the class of &#8220;exact match&#8221; if it includes a keyword which reflects the webpage that it is connecting to. For instance, &#8216;link building&#8217; is an exact-match anchor text if it links to a webpage that talks about link building.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Partial-match<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A partial-match anchor text contains a variation of the keyword that is on the page which is linked to. For instance, &#8216;link building strategies&#8217; is partial-match anchor text if it links to a page that talks about link building.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Branded<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Branded anchor text is a brand name which is used as anchor text. For instance, &#8216;Moz&#8217; \u2013 which links to a piece on the Moz Blog \u2013 would be an instance of branded anchor text.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Naked link<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As mentioned previously in this piece, a naked link is a URL which is utilised as an anchor.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Generic<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A generic anchor text is a word or phrase that is made use of as the anchor. &#8220;Click here&#8221; is a common \u2013 but highly ineffective &#8211; generic anchor.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Images<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Every time an image is linked to a new page, Google will utilise the text included in the image&#8217;s alt attribute as the anchor text.<\/p>\n<p>With the Penguin algorithm update that Google instituted, the search engine giant began to look more carefully at keywords in anchor text. So if an exceptionally large number of a site&#8217;s inbound links have the identical anchor text, this can begin to appear suspicious. This means that it may be a sign that the links weren&#8217;t obtained naturally. Thus it&#8217;s still best practice to get &#8211; and use &#8211; keyword- and topic-specific anchor text when possible. However, SEO experts will get more optimal results by striving for a variety of more natural anchor text phrases as opposed to the same keywords each time.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/contact-us\/\">Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>To learn more regarding SEO, check out our SEO course. To learn more, <a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/courses\/seo-and-web-analytics-course\/\">follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/courses\/seo-and-web-analytics-course\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-760 size-shop_single\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSM_Footer05-600x96.jpg\" alt=\"DSM Digital School of Marketing Paid advertising and web analyics course registration\" width=\"600\" height=\"96\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"wpb_column vc_column_container\"><div class=\"vc_column-inner\"><div class=\"w-btn-wrapper align_justify\"><a class=\"w-btn us-btn-style_2\" href=\"#enquiry\"><span class=\"w-btn-label\">Enquire Today<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"w-separator size_medium\"><\/div><h3 class=\"w-text us_custom_6caa4608 has_text_color\"><span class=\"w-text-h\"><span class=\"w-text-value\">Blog Categories<\/span><\/span><\/h3><div class=\"wpb_text_column us_custom_5cd26a65\"><div class=\"wpb_wrapper\"><ul>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-1\"><a href=\"\/blog\/content-marketing\/\">Content Marketing<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-2\"><a href=\"\/blog\/digital-marketing\/\">Digital Marketing<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-2\"><a href=\"\/blog\/cyber-security-blog\/\">Cyber Security<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-2\"><a href=\"\/blog\/graphic-design-blog\/\">Graphic Design<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-3\"><a href=\"\/blog\/public-relations\/\">Public Relations<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-4\"><a href=\"\/blog\/seo\/\">SEO<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-5\"><a href=\"\/blog\/social-media-marketing\/\">Social Media Marketing<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"cat-item cat-item-5\"><a href=\"\/blog\/web-design-blog\/\">Web Design<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"w-separator size_medium\"><\/div><h3 class=\"w-text us_custom_6caa4608 has_text_color\"><span class=\"w-text-h\"><span class=\"w-text-value\">You might also like<\/span><\/span><\/h3><div class=\"w-html\"><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/social-media-marketing-blog\/zero-moment-of-truth-benefit-social-media-marketing\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Use the Zero Moment of Truth to Benefit your Social Media Marketing<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za\/digital-marketing-blog\/your-complete-guide-to-ppc-marketing-basic\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Your Complete Guide to PPC Marketing Basics. 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