Anchor Text Optimization Strategy For SEO Boost

Know how to anchor text optimization strategy for SEO boost; the most important skill you can have for external SEO is anchor text selection.

Selecting the correct anchor text is a hands-on analysis. Still, it requires a systematic and repeatable process that you can repeatedly use to optimize your site correctly.

Anchor Text Optimization Strategy For SEO Boost

This is a skill you want to create for yourself rather than relying on others, so take the time to master it.

But let me say… once you understand this, it’s like graduating to the next SEO level.

So, what is anchor text, and why is it important?

So, SEO is a complex subject that consists of thousands of tiny details. Anchor text is one of those details.

An anchor is a text that you click to move from one internet destination to another; it anchors two different places on the internet together.

While anchors typically link to web pages, they can also initiate downloads and link to documents such as PDFs or files in Google Drive. Therefore, you should only click on anchors from sites you trust and hover over the link – but don’t click! – to secure the relevant URL.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Brand anchor text

Brand anchors include your brand name and are great for building awareness. Plus, they’re a safe bet to avoid being flagged as spam.

So, suppose you have public figures associated with your brands, such as CEOs, journalists, influencers, or prominent authors. In that case, Google can also identify links with your name as your brand anchor.

Make sure you’re not over-optimizing to the point of keyword stuffing, though. So, it’s a fine line, but focusing on the brand name itself and avoiding adding additional keywords, cities, etc., is the way forward.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Exact match link text

The exact match anchor text includes the exact KeywordKeyword that the page you are linking to is targeting. So, for example, if someone decided to link to this blog post and chose to hyperlink with the words “anchor text,” we would get the exact match link text because that is the KeywordKeyword we are targeting here.

Similar to the example above, it’s best not to over-optimize keywords, resulting in a worse user experience.

Examples of exact match anchors:

creating links
Running shoes
B2B conversion rate optimization
Used books

Anchor text optimization strategy: Partial match anchor words

Partial match anchors include your keyword phrase and other generic, random, or stop words.

Examples of partial match anchors:

Helpful SEO tools if you link to a page that targets “SEO tools.”
Buy running shoes here by targeting “running shoes.”
Keyword strategy informative guide targeting “keyword strategy.”

Anchor text optimization strategy: Related anchor text

The relevant anchor words link to pages with variations of the target keyword. These are partial match keywords, but the associated anchors don’t contain the exact keyword phrase.

You’ll want to build some related anchors to help Google’s crawlers better understand what your links are about. Plus, they keep their link profile diverse, so Google is less likely to hit you for spammy links.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Random anchor text

Some link analysis tools will drop random and generic anchors in the same category. However, random anchor words can also include phrases that are not as generic as “click here” but are also not related to the target keyword.

Examples of random anchors:

in-depth article
New style
the rules have changed

It’s hard to pick random anchor examples because they can be anything and are subjective depending on each page’s target keywords.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Naked link text

The plain anchor text is just a URL pasted into the browser bar copy, but it is clickable! You can see links like this if someone adds references at the bottom of the article and includes your link as a source.

Although they aren’t pretty, Google prefers bare anchors because it’s much less likely to indicate that someone is trying to rank keywords using spamming.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Brand anchor words + Keyword

These include your brand name (or brand phrase) and a keyword. They can help you optimize your KeywordKeyword without appearing spammy to Google AND build brand awareness at the same time.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Image anchor links

Have you ever heard that adding alt text to the image description is essential? The image text alternative is what Google reads as an image anchor (if the image is part of a link).

Image anchors are healthy because they diversify the anchor text profile. You can also improve the SEO of Google Image Search. For example, suppose you want to write descriptive text alternatives for image links.

And perhaps most importantly, the alt text describes the image for those using screen readers. So, make sure that the alt text is concise and accurately describes the image in question.

Anchor text optimization strategy: Long-tail anchors

Long-tail anchors are similar to partial anchors but contain more words. This allows you to include keywords and related, descriptive, general, or branded keywords. In addition, the long-tail anchor may contain a subheading of the link or the full title. Otherwise, the author links to the entire sentence. You don’t necessarily have to create a long-tail anchor, but it can be useful for SEO. Also, you have no control over the behavior of other websites.

How does anchor text affect SEO?

Google has always used keywords to learn what web pages are about so it can rank for the right keywords. The original Google article contains an entire section for anchor text only. Here’s a snapshot:

The text of the link is treated specially by search engines. Most search engines associate the link’s text with the page where the link resides. However, in addition to that, it links to the page pointed to by the link.

According to Google, anchors provide a more objective link description than the page itself can provide via metadata. It makes sense. Backlink anchors (required) are taken from a neutral third-party source.

Google says that anchors also help the algorithm crawl pieces of content that it doesn’t or can’t provide a copy on the internet for indexing. Such as:

Images
Software
And apps
Databases
And documents

So, anchor text used to play a heavy role in search engine rankings – a little too much.

An SEO history lesson in anchor text

Before 2012, marketers used many exact match anchor keywords to manipulate Google’s algorithm. So, in the early days, people would try to include too many keywords in a link or even hide keywords in white text at the bottom of web pages to rank higher in the SERPs – it was the Wild West out there!

When using keyword-rich anchors to point to your site, you could end up ranking first for keywords, even if your site is unrelated to the topic of the anchor text.

If multiple sites choose the same anchor text to link to the same page, Google figured it must be related, ranking high!

Well, Google finally caught on to the deceptive practice and released the first of its Penguin updates in April 2012, which cracked down on “black hat SEO,” including spammy anchor text. According to Google, 3.1% of websites were affected by this update.

So it wasn’t a major update, but it showed SEO that Google is taking into account seemingly small elements such as anchor text.

So, how many exact match anchors are too many?

Like most other SEO rules, there is no perfect answer. However, it is important to use anchor text useful for the user experience. This allows users to know what type of page they are visiting.

However, webmasters and marketers do not always manage backlinks. So, if another website links to your website, you may not have a say.

So, in short, Google still pays attention to anchor words and uses them to rank website content, but when trying to manipulate algorithms using anchors, it tells Google that it understands it.

However, Google is always evolving and can now understand that many domain names contain keywords. These are called exact match domains (EMDs).

Keep in mind that Google constantly introduces new algorithms and updates existing ones. So, one day, Google may have updated it to recognize the difference between an exact EMD match and a brand anchor text. You never know.

It’s always best to keep your anchors relevant, avoid over-optimizing, and create a positive experience for Google users.

Ensure the alt text is concise and accurately describes the image in question.

Examples of image anchors:

Affordable cat trees for apartments
Semrush Link Building Strategy Guide
LifeStraw Travel Accessories

Long-tail anchors

Long-tail anchors are similar to partial anchors but contain more words. This allows you to include keywords and related, descriptive, general, or branded keywords.

The long tail anchor may contain a subheading of the link or the full title. Otherwise, the author links to the entire sentence. You don’t necessarily have to create a long-tail anchor, but it can be useful for SEO. Also, you have no control over the behavior of other websites.

How does anchor text affect SEO?

The text of the links is treated specially in our search engine. So, most search engines associate the text of a link with the page the link is on. But in addition, we associate it with the page that the link points to.

According to Google, anchors provide a more objective link description than the page itself can provide via metadata. It makes sense. Backlink anchors (required) come from a neutral third-party source.

Google says that anchors also help the algorithm crawl pieces of content that it doesn’t or can’t provide a copy on the internet for indexing. Such as:

Images
Software
apps
Databases
Documents

So, anchor text used to play a heavy role in search engine rankings – a little too much.

An SEO history lesson in anchor text

When using keyword-rich anchors to point to your site, you could end up ranking first for keywords, even if your site is unrelated to the topic of the anchor text.

If multiple sites choose the same anchor text to link to the same page, Google figured it must be related, ranking high!

And while it wasn’t a massive update, it did show SEOs that Google was taking into account seemingly small factors like anchor text.

So, how many exact match anchors are too many?

Like most other SEO rules, there is no perfect answer. However, it is important to use anchor text useful for the user experience. This allows users to know what type of page they are visiting.

However, webmasters and marketers do not always manage backlinks. So, if another website links to your website, you may not have a say.

So, Google still pays attention to anchor words and uses them to rank the site’s content, but if you try to manipulate the algorithm with anchors, expect Google to understand. is needed.

However, Google has continued to evolve and is now able to understand that many domain names contain keywords. These are called exact match domains (EMDs).

Remember, Google is constantly deploying new algorithms and updating existing ones. One day, you may wake up, and Google may have updated to recognize the difference between EMD’s exact match and branded anchor text. You will never know.

It’s always best to keep your anchors relevant, avoid over-optimization, and, most importantly, create a positive experience for Google users.

How to optimize anchor text for SEO

When we’re talking about optimizing anchor text here, we’re talking about Google’s best practices — not algorithms that work in your favor.

In October 2019, Google released an update to BERT, which uses natural language processing to understand and rank pages. What does this mean for anchors? Unfortunately, we can’t be 100% sure because Google protects algorithms as well as it does nuclear code.

However, this could mean that Google now pays more attention to context clues around anchors. Instead of simply reading the anchor text, Google’s crawlers can also scan and consider the surrounding words and phrases more than in the past.

It also means that Google prioritizes user experience and answers search queries more than anything else. So this is what marketers should do.

And that’s why “optimizing” anchors involves creating a better experience for everyone.

Do not create links or gain links from toxic sites.

Google cares which pages you link to. So, Google may penalize you if you link to a site that spreads false information, promotes hate, or engages in spam. So, even if a website has good intentions, the link could hurt your rankings.

It’s called the co-citation principle. Remove pesky pages from the equation, check a page’s Alexa rating, and only link to pages with a score of 100,000 or lower.

Now Google also understands that sometimes you should link to “bad” pages for reference. For example, maybe they are the only source, or you need to debunk the information. In this case, you can use the unfollow link to tell Google, “I don’t endorse this site, and I don’t want it to count towards my SEO.”

Make sure anchor words are relevant

Relevance is important. Many over-optimized exact match anchors may look spam, but you also need to associate the anchor with the topic on the other side of the link.

Remember that Google uses anchors as information to learn the content of web pages and their importance in correctly ranking web pages in keyword searches. Therefore, you need to choose an anchor that makes the link meaningful and helps to provide the reader with a positive experience.

Choosing a random word for the anchor just for diversity can count as clickbait, which is unsatisfactory to the reader.

Distribute different types of anchor text wisely.

Randomness is good for fixing text. Usually, we aim to:

30% to 40% of logo anchors
30% to 40% partial healthy anchors
20% to 40% generic, related, naked, random, genuine healthy, and different anchors

So, nothing is set in stone here; try checking out some of the top sites in your industry. See what the outgoing and incoming anchors look like so you can build an idea.

Pay attention to the surrounding text

Google’s recent BERT update tells us that the search engine adjusts its strategy to support natural human language and the surrounding environment.

When you’re reading something online, don’t just look at the anchor text to decide whether to click a link. So, you also read the surrounding sentences and paragraphs to see what’s on the other side of the hyperlink, right?

We have to assume that Google does the same. Most marketers don’t choose entire sentences as anchors. However, it might be worth considering that the Google bot will scan the entire sentence for words when it scans our anchor text.

In this case, you can also avoid using the same anchor word throughout the text, even if you link to a different page each time. However, Google may still consider this over-optimization and penalize you.

Don’t overlook the alt tag on the image.

The alt tag on the image is important for several reasons. She:

Allow visually impaired readers to understand the content of the image
Tell Googlebot what the image is about

Works as anchor text

Image ALT tags should be descriptive and sound like a natural phrase. Putting keywords in ALT tags used to be common, but Google quickly caught on, so keep keywords to a minimum here.

Choose primary keywords and embed them in descriptive phrases about specific images.

Keep guest blogging

Some marketers have dismissed guest blogging as part of an anchor and link-building strategy. But, as usual, people were using their guest blogging bios for keyword anchors and backlinks.

Although you certainly If you don’t, you CAN still guest bloggers from highly relevant and authoritative sites to improve your anchors and overall SEO.

Stick to authority sites related to your niche. For example, if you’re publishing to content farms, google will certainly notice that you have already been flagged as spam a dozen times.

Conclusion

Anchor text is an essential factor in the health of your website’s SEO. Anchor text is one of many ranking factors in Google, but it tells the reader where to find more information and what’s on the other side of the link. When developing a link-building strategy, anchors cannot be an afterthought.

It’s your job as a marketer to pay close attention to your anchor text types, what words you choose, and even the words around them. So, as with most things, SEO, diversity, and moderation are key. Don’t use keywords, continuously diversify your anchor tag types, and only link to highly relevant and reputable pages.

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