Link building generally involves the use of anchor backlinks to build a website. There is no anchor text optimization without link building strategy because search engines use anchor text to measure the relevance of a page. It is vital to optimize anchor text with the use of relevant keyword phrases rather than generic anchor text.
For instance, when you stumble on an article the unique style of clickable text underlined is used to highlight a context and helps to buttress a point relating to that context in a sentence. Rather than deviating from the original context these anchor backlinks provide more valuable information for users when they click through it.
It is important to know how to use exact match anchor text in link building. That way you can boost your website authority and enable people to find you easily. You can’t control how other websites use anchor backlinks to point to your page, but you can improve your internal linking within your website with the use of relevant anchor text.
A quick look at what impact anchor text optimization has on link building, its importance, and strategies to help you improve white hat backlink strategies.
What is Anchor Text?
This is a hyperlinked text that allows users to click through from one domain to the other or from one page to the other within a website. Anchor text SEO helps Google understand a website’s content, to provide the search intent of the users. Anchor texts usually appear in a light blue text style that is underlined as a result of an HTML code present. Anchor text connects two different website pages.
The quality of an anchor text depends on two major roles:
- The natural links between the two domains.
- The valuable information is contained in the anchor text backlink.
What is the Difference Between Anchor Text and Keywords?
Most people think that anchor texts are keywords specific, but that is not the case. Keywords are just search engine queries used to obtain information from the Google search box. These keywords help search engines to provide high quality content relating to the searcher’s intent as described in the search box.
An example is when you type “The best sushi restaurant in Alabama“. The keyword there is “Sushi restaurant “, search engines quickly index this to provide suggestions relating to such restaurants.
Anchor text, on the other hand, is a link building strategy, that requires Google to provide information through a linked page relating to your context. Another example is reading an article about the impact of COVID-19 in digital marketing, you could easily recommend “COVID-19 safety measure to carry out” to help you build high quality relevant anchor text.
What Does Google Say About Anchor Text Optimization?
Before now, it was easy to rank on the first page of Google using keyword anchor text. However, with the recent Penguin updates, Google frowns at its misuse as against white hat link building.
Google provided an official guide to help webmasters know how to utilize anchor text optimization for link building techniques. Below are laid-out directions on how to use anchor text to boost your website authority.
- Google uses anchor text optimization as a ranking factor to determine the intent of a page.
- Google prioritizes longer anchor text optimization with longer word phrases, to provide more context about a page that it is linked to.
- Google helps readers identify the value of the information contained in the anchor backlinks.
With the new algorithm update in 2012, it is easy for Google to detect bad linking when you are utilizing an exact match link strategy. Most link building agencies build links for clients around a trusted and authoritative site.
Types of Anchor Text and How to Use It
There are different types of anchor text optimization in link building. How to use each type is a necessary technique every SEO expert must-have for an effective strategy.
Below are the types of anchor backlinks available:
Naked Link Anchor Text
When a link URL is used as the anchor text, it is called naked anchor text optimization. The website URL is placed exactly as it appears in the search box, making it easy for users to access. An example of naked links is https://linkgathering.com/.
Branded Anchor Text
This is usually a brand name embedded into an anchor text without any additional words. It is very helpful when citing a website. For instance, big brands like Ahrefs and Semrush are cities in articles embedding the URL on the same anchor text.
Generic Anchor Text
This is usually the substitute with a link inserted in the text. It includes “click here“, “view more‘, etc. It doesn’t include any form of target keywords or optimized anchor text. You will need to read the sentences around to figure out the next step.
Image Anchor Links
Images are also used to link to web pages as anchor text optimization. This is done with alt text functions from the exact same anchor text. If the image doesn’t load, the keyword rich anchor text can still be clicked.
An image should also have a well-written descriptive anchor text link to help search engines find content easily. The alt attribute is an optimized function that helps differentiate these links as an image.
Here’s an example of an image anchor link related to SEO and link building:
| <a href=”https://www.example.com/seo-link-building-guide“> <img src=”https://www.example.com/images/seo-link-building.jpg” alt=”SEO Link Building Guide”> </a> |
In the example above:
- The <a> tag creates a hyperlink to the URL “https://www.example.com/seo-link-building-guide”.
- The <img> tag embeds an image from “https://www.example.com/images/seo-link-building.jpg”.
- The alt attribute provides alternative text for the image, which is “SEO Link Building Guide”. This is important for accessibility and SEO.
When users click on the image, they will be taken to the specified URL.
Partial Match Keyword
Partial match anchor text optimization involves keyword variations that are connected to a website page. For example, Content Marketing links to a page on Social media marketing. This simply highlights a sub-heading or a continuation of the context in a page.
Exact Match Anchor Text
Exact match anchors are the optimized anchor text that has the exact word link to the target page.
For example a page about fashion accessories, you can optimize your anchor text with the same “Fashion accessories“.
Brand and Keyword Anchor Text
This involves a branded name with a keyword function used to describe the page it is linked to. This serves as contextual information regarding the page and can help users navigate seamlessly on your website.
Example of brand and keyword anchor text:
| <a href=”https://linkgathering.com/seo-consulting-services/”> Link Gathering SEO Consulting Services</a> |
- “Link Gathering” is the brand name.
- “SEO Consulting Services” is the keyword.
- The <a> tag creates a hyperlink to the URL “https://linkgathering.com/seo-consulting-services/“.
When users click on the text “Example SEO Services”, they will be taken to the specified URL.
Best Anchor Backlinks Strategies in Link Building
Before you can embark on an anchor text optimization strategy, there are basic guides you must follow to master the act. It helps you track your target backlinks to ensure that you follow the white hat link building technique to avoid the risk of Google penalties. Effective backlink management is crucial to maintaining the quality and relevance of your links
Analyze Your Competitors
When you see a website that ranks on the first page of Google, you must look out for its anchor text distribution, this will help you carry out the target keyword searches. You can simply use tools like Ahrefs to check the exact anchor text distributions.
How do you achieve competitor anchor text analysis?
- Export the anchor text for the page you want to analyze.
- Group these anchor text in a sheet and repeat for other pages ranking on the search engine first page.
- Then record all the data and take note of the anchor backlinks.
This is necessary to help you give a better statistic to work on for your anchor text optimization on the website page.
Target Page Relevance
With the new Google algorithm updates it is easy for search engines to identify irrelevant anchor text, which may lead to penalty or lack of indexing. This link relevance is an important SEO practice that experts must follow. This is not only an important link building strategy but also improves user experience as your audience navigates from page A to page B.
Links that are connected to a page source that has a high relevance signal are likely to be used as an indicator of what the article content provides, this can be achieved with natural language processing and link source information.
Service pages or home pages contain several brand anchor text optimization that explains the product of a company, whereas informational pages will have a lot of keyword rich text for users to find more insight about content.
Use Natural Anchor Text
It takes a skilled content writer to place anchor text such that it isn’t forced while reading an article. Readers can relate and understand the anchor text phrases used rather than having an unclear anchor text written just for backlinks.
Keyword stuffing is frowned upon by Google and this can lead to spam links which will reduce your ranking position on search engine results pages. Google can suspect a malicious black hat strategy when it comes to stuffing keywords to rank on search engines.
There is no need to use heavy keywords for internal links because if there are too many links to a page with the same text. Google will automatically consider it spam and flag it with the penguin algorithm.
Use Variety of Anchor Links
Pages with high domain authority often contain a variety of anchor text optimization. These backlinks help them rank top on Google as a result of internal linking to those referring pages. It is advisable not to use an anchor link text twice to avoid your prospect anchor profile from being over-optimized.
To stay safe from Google penalties you should:
- Utilize your page meta title for anchor text optimization, it often commands authority.
- Use a few exact-match anchors to drive traffic.
- It is easy to connect with higher domain authority for viability when you use a variety of anchor backlinks.
- Utilize naked anchor URLs for more engagement.
Conclusion
Anchor text optimization can impact your link building tactics when used positively. The article already explains the types of anchor text used and how to embed them properly to build page authority.
It is advisable to also start with the best-trending strategy that suits your brand, to help you keep track of your backlink campaign.
