Anchor text

Anchor text is the visible, clickable wording of a link. Search engines read it as a description of the target page, which makes it one of the few signals a linking site sends about what your page is actually about.

The main types

Exact match repeats the target keyword word for word. Partial match contains it inside a longer phrase. Branded uses the company name. Naked URL shows the address itself. Generic is wording like read more or here. Most real link profiles are dominated by branded and generic anchors, because that is how people link when nobody tells them what to write.

Why an optimised mix backfires

Exact match anchors are the strongest signal and the most obvious pattern. A profile where a large share of incoming links carries the same keyword looks manufactured, because organic linking never produces that. The Penguin update in 2012 was built specifically around this. Editors also rarely accept a keyword-stuffed anchor, so an unnatural distribution is often a sign that the placements were not editorial in the first place.

What we see in practice

Publishers set anchors according to their own editorial style. On the Linkbroker marketplace you propose the anchor and the target page, and the editorial team checks whether it reads naturally in the article. Where it does not, the publisher adjusts it rather than refusing the placement.

The honest limitation

Anchor text cannot make an irrelevant page relevant. If the target does not match the wording, the mismatch is visible to both readers and search engines.

Choose the anchor when you book: see the catalogue.

Related: backlink · backlink profile · URL structure