What is anchor text?

An anchor text is the word or phrase you choose to insert a link on. You might know it from writing programs like Word, where you can highlight one or more words and then add a link.

Your anchor text is simply the words where you have inserted a link.

An anchor text basically serves two main purposes:

• A user can click on the anchor text and be taken to another page.
• Search engines can follow your anchor text. This happens because the search engine’s crawler “reads” the anchor text and then follows the link. This way, the crawler is told what to expect if it follows the link.

Tips for using anchor texts

You should use descriptive anchor texts both when linking internally and externally. Proper use of anchor texts is an essential part of your SEO work, and it simply makes sense. Google and other search engines read the anchor text provided—and that information helps them better understand the page being linked to.

It therefore plays an important role for both your internal and external link building.

Next time you add a link—whether internal or external—try to make your anchor text as descriptive as possible.