Keyword-rich anchor text has long been an SEO best practice.
why?
It’s a way of letting search engines know what kind of page a link is pointing to. Many believe that information plays a role in ranking pages in search results.
Anchor text is the word or phrase that users click to access the URL linked in your copy.
Anchor text helps give users context about the page they’re trying to reach, but does it have an impact on search rankings?
Below are claims about anchor text as a ranking factor, along with evidence to support or refute those claims.
The Claim: Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor
Anchor text is considered a ranking factor in the sense that it helps search engines associate a URL with a particular keyword or key phrase.
The importance of anchor text is not limited to what search engines can do with it. It is also essential for enhancing website accessibility and providing a good user experience.
On-page optimization techniques that improve user experience tend to correlate positively with search rankings. This is another reason why anchor text is listed as a top ranking factor.
When it comes to website optimization, the rule of thumb is that SEO follows user experience.
When a website is built to provide the best possible experience for human visitors, it often ends up being optimized for search engines. This isn’t always true, but you’ll find it applies to anchor text as well.
How Does Anchor Text Fit For SEO?
Google has some idea of what the page you are linking to (the target page) is based on the words used in the anchor text. If a page links to a URL with anchor text “Top 10 Pizza Places in NYC”, Google knows what type of page a user is directed to.
Using generic text (such as “click here”) obscures Google’s understanding of what your target page is about. Just like sites provide descriptive text to help users, Google should do the same.
Anchor text improves the user experience in many ways. When users are skimming your article, descriptive anchor text helps them quickly identify the link they’re looking for.
For example, if a user clicks on an article that makes outrageous claims, the user may want to scan that article to find the source of the information.
In these cases, generic anchor text doesn’t help users quickly find the link they need. Also, it doesn’t tell Google anything about the target page. Therefore, we recommend using descriptive anchor text over generic words and phrases.
Another less obvious way is how anchor text can improve user experience and accessibility. Think about what the experience would be like for a visually impaired website visitor.
Blind users use screen readers to browse the web. This involves using software to read aloud all text on pages, including links, as users navigate her website.
It’s not very useful if users hear “click here” or “read more” for every link they find on your page. In fact, it is downright frustrating and they may choose never to visit the website again.
Accessibility is key to providing a great user experience. Even if you don’t think it’s important to certain audiences, it’s important to search engines like Google.
With all that said, it’s time to answer the question – is anchor text a ranking factor?
Evidence of Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor
Yes, anchor text is a ranking factor.
Using descriptive anchor text when inserting links on your pages is a best practice documented in Google’s SEO Starter Guide.
SEO can be a lot to learn for beginners, but it’s no secret science. Google aims to provide users with the most relevant results, and in order to do so, we need the cooperation of site owners.
That’s why Google makes it clear what they want site owners to do when optimizing their pages for search engines.
When optimizing your page for ranking on Google, it’s wise to listen to Google. So what does Google say about anchor text?
From Google’s SEO Starter Guide:
“…the better the anchor text, the easier it is for users to navigate and the easier it is for Google to understand what the linked page is about.
Good anchor text makes it easier for users and search engines to understand what the linked page contains. ”
The starter guide recommends the following best practices:
- Choose descriptive text rather than generic or off-topic text.
- Write concise text instead of long sentences or whole paragraphs.
- Make the link visible so that it can be easily found in normal text.
- Use descriptive text for internal links, but avoid overuse of keywords.
Recently, Google’s John Mueller confirmed during a regular Q&A with the SEO community that anchor text is still a ranking factor.
Mueller’s Q&A brings up the topic of anchor text frequently. Here’s another example: This time, Mueller is addressing the user experience aspect of anchor text.
“If you update your anchor text internally to make it easier for users to understand, it usually also helps search engines better understand the context of those pages. So I would definitely go for it.”
We can’t talk about anchor text as a ranking factor without discussing how important it was in the early days of SEO. Google’s guidance on avoiding overuse of keywords in anchor text is a reminder of how this signal has been abused in the past.
In the past, it was easy for sites to manipulate rankings by creating links with exact keywords as anchor text. Anchor text was so heavily weighted that it was possible for the page to rank for keywords that didn’t appear in the on-page copy at all.
Seasoned SEO professionals may remember that Adobe once ranked for the term “click here”. Because this was the common anchor text the site owner used when linking to her PDF.
Google eventually realized that spammers were exploiting the over-representation of anchor text. This issue was resolved with the release of an update to the Penguin algorithm in 2012. This was partly aimed at manipulative link building tactics.
Sites that currently attempt to manipulate search rankings with exact-match anchor text are more likely to get their efforts ignored rather than rewarded.
Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor: Our Verdict
Google sees that anchor text is used in search rankings as a way to better understand a page. This can help display those pages for related queries.
The strength of anchor text as a ranking factor is nowhere near what it was before Penguin. Back then, building enough keyword-rich links allowed sites to rank for phrases of their choice.
However, anchor text is still important to the search engine optimization process.
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/SearchEngineJournal
