As everyone already knows, links are an essential part of the SEO. It shows the relevancy of the content. If you know, then you are definitely familiar with anchor texts. These textual cues are a common feature in the SEO landscape. However, it’s important to note that only a select few truly grasp the art of utilizing anchor texts effectively. Understanding their primary purpose, choosing the appropriate anchor text, and determining the optimal placement and types are all critical factors that significantly impact SEO success.
What is an Anchor text?
Ever wonder what that clickable text in a hyperlink does? That's anchor text for you—it's like the friendly guidepost of the internet, pointing you and the all-knowing search engines to related pages with more info. It's a big deal in the SEO world because choosing the right anchor text can help your website's pages increase search rankings. It's like when you correctly label a folder; it makes it much easier to find later. So when you're linking to another page, think of anchor text as the label on that folder. Make it spot on, and both Google and your visitors will thank you for helping your site stand out in the crowded online space.
Types of Anchor texts:
Across the vast digital landscape, you'll encounter a myriad of anchor texts, but beware — not all are beneficial. Some are downright detrimental, cluttered with spam that could deter search engines. It's time to trim the fat and zero in on the anchor text varieties that enhance your website's SEO.
There are eight types of anchor texts that are effective in SEO:
1. Branded Anchor Text:
Branded anchor texts are the simplest and one of the safest types of anchor text because they use the brand name as the anchor. You can use many variations here in the branded. For example, your brand name is RankNRise.com. Then you can use the variations like:
► RankNRise
► ranknrise
► RankNRise.com
► RanknRise.com
► Rank N Rise
► RankN rise
► Ranknrise
You can create even more variations. Remember, the more variations, the more Google can trust you because Google detects it as natural linking, and there are no footprints of the brand name. Using the same anchor every time can be more complicated than variations.
Branded + VariationAnchor Text:
These anchor texts combine the brand name with money or targeted keywords or variations to create a natural-looking link. For example, "RankNRise Link Building." incorporates the brand "RankNRise" and service "Link Building." the service keyword is the money keyword.
Like this, you can make more variations from your targeted keywords and add them with brand names to create this type of anchor. These anchor texts are powerful because they contain our brand and money keywords.
2. Money Keywords (Exact Match)Anchor Text:
Exact match anchor texts include the money keywords that exactly match the one for which you're trying to rank. For instance, if a digital marketing website wants to rank for "Web 2.0 link building," the service page, the anchor text used would be precisely "Web 2.0 link building." This can be effective but can harm the site if overused, as it may leave footprints or alert the search engine for doing unnatural link building or manipulating the search engine's algorithm.
3. ImageAnchor Text:
In this case, we use the image from the targeted site. It means we embed the image from our money site to the post on which we create backlinks. It is because opening the image after a right click will show the source from our money site. It will use the same alt text, description, and all the image attributes from the source.
4. EmptyAnchor Text:
These are the same as image anchor texts but slightly different regarding source and hyperlink. In the empty anchor, we use our image in the article and then insert a hyperlink in the image to the targeted page. When one will left clicks the image, it will open the targeted URL, but the source will be from the page on which we have inserted it. Empty anchor texts are named empty because they have no anchor inserted and don't have alt text of the targeted URL but are related to money keywords.
6. JumpLink (also known as Fragment URL):
JumpLink anchors take users to a specific part of a page. The anchor text usually describes the section of the targeted page. Here, you can use any anchor branded, branded+vairation, generic, money keyword, etc., but the hyperlink will contain the content part of the targeted page as a fragment URL. The main purpose of this link is to highlight the specific text or section from the targeted page.
Sometimes, searching for any particular term or question keyword in the search engine shows us the featured snippet with specific highlighted text. When you click on that search result, you will be redirected to the particular section or the text you searched for.
That's why this is very helpful in aware the search engines of specific sections from the targeted page and our page rank for our money keyword.
7. NakedAnchor Text:
These are the same as image anchor texts but slightly different regarding source and hyperlink. In the empty anchor, we use our image in the article and then insert a hyperlink in the image to the targeted page. When one will left clicks the image, it will open the targeted URL, but the source will be from the page on which we have inserted it. Empty anchor texts are named empty because they have no anchor inserted and don't have alt text of the targeted URL but are related to money keywords.
8. GenericAnchor Text:
Generic anchor texts are non-descriptive and use generic words or phrases like "click here," "read more," or "this website." They do not include any target keywords and are typically used in a call to action.
For each of these types, it's important to consider the context in which they're used, as the relevance and naturalness of anchor text play a significant role in SEO and user experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mastering anchor text is like mastering a musical instrument; it must be precise to produce the desired effect. As much as we know the anchor text variation and use them at the right place in a proper proportion, we will increase the chances of ranking. The more natural-looking the link building will be, the more chances there will be to win the desired position in SERPs.
We’ve entered a new era of SEO; Google is getting smarter. We believe link building teams need to get smarter too.
