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Everything You Need to Know About Anchor Text as a Google Ranking Factor

Anchor text can help users by providing context, but is it a Google ranking factor? You can read about it here.

Keyword-rich anchor text has long been considered a best practice in SEO.

Why?

Because it informs search engines about the type of page your link is pointing to. Many people believe that information plays a role in ranking the page in search results.

Anchor texts are words or phrases that a user clicks on to go to a URL that is linked within a piece of copy.

Anchor text is useful for giving users context on the page they’re about to visit, but does it have any effect on search rankings?

The following are the claims about anchor text as a ranking factor, followed by evidence that either supports or refutes those claims.

The Claim: Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor

Anchor text is thought to be a ranking factor because it assists search engines in associating URLs with specific keywords or key phrases.

Anchor text is important for more than just what search engines can do with it; it’s also important for providing a good user experience by improving website accessibility.

On-page optimization techniques that improve user experience tend to correlate positively with search rankings, which is why anchor text is listed as a top-ranking factor.

When it comes to website optimization, a good rule of thumb is that SEO comes after user experience.

When a website is designed to provide the best possible experience for human visitors, it is frequently optimized for search engines as a result. That isn’t always the case, but you’ll soon discover that it is in the case of anchor text.

What Role Does Anchor Text Play in SEO?

The words used in anchor text can give Google an idea of what the page being linked to (the target page) is about. If a page uses the anchor text “top 10 pizza places in NYC” to link to a URL, Google knows what type of page users are being directed to.

When using generic text (e.g., “click here”), Google has a harder time determining what the target page is about. Just as a website would provide descriptive text to help users, Google should do the same.

In a variety of ways, anchor text improves the user experience. When a user is quickly scanning an article, descriptive anchor text can assist them in quickly identifying the links they’re looking for.

For example, if a user clicks on an article that makes a bold claim, they may want to read it all the way through to find out where the information came from.

In such a case, generic anchor text would not assist users in quickly locating the link they require. It also provides Google with no information about the target page. As a result, descriptive anchor text is preferred over generic words or phrases.

Accessibility is another, less obvious, way anchor text improves the user experience. Consider how a visually impaired website visitor would perceive the experience.

Screen readers are used by users who are blind or visually impaired to navigate the web. As a user navigates a website, the software is used to read off all of the text on a page, including links.

If a user hears “click here” or “read more” for every link on a page, they won’t find it very helpful. In fact, it would be extremely frustrating, and they may choose not to return to the website.

Accessibility is critical to providing a positive user experience. Even if you don’t think it’s important for your target audience, search engines like Google do.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the bottom of the question: Is anchor text a ranking factor?

The Proof of Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor

Yes, anchor text does play a role in ranking.

When inserting links on a page, use descriptive anchor text, as recommended by Google’s SEO Starter Guide.

SEO can be difficult for newcomers to grasp, but it is not a mysterious science. Google wants to provide the most relevant results to users, and it needs the help of site owners to do so.

As a result, Google makes it clear what it expects website owners to do when optimizing pages for its search engine.

Read How to Avoid Duplicate Content With Plagiarism Checker.

When optimizing pages for Google rankings, it’s best to listen to Google. So, what is Google’s take on anchor text?

According to Google’s SEO Starter Guide:

“…the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for Google to understand what the page you’re linking to is about.

With appropriate anchor text, users and search engines can easily understand what the linked pages contain.“

The Starter Guide then recommends the following best practices:

  • Select descriptive text over generic or off-topic text.
  • Instead of a long sentence or paragraph, write a concise text.
  • Make links visible so that they are easy to find amongst the regular text.
  • Use descriptive text for internal links, but avoid keyword stuffing.

More recently, during one of his regular Q&A sessions with the SEO community, Google’s John Mueller confirmed that anchor text is still a ranking factor.

During Mueller’s Q&As, the subject of anchor text comes up frequently. Here’s another example, this time focusing on the user experience of anchor text:

“If you’re updating anchor text internally to make it more easily understandable by users then usually that also helps search engines to better understand the context of those pages. So I would definitely go for that.”

We can’t discuss anchor text as a ranking factor without first discussing its importance in the early days of SEO. Google’s advice on avoiding keyword overuse in anchor text is a nod to how this signal has been abused in the past.

It was once simple for websites to manipulate their rankings by creating links with exact keywords as anchor text. Anchor text was so heavily weighted that pages could rank for keywords that were never even mentioned in the on-page copy.

Long-time SEO professionals may recall that Adobe used to rank for the term “click here” because it was a popular anchor text used by site owners when linking to PDFs.

Google eventually realized that spammers were abusing its overvaluation of anchor text. It addressed this issue in 2012 with the Penguin algorithm update, which targeted manipulative link-building tactics in part.

Sites that try to game their search rankings with exact match anchor text are now more likely to be ignored than rewarded.

Our Opinion on Anchor Text as a Ranking Factor

Google confirms that anchor text is used in search rankings to gain a deeper understanding of pages, which may aid in surfacing those pages for relevant queries.

Anchor text’s strength as a ranking factor is nowhere near what it was before Penguin when sites could rank for any phrase they wanted by building enough keyword-rich links.

Anchor text, on the other hand, is still important in the search engine optimization process.

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