What Is Anchor Text and How to Use It for SEO

What anchor text is

Anchor text is the visible, clickable part of a link. In HTML it is the text between the <a> tags:

<a href="https://example.com/crm-development">CRM development</a>

Here the anchor is "CRM development". Search engines use it as a hint about the content of the target page. For the user, a good anchor explains where the link leads before they click.

For images used as links, the role of the anchor is played by the image's alt attribute.

Anchor types

Using "CRM development" as the target query for a page on example.com:

None of these types is bad on its own. Problems start when one type, usually exact match, dominates in an unnatural way.

A safe mix for external links

When other sites link to you naturally, they mostly use your brand name, your URL or a description in their own words. Commercial exact-match anchors appear only occasionally. A healthy backlink profile looks like that:

• most anchors are branded or naked URLs;
• a noticeable share are partial and descriptive phrases;
• generic anchors appear as they do in normal writing;
• exact-match commercial anchors are rare.

There is no official "correct percentage". Instead of chasing a ratio, compare your profile with sites that rank well in your niche and ask: would this link text look normal if nobody was optimising it?

How to use anchors for internal links

Internal links are fully under your control and are treated far more leniently than external ones. Here descriptive anchors are useful and expected.

• Describe the target page. "Our guide to choosing a CRM" is better than "click here".
• Vary naturally. Use different wordings depending on the sentence, not the same phrase on every page.
• Do not point one anchor to different pages. If "CRM development" links to three different URLs, the signal becomes confusing.
• Keep navigation short. Menu items like "Services" or "Blog" are fine; you do not need keywords in every menu link.
• Avoid hidden or stuffed links, such as dozens of keyword links in the footer.

How over-optimised anchors are penalised

Both search engines treat manipulative anchors as a sign of bought or artificial links.

• Google evaluates link spam inside its core ranking systems. Unnatural links may simply be ignored, and in clear cases a manual action for unnatural links can appear in Search Console.
• Yandex has applied filters to sites that grow rankings through purchased SEO links; a large share of commercial exact-match anchors from low-quality donors is one of the typical warning signs.

Common symptoms are a sudden drop in rankings for the exact queries used in anchors, while brand traffic stays stable.

What to do if you suspect a problem

1. Export your backlinks from Google Search Console, Yandex Webmaster and a third-party tool.
2. Group them by anchor type and look for clusters of identical commercial anchors.
3. Remove links you control or asked for; contact site owners where possible.
4. Use the disavow tool in Google only for clearly manipulative links you cannot remove.
5. Shift efforts to content that earns natural, branded links.

Common mistakes

• Ordering links with a list of exact anchors. The fastest way to an unnatural profile.
• "Click here" everywhere internally. You lose a free, safe relevance signal.
• Keyword-stuffed anchors in guest posts and footers. Easy for algorithms to spot.
• Over-correcting. Removing good natural links just because they contain a keyword.