How do I use anchor texts for a more discoverable site?
What is an anchor text?
Anchor text definition
An anchor text is a text that contains a link to a web page. The link is essentially in the background of the text. In most browsers, an anchor text is displayed in blue and underlined.
Anchor texts are valuable for both the visitor and Google. For both parties, the anchor text indicates what can be found on the web page of the respective link. Anchor texts are therefore closely related to SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Anchor texts in HTML
An anchor text in HTML looks like this: <a href=”http://www.testing.nl”>test</a>. Here, “test” is the anchor word, and “www.testing.nl” is the website you’re linking to.
You can also link with images. In that case, the alt tag becomes the anchor text. You must ensure that the anchor text is in the alt attribute of the image. In HTML, it looks like this:
<a href=”http://www.vb.nl”><img src=”http://www.testing.nl/test.jpg” alt=”description”></a>.
Anchor texts for SEO
Google uses external anchor texts to determine what your web page is about and how others view your web page. If it turns out that many links are pointing to your web page, you’ll be rewarded for it in the search results. If the referring websites are trustworthy and have a lot of prestige, you’ll be rewarded extra for that.
Suppose you have a webshop selling coats and several good websites link to your website with the term “beautiful coats”. Google will then see that your website is being linked to with a relevant anchor text. In that case, Google recognizes your webshop for the search term “beautiful coats”. Your position for this search term will improve.
Internal and external links
There are two types of links, internal and external links. Both are very important for Google. Below we briefly explain both concepts.
Optimizing internal links
With internal links, you indicate the structure of your website and optimize the user experience for visitors. For example, you can link from the homepage of your website to the category page. And from the category page to the product page.
Google sees user experience as an important ranking factor. So make sure that the internal links on your website are set up as user-friendly as possible.
If many internal links point to a web page, Google will recognize that this is one of the most important pages on your website. If few or no internal links point to a page, this page risks getting a lower ranking.
NOTE: internal links are not only in the body of your website. Internal links also appear in your navigation and footer, for example.
Generating external links
External links refer, as the name suggests, to a web page on another website. An external link pointing to your website is a vote in Google’s eyes. If many links point to your website, Google sees that you’re popular. You’ll be rewarded for that with a higher position in the search results.
External links are also important in another way to generate more visitors to your website. Besides boosting your SEO values, external links can also generate direct traffic. The more direct traffic the external link generates, the more valuable the link becomes.
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Types of anchor texts
It’s advisable to use different external anchor texts. Google may give your website a penalty if you’re suspected of using black hat SEO techniques.
We distinguish 6 different types of anchor texts. We list them below for you and explain in what proportion you can use them for the best result.
1. Brand anchor texts
Brand anchor texts contain your brand name.
Example: On Hulc you can easily start your SEO campaign.
Anchor texts of large brands are usually brand anchor texts. It is recommended to use brand anchor texts if your domain name is the same as your brand name.
2. Exact match anchor texts
Exact match anchor texts consist of the exact search term you want to rank for. Although many think you should focus heavily on this, it is not recommended. We explain this under ‘anchor text ratio’.
3. Generic anchor texts
Generic anchor texts are the typical call-to-actions, such as “click here” or “view the website here”. Google, and website visitors, cannot determine what a website is about with generic anchor text. Therefore, it is often discouraged.
4. URL anchor texts
URL anchor texts contain a literal URL. An example is “https://hulc.io.transurl.nl”. URL anchor texts are recommended for well-known domain names.
5. Brand + keyword(s) anchor texts
A safe way to apply link building is with ‘brand + keyword(s) anchor texts’. You can simply combine the desired keywords with your brand name.
For Hulc, for example, you end up with “Hulc influencer marketing” or “Hulc SEO platform”. You can also make these long-tail, such as “start your SEO campaign on Hulc”.
6. Synonym anchor texts
Synonym anchor texts provide variations on your main keywords. If ‘link building’ is the main keyword, the following synonym anchor texts can be used: ‘what is link building’, ‘link building example’, ‘definition of link building’.
You can discover these search terms by looking in Google for “Searches related to…”. An easy way to find out what’s on your target audience’s mind.
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Anchor text ratio
If you want to engage in link building, it’s advisable to create a diverse link profile. What marketers often don’t realize is that it’s not wise to focus heavily on exact match keywords as anchor text.
An example: suppose you give 5% of the external links the most important, exact search term as anchor text. For 100 backlinks, this means 5 matching, exact anchor texts. For 10,000 backlinks, this means 500 matching, exact anchor texts. The chance that such a large number of different domains use the same anchor text is, of course, very small. Google Penguin can detect this and may penalize you for this reason.
But what anchor text ratio should you use? It doesn’t matter, but choose your anchor texts randomly! For a new page, one external link with an exact matching anchor text is recommended. After that, you can vary between your brand, your domain name, synonyms or long-tail search terms with your brand and other keywords.
Tips for using anchor texts
Google makes combinations of the anchor text
Google not only considers the literal anchor text but also combinations. For example, if you use “free good translation service” as an anchor text, Google will also associate the search term “free translation service” with your web page.
No ‘keyword stuffing’
Don’t use only keywords in the anchor text. The text should remain easily readable for the visitor. Additionally, you want people to click on the link and actually stay on your website. Therefore, the relevance of the link and the anchor text are more important than using many keywords.
No “click here”
Use the word “here” or “click here” sparingly when linking to another web page. Google will not understand what the web page is about, so the link will have little impact on ranking.
Internal linking is also important
It’s good to link internally a lot. This makes it easy for visitors to navigate quickly within your website. Moreover, it improves your website structure, which leads to a better evaluation by Google.
Start your campaign on Hulc
Want to apply the above tips in practice? Sign up on Hulc now! You can easily and without obligation start your campaign. Specify which URL should be referred to and with which anchor text(s). Choose from relevant publisher proposals and give your SEO a boost!
Do you have any interesting additions to this article? Let us know in the comments!