Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Search engines use it as a description of the linked page, which makes it one of the clearer signals of what a page is about, both for links within your site and for links from other sites. For readers, good anchor text sets an expectation they can decide to follow.
What it looks like
The anchor text is the content between the opening and closing a tags.
<a href="/guides/soc-2-checklist">SOC 2 readiness checklist</a>Types of anchor text
- Descriptive: names the topic of the destination, such as “SOC 2 readiness checklist”.
- Exact match: the precise phrase the target page wants to rank for.
- Branded: the company or product name, such as “Quillbrook”.
- Naked URL: the address itself, such as ledgerly.example/pricing.
- Generic: “click here”, “this article”, “learn more”.
Writing anchor text on your own site
On internal links, you control the anchor text, so make it descriptive. Google's link guidance asks for text that is relevant to the target page and reasonably concise, and that reads naturally in the sentence. Vary it the way a person writing naturally would; repeating the exact same keyword phrase in every link looks engineered.
If an image is the link, its alt text plays the role of anchor text.
Anchor text in backlinks
You cannot control how other sites link to you, and you should not try too hard. A natural link profile is mostly branded and descriptive anchors with some generic ones. A profile dominated by exact-match commercial phrases is a common sign of paid or manipulative links, which Google's spam policies address. Anchor text distribution is covered in its own entry.
Common mistakes
Over-optimized anchors
Linking every mention of “project management software” to the homepage with that exact phrase reads awkwardly and looks manipulative. Mix in natural variations.
Generic anchors on important links
“Click here” on the link to your pricing page wastes the one bit of context that link could carry.
Questions
Yes. Google's own documentation says anchor text helps it understand the linked page. It is one signal among many, and it matters most when it is honest and descriptive.
Exact-match internal anchors are not penalized in themselves, but natural variation reads better and still tells Google what the page covers.
