Phoenix Website Design – 5 Best Practices when Writing Anchor Texts

In my previous article, I talked about the anchor texts and how to write one. For this article, I will continue by discussing the best practices. To be honest, anchor texts already existed since the beginning of time. However, many still fail to follow the right way to write them.

Writing better anchor texts can influence your SEO efforts in many ways as discussed on The Importance of an Anchor Text for SEO.

• Anchor texts aid search engines in understanding your website.
• If written appropriately, it can help in strengthening link profile.
• Lastly, a good anchor text can set realistic expectation, and helps the users decide if it’s a link that they should click.

Rule #1: Choose the right words.

Evaluate carefully if the anchor text of the links is appropriate for the topic. A relevant anchor text will give an idea to its readers. They will definitely know what to expect when they click it such as the specific content and the scope of the topic.

When writing anchor texts, be sure to:

• Not use common words such as: ‘click here’, ‘read more’, ‘right here’, ‘know more’ and so on. These words do NOT tell what the link is about. Users may know what the contents are basing from reading the article. However, search engines won’t. Google will only know what the linked page is about basing from the anchor text you provided.
• Not include words that are not related to the linked content.

Rule #2: As much as possible, never stick to a URL anchor text.

Another common practice is that many people use the URL of a page, or better known as Naked URL.

These URLs are not effective anchor texts. Yes, it will not cause problems. However, it ain’t the best choice. It is still recommended to add the specific page title as its anchor text.

Rule#3: Keep the anchor texts short and simple.

If you complicate it, the search engines will have a hard time understanding its purpose. The more words you add, the more difficult for search engines to comprehend.

Here’s a good anchor text:

<a href=”https://phoenixwebsitedesign.com”> The Importance of an Anchor Text for SEO </a>

Example of a ‘bad’ anchor text:

<a href=”https://phoenixwebsitedesign.com”> The anchor text is a link text that is the visible and clickable to its readers.</a>

Rule #4: Link texts should have a different format compared to the normal texts.

Your links should be very visible. The readers should not have a difficult time spotting the link texts from the normal texts. It is recommended to use a different text color for all your links. Usually, clickable link texts are indicated in blue.

Rule #5: Avoid over optimizing anchor texts.

Lastly, you should not over do the linking process. Here are some tips to keep it simple:

1. If you are not sure of the website you are linking, click the “nofollow” tag.
2. When you are uncertain on what text to add, stick to the website or brand name such as Phoenix Website Design.
3. Avoid adding the exact keywords as the anchor texts. For example, use read these linking building tips rather than saying link building tips only.