Phoenix Website Design – The Importance of an Anchor Text for SEO
An anchor text is the clickable part of a link. This text is visible to the users and is usually indicated in blue. What you include as the link’s anchor text can make or break your website’s rankings. Hence, choosing the right words is extremely important.
Below, you will get to know the fundamentals of the anchor text and know how it can affect Google penalties. I will also discuss the different ways in creating an anchor. Let’s start with the most basic question.
What is an anchor text?
As I mentioned earlier, the anchor text is the clickable link text. If you want me to be more concrete, it is located within an <a href> tag. Look at the example below to see my point:
<a href=”https://phoenixwebsitedesign.com/blog/”> Example of an anchor text.</a>
Another example is when you do a Google search. Upon showing you the search results, Google will display possible results you may want. The page title of a web page is the anchor text that Google uses.
The Kinds of Anchor Text
When writing anchor texts, it’s really up to you to formulate what it is best depending on the article you are creating. However, if you are still confused on what to add, here are some of the types of anchor text that the SEO practitioners follow.
- The Generic Type – this is the most common anchor text. For instance: “If you want to know more about Phoenix Website Design, please click here.”
- The Page Title – you simply add the title of the article. For example: “4 Things You Should NOT Do on Social Media”
- Brand – you use the brand name as an anchor text such as Phoenix Website Design
- The Exact URL – you just indicate the link without any texts to describe it such as https://phoenixwebsitedesign.com/
- Website name – you are using the website name as your anchor text such as PhoenixWebsiteDesign.com
- Keywords – you add important keywords such as: “You can read my blog post regarding the Switching Domain Names”
The Link Between Anchor Texts and Google Penalties
You see, Google values both internal and external links. If the links pointing to your website seem shady, of course, it become a red flag. Google will start monitor the incoming links. If it sees a valid reason, then, you will definitely be penalized for it.
Links are seen as a vote of confidence. A website that has a lot backlinks will, of course, enjoy higher rankings in the search results. Backlinks are NOT about the quantity. To gain more credible backlinks, you have to read my article about What are the Backlinks That Are Harmful to Your Website?
If you think there are suspicious links, don’t hesitate to have them removed. More on: What to Do after Being Penalized by Google?
Remember, the anchor play a significant role in determining a link’s fate. Google’s Penguin update is there is to make sure that the anchor texts are properly optimized. There are myths lurking around. So, it is best to equip yourself on what is correct and what is wrong. Read: 3 Linking Strategies that You Should Not Believe (Part 1) and 3 Linking Strategies that You Should Not Believe (Part 2)
