Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. In a sentence like "read our guide to schema markup," the words "schema markup" are the anchor text. It tells readers what they will get if they click, and it gives search engines a short description of the page on the other end.
It sounds like a small detail, but anchor text shows up everywhere: in your navigation, in your blog posts, and in the links other sites point at you. Getting it right is one of the simplest ways to make a site easier to use and easier to understand.
What is anchor text?
Anchor text is the text placed between the opening and closing tags of an HTML link element. Google's link best practices describe it as the visible text of a link and recommend placing it inside a crawlable <a> element with an href attribute.
When the link is an image instead of words, Google uses the image's alt text as the anchor. If a link has no text at all, Google may fall back to the title attribute, but empty links are a poor experience for everyone, especially people using screen readers.
The concept is as old as Google itself. In their 1998 paper describing the original search engine, Brin and Page explained that they associated link text with the page a link points to, because anchors often describe a page more accurately than the page describes itself.
Why anchor text matters
For people. Good anchor text sets expectations. A reader scanning a page can tell which links are worth clicking without reading every sentence. Descriptive links also help accessibility, since screen reader users often jump from link to link.
For search engines. Google's SEO Starter Guide says link text tells users and Google something about the page being linked to. That helps search engines understand the destination, especially for pages that are new or have little text of their own.
For AI answers. AI search features and assistants rely on the same web of pages and links. Clear, consistent anchor text helps reinforce which page on your site covers which topic, which supports the kind of clean structure that makes content easy to retrieve and cite. It is not a magic switch for AI visibility, but muddy linking makes every system's job harder.
How anchor text works
Common types of anchor text
SEO practitioners group anchor text into a few loose categories. Ahrefs' overview of anchor text uses labels like these:
- Exact match: the anchor is the target keyword itself, such as "payroll software."
- Partial or phrase match: the anchor includes the keyword plus other words, such as "this guide to choosing payroll software."
- Branded: the anchor is a company or product name.
- Naked URL: the anchor is the web address itself.
- Generic: phrases like "click here" or "learn more."
- Image: an image link, where the alt text acts as the anchor.
Internal vs. external anchors
You control the anchor text on your own site's internal links completely. You usually don't control the anchor text other sites use when they link to you as a backlink. That difference matters: internal anchors are a design choice, while external anchors should mostly reflect how other people naturally describe you.
Surrounding context
Google's guidance points out that the words around a link matter too. It recommends avoiding long chains of links next to each other and giving each link some context. A link to a pricing page inside a sentence about comparing plans is clearer than the same link dropped into a list of unrelated links.
Anchor text in practice: an example
Imagine a hypothetical bakery supply store with a blog post about laminated dough. The writer wants to link to the store's guide on choosing butter for croissants.
Weak: "For more on butter, click here." The anchor tells a reader nothing on its own, and Google's guide specifically lists "click here" as something to avoid.
Over-optimized: "Buy the best croissant butter cheap online fast shipping." This crams keywords into the link and reads like spam. Google warns that keyword stuffing violates its spam policies.
Good: "Our guide to choosing butter for croissants compares fat content and brands." The anchor is descriptive, concise, and makes sense even if you read only the link.
A simple test from Google's docs: read just the anchor text by itself. If it doesn't make sense out of context, make it more specific.
Best practices for anchor text
- Describe the destination. Use words that tell people what the linked page covers. Google calls for anchor text that is descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to both pages.
- Keep it short. A few words to a short phrase is usually enough. Whole sentences as links are hard to scan.
- Write naturally. Use the words a person would actually use in conversation. If an anchor sounds awkward when read aloud, rewrite it.
- Vary internal anchors sensibly. It's fine to link to the same page with slightly different phrasing depending on the sentence. Consistency helps, but robotic repetition doesn't.
- Link every important page. Google's link guidance says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site. Strong internal linking also supports topical authority.
- Write descriptive alt text for image links. Since alt text acts as the anchor, "Download the 2026 pricing sheet" beats "image1."
- Check rendered links. If your site inserts links with JavaScript, use Search Console's URL Inspection tool to confirm the anchor text appears in the rendered HTML.
- Don't dictate anchors to other sites. When someone links to you, let them describe you in their own words. Google's spam policies list keyword-optimized anchor text in guest posts, advertorials and press releases that pass ranking credit as a form of link spam.
Common anchor text mistakes
Using generic anchors everywhere. "Read more" and "here" waste an easy chance to tell readers and search engines what's behind the link.
Stuffing exact-match keywords. Repeating the same commercial phrase in every link, on your site or in links you arrange elsewhere, looks manipulative. Historically, Google's Penguin update in 2012 targeted this kind of over-optimization, according to Ahrefs' summary.
Chasing an "ideal ratio." You'll see advice about keeping exact-match anchors to a certain percentage. Google has never published such a ratio. Natural linking produces natural variety.
Linking the wrong page for a phrase. If two pages on your site both get linked with "pricing," readers and search engines can't tell which one is the real pricing page. Pick a primary page per topic and link to it consistently.
Hiding links. Links that are invisible, tiny, or the same color as the background can violate spam policies and frustrate users.
Anchor text vs. link title attribute
Anchor text is the visible clickable text. The title attribute is optional extra text that some browsers show as a tooltip on hover. Google's guidance treats anchor text as primary and the title attribute as a fallback when a link has no text. Don't rely on title attributes to describe links. Put the description in the visible words.
How Butter approaches anchor text
At Butter, we look at anchor text as part of making a site easy to read for people, search engines and AI systems at the same time. Our founder spent 11 years growing a SaaS marketing program and later built and sold an SEO agency, and some of the fastest wins we've seen came from fixing vague or conflicting internal links rather than chasing new ones.
In practice, that shows up in on-page recommendations. The GEO plan includes monthly on-page and off-page recommendations, and the GEO+SEO plan includes unlimited on-page optimization, which covers tidying internal links and making sure each key page has clear, descriptive anchors pointing to it. When we place a backlink, we aim for anchor text that reads the way an editor would naturally write it, usually your brand or a plain description, not a stuffed keyword.
Frequently asked questions
Is anchor text a Google ranking factor?
Google says link text helps it understand the page being linked to, and its link analysis systems use links to figure out what pages are about. Google hasn't published how much weight anchor text carries. Treat it as a clarity signal, not a lever to pull hard.
What is the best anchor text for internal links?
A short, descriptive phrase that tells readers what the linked page covers. It should make sense even if someone reads only the link. Avoid generic phrases like "click here."
Should I ask other sites to use my keywords as anchor text?
Generally, no. Google's spam policies list keyword-optimized anchors in guest posts, advertorials and press releases that pass ranking credit as link spam. Let other sites describe you naturally, which often means your brand name or a plain description.
Does image alt text count as anchor text?
Yes. When an image is linked, Google uses its alt text as the anchor text. Write alt text that describes both the image and where the link goes.