BACKLINKS & AUTHORITY
Anchor text: what it means and how it works
The clickable words of a link, read by search engines as a description of the target page.
- Beginner level
- 2 primary sources
- Reviewed 29 October 2026
- TopicBacklinks & authorityAlso in Internal linking & site architecture, On-page SEO & content
- LevelBeginnerNo background needed
- Also calledlink text
- Sources2 primary sourcesGoogle Search Central
- Reviewed29 October 2026Re-checked every 12 months
On this page
Quick definition
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link. Search engines read it as a description of the page the link points to, for both internal links and links from other sites.
How it works
<a href="/glossary/canonical-tag/">how canonical tags work</a>For image links, the image’s alt text plays the role of anchor text. Google’s link guidance asks for text that is descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to both the source and the target page.
| Anchor | Useful? |
|---|---|
| click here | No: says nothing about the target |
| used Toyota Probox listings in Nairobi | Yes: describes the target page |
| cheap cars cheap cars kenya cheap | No: stuffed, and a spam signal |
Why it matters
On your own site, anchor text is fully under your control and is one of the clearest ways to tell search engines what each page covers. For backlinks, a natural mix of brand names, URLs and descriptive phrases is normal; a profile dominated by identical keyword-rich anchors is a classic sign of manipulated links.
How to check it
- Export internal links from a crawl and group the anchors used for each important page.
- Replace generic anchors on key pages with descriptive ones.
- For backlinks, review the anchor distribution in a backlink tool export and look for unnatural concentrations.
Common mistakes and misconceptions
Myth Exact-match anchors are always best.
In fact Repeating one keyword-rich anchor across many external links looks manipulative. Descriptive, varied anchors are natural.
Check it on your site
Free tools, no sign-up
- FreeAnchor Text AnalyzerSort a list of anchor texts into exact match, partial match, branded, naked URL, generic and empty, and see which dominate.Open the tool
- FreePage Link ExtractorList every link on a live page with its anchor text, whether it is internal or external, and its rel and target attributes.Open the tool
In the NdovuSEOLabs platform
Run the same checks on every page of your site, with your own data.
Sources and review
- Link best practices for Google Google Search Central
- Spam policies for Google web search Google Search Central
Written and maintained by Ndovu SEO Labs. First published 29 October 2026. Facts last checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. How we write and review the glossary.