What is anchor text and how you should use it on your blog
Website and blog owners know that digital marketing is multifaceted. In order to compete effectively in the digital world you need to have a good understanding of all these aspects.
Anchor text is probably one of the most overlooked aspects of digital marketing. It may not seem to have obvious importance like SEO strategy, but it can play amassive role in how many clicks a link on your blog earns. And it can even affect your website’s search engine ranking.
What exactly is anchor text?
Anchor text refers to the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. It usually appears underlined and in color as opposed to surrounding standard text. The purpose of anchor text is to serve as a description of what to expect when you click on the hyperlink. It also helps to give context to search engine crawler bots.
Why is anchor text important?
Any digital marketer out there will tell you that internal links are important. This is because these links make it easier for digital readers and search engines to navigate your site. In the long run this helps to optimize your existing SEO strategy, improves your search engine ranking and increases traffic to your website.
Anchor text is an integral part of internal linking. Because before you click on a hyperlink, you read the anchor text. When done correctly, this text should entice you to click on the link.
But don’t link just for the clicks. You want to create an internal linking structure that adds value to your site. Make sure the articles you link to can be of use to your readers. Create great anchor text for you links. This way you readers will know that the link has been carefully selected just for them.
How to use anchor text on your blog
When creating anchor text for your blog there are a few things to keep in mind…
- Ensure that the text makes sense in context of the post it’s being placed in.
- The anchor text must convey the value of the link.
- The article you’re linking to needs to be relevant and provide value to the reader.
- While you need to be descriptive, avoid using full sentences as you anchor text.
- Your anchor text should always make sense in context of your writing. Using keywords is great. But don’t force it or you risk sounding unnatural.
- When creating anchor text keep it underlined with the contrasting color and different font. It may be tempting to stick to your website’s custom font and style, but this may cause readers to miss your links.
Types of anchor links
Anchor text plays an important part in improving your internal linking structure. With this in mind, your content can be linked to in various ways such as…
- Brand Links – A link that uses your brand name as an anchor.
- The URL – A link that just your website’s URL without any text. It’s quick and easy to do, but doesn’t add any value to your link.)
- Website Name – This is a link with simply the name of your website.
- Article Title – This text is an exact copy of the linked article’s title.
- Keywords – Using keywords of phrases as anchor text.
- Partial Keywords – Using variants of keywords and phrases to makes sure your link is readable in context of the post.
- Related Keywords and Phrases – These aren’t a direct match but they are closely related to your primary keywords and phrases.
- Generic Links: Generic links contain phrases like, “click here” and “read more” links. They’re vague and don’t add much value.
Conclusion
When blogging, remember that creating good anchor text is just as important as choosing the articles you want to link to.Optimizing your anchor text will improve the quality of your website and create a better experience for readers on your website.
By using concise, descriptive terms, diversifying your text, and incorporating targeted keywords your anchor text will be second to none.