Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text shown for clickable links, this is useful for users, to inform them of the content being linked to, as well as to indicate to search engines the topic the source page is covering. Anchor text is an important factor for both internal and external linking and is used as a ranking signal by Google. Our compilation of key takeaways from Google’s SEO Office Hours sessions below provides details and best practice recommendations for optimizing anchor text.
For more on optimizing your website’s links for search engines check out our additional resources:
5 Internal Linking Strategies to Boost SEO and Drive Organic Traffic.
An SEO’s Guide to the Different Types of Links
Site Removal Request is Fastest Way to Remove Site From Search
Disallowing a whole site won’t necessarily remove it from search. If the site has links pointing to it then Google may still index pages based on information from the anchor text. The fastest way to remove a site from search is using the site removal request in Search Console.
Google Uses Anchor Text on Internal Links for Context but not Select Forms
Google does use anchor text on internal links to understand the context of a page. The text in select forms probably won’t be seen as anchor text.
Image Links Pass the Same Weight as Text Links
Provided you have alt text on the image, which is equivalent to the anchor text, image links should be treated the same as text links.
Google uses Anchor Text Language to Infer Language of the Page
The language used in anchor text of backlinks to your site can be used by Google to infer the language of the page.
Context of Links Affect Link Relevancy
In addition to the anchor text of a link, the ‘Context’ of links can be used to infer the content of the target page which seems to indicate the content on the linking page is also relevant.
Anchor Text is Used for Relevancy
Google does include anchor text for links in to a page for ranking relevancy.
Anchor Text Counts as Page Content
Google does use the anchor text on internal links to understand the content of pages, but also says that links are treated as text on the page so you should avoid stuffing them with keywords.