An anchor text, also referred to as “anchor text,” is the clickable text that you highlight and turn into an active link. An anchor text should inform both users and search engines about what they can expect to find when clicking on the link – it should be both descriptive and explanatory at the same time.
Search engines like Google place significant importance on the words or phrases that are used as anchor text. Just as the anchor text informs users about what they will find by clicking the link, search engines observe and process the words and phrases contained in the anchor text.
Search engines use anchor text to better understand what the linked content is about. If an anchor text includes the primary keyword for the URL being linked to, it can have a very positive effect on that page’s ranking for that keyword or phrase.
Anchor texts are used both internally on websites, for example through links in a menu structure or within content, widgets, etc., but are also used for external links. Google generally places the most trust in anchor texts coming from external websites, as they provide third-party confirmation of what the content is about, rather than relying on the website owner’s own description.
