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We all know the importance of ranking in the top search results of Google and SEO site optimization. But did you know that 91% of websites never get organic traffic because they don’t have backlinks? It clearly shows how important backlinks are when working on your SEO strategy. By building strong backlinks to your website, you can establish it as a reliable source of information in the eyes of Google and build credibility for your business.

Google’s top search results

Finding a spot in the top Google search results becomes much easier when this happens. You must wonder why we are discussing backlinks when the title is clearly about optimizing your anchor text for SEO. It is because backlinks are directly related to anchor text. Anchor texts are words in your posts to link to or within your website.

Use SEO

Having the correct anchor text is very important for SEO optimization because it increases your site’s SERP ranking. This post will tell you how to use your anchor text to optimize your site for SEO and rank in the top search results. But before that, let’s understand the importance of anchor texts.

The importance of anchor texts for SEO

Anchor text has two important roles. The first provides context to readers, and the second provides context to Google. By looking at the anchor text, readers know what to expect on the other side of the text. Accordingly, the user may click on the text or ignore the text.

Getting your anchor text right can help you get more clicks on your links. Users are likelier to click on text when they find it relevant.

Ranking and indexing pages

Anchor text does the same for search engines. Your anchor text tells Google what the web page is about. Search engines also use these anchor texts to rank and index web pages. Therefore, having the right text for your link-building strategy is very important.

Anchor text is a very important part of your SEO strategy. Because it affects off-page and on-page SEO efforts as well as user experience. If you’re unsure how to optimize your anchor text for the best results, here are a few ways to do it. So let’s check them out.

1. Create related texts with anchor text

One of the important factors of Google’s ranking is meeting its users’ search goals. It never wants to create a bad user experience by providing irrelevant answers to queries. That’s why always make sure your anchor texts are relevant.

In other words, the phrases or words you use to link to your website should consist of words that exactly match the subject of your embedded link.

So, for example, say you’re creating a post about learning new photography skills. To make it more relevant to your users, it’s best to link to a post that helps readers learn tools to improve their photography skills. But to do that, you need to choose the anchor text you link to that post carefully. But instead of doing that, if you choose to link to a web page that sells a beauty product, Google It manipulates you and may even fine you.

2. Consider the surrounding text

The next important thing to consider when optimizing your anchor text for SEO is the type of text or words that surround your anchor text. Marketers believe that in many cases, the text surrounding your anchor text also affects whether users click or not.

For example, instead of simply using words or phrases like “click here,” it can be more effective if you say something like “click here to learn more about editing tools to make your photos stand out.”

Simple use of words or phrases like “click here.”

While you might get a few clicks on the former, the latter looks more promising as it validates what it offers to the user. It helps them understand exactly what they will get from clicking the link. So it encourages them to act immediately.

Google’s recent BERT update indicated that it is trying to make the human language more desirable. Humans don’t just read anchor texts to decide whether or not to click on them. Search bots don’t use the same strategy now. So it also considers the text around the anchor and scans them for context before considering the anchor text.

3. Use Variation

If you’re someone who keeps using the same anchor text, it’s time to change your strategy. Repeated use of the same Anchor Text may trigger Google’s spam filter. Using brand names can be a good option. The best practice is always to use variations. It will help you use a more natural linking strategy, which in turn will help you increase your visibility in search results.

Don’t overuse your main keyword.

So when making changes to your anchor text, remember not to overuse or underuse your main keyword. It would help to combine brand names when creating backlinks in a post.

Also, use synonyms of keywords and general terms like click, download, etc. It will help you create the variety you want and will help you achieve the desired results. Optimizing anchor text may not be something you have thought about before regarding SEO optimization. But it’s important to know that doing so can instantly boost your SEO and help you increase your visibility.

4. Too much text

Like keyword stuffing, you can have too much anchor text on a page. Many keywords on a page link to many other pages on a website or to a specific page but with different anchor texts. In this case, you will have too much anchor text. Excessive use of anchor text on your website can lead to Google penalties, as it is considered spammy and unfriendly to the user.