Anchor Text: Keep the flow, lose the URL
By [[User:|]] on
What the heck is anchor text?
Anchor text, also known as a link label or link title is the clickable text in a hyperlink. Seen in blogposts, online articles, or any place you find content on the web, anchor text is a word or string of words that when clicked, will take a visitor to a specific site or page.
Why is strong anchor text important?
Anchor text provides descriptive information about the content of a relevant link. It also helps to determine the ranking a page will receive from search engines.
Anchor text is an appealing and valuable alternative to using links that begin with http://www. because it connects written content to a site or webpage without disrupting the flow of writing. It also let's you incorporate SEO-rich keywords into your online content and that's a good thing for many reasons.
The following sentence is excerpted from an article about increasing your site's speed to improve SEO. It shows two instances of anchor text.
- "Ranking algorithm" links to http://www.aboutus.org/Glossary/Ranking-algorithm.
Using the actual web address for each of the above links would unnecessarily distract and confuse a reader. Both links are very long and do nothing to add keywords to the body of the text. In contrast, the two examples of anchor text enhance the flow of the content while highlighting keywords that are optimized for search engines. Dead are the days of "click here" anchor links.
The benefits of employing great anchor text
As a business owner, you'll want to select your anchor text strategically and replace lengthy URLs, or links, with keyword-rich text. Using Google's keyword tool will help identify keywords, or string of keywords that are widely used and recognized by search engines. In addition to making your content easier to read, the use of great anchor text alerts search engines to pay attention your content. When combined, these suggestions can help even the smallest online business create seamless content that's optimized for search engine visibility and improved ranking.