Anchor Text Best Practices for Internal and External Links

Imagine you are following a trail of signposts through an unfamiliar town. One sign reads town museum, this way. The next simply says here. Which one helps you? The first tells you exactly where you are going; the second leaves you guessing. The words on a link work in exactly the same way, and those words have a name: anchor text. Getting them right is one of the simplest, most overlooked ways to make your website clearer for both readers and search engines.

Anchor text is the visible, clickable wording of a link, usually shown in a different colour or underlined. It might seem like a tiny detail, but it does a surprising amount of quiet work. In this guide we will explain what anchor text is, why it matters, and how to write it well for both the links within your own site and the links pointing to it from elsewhere.

What anchor text is and why it matters

Anchor text is the word or phrase a reader actually sees and clicks. Behind it sits the destination address, but the reader experiences only the words. Those words set an expectation. Good anchor text describes where the link leads, so the reader knows what they will get before they click. Vague anchor text breaks that promise and leaves people unsure whether to bother.

Search engines pay attention too. They read anchor text as a clue about the page being linked to. If many links to a page use words describing a particular subject, that reinforces what the page is about. This makes anchor text a genuine, if modest, signal in how pages are understood and ranked. It is one more reason to be thoughtful about the words you wrap around every link.

Describe the destination

Search engines advise using anchor text that gives a clear idea of what the linked page is about, helping both people and crawlers navigate with confidence.

Source: Google Search Central

The golden rule: be descriptive and natural

If you remember only one thing from this guide, make it this: write anchor text that describes the linked page honestly and reads naturally in the sentence. The classic mistake is the bare phrase click here, which tells nobody anything. Compare click here for our guide to keyword research with our guide to keyword research walks you through the basics. The second version names the destination, flows naturally, and helps everyone, including the reader skimming for the link they need.

Descriptive anchor text does double duty. It improves the reader's experience by setting clear expectations, and it gives a gentle, accurate signal to search engines about the linked page. You rarely have to choose between the two; writing for the reader almost always produces anchor text that works well for search too.

Avoid the common pitfalls

A few habits weaken anchor text. The first is vagueness, the click here and read more phrases that describe nothing. The second is the opposite extreme: cramming exact keywords into every link in a forced, repetitive way. Natural language wins; an obviously manipulated link reads awkwardly and can even look suspicious. The third pitfall is using the same anchor text for links that lead to completely different pages, which confuses everyone about which page is which.

Types of anchor text, with examples
Type	Example	When to use
Descriptive	our beginner's guide to backlinks	Most of the time; the safest, clearest choice
Branded	the name of a site or product	When linking to a named source
Natural phrase	as this research found	When citing within a sentence
Generic	click here, read more	Best avoided; tells nobody anything
Over-optimised	exact keyword, repeated everywhere	Avoid; looks manipulative

Anchor text for internal links

Internal links are the links between pages on your own site, and here you have complete control over the anchor text. Use that control wisely. Descriptive anchor text on internal links helps search engines understand how your pages relate and which topics each one covers. It is one of the most reliable ways to reinforce your site's themes. Our wider guide to internal linking shows how these connections shape your whole site.

Because you control internal anchor text, it pairs naturally with deliberate keyword mapping. When you know the primary keyword each page targets, you can write internal anchor text that gently reflects that focus, without overdoing it. This consistency strengthens the way topic clusters group related content, because the links between clustered pages clearly describe what they connect.

Vary your wording

Even when linking to the same page from several places, vary the anchor text a little. Real, natural writing does not repeat the identical phrase every time, and a healthy mix of slightly different descriptive phrases looks far more natural than the same exact words again and again. The goal is always clarity for the reader first; natural variation follows from simply writing well.

Clarity over cleverness

The strongest anchor text is simply the phrase that most honestly describes where the link goes, written the way you would say it to a friend.

Source: Moz

Anchor text for external links and backlinks

External links come in two directions. There are the links you place pointing out to other sites, and there are the links from other sites pointing to you, often called backlinks. For the outbound links you create, the same rule applies: describe the destination clearly and honestly. When you cite a source, naming it or describing what the reader will find is far more helpful than a bare here.

Backlinks are trickier because you usually do not control the words other sites use to link to you. This is mostly fine and even healthy; a natural range of anchor text pointing to your site is exactly what you want. The understanding of backlinks and how to earn them matters here, and as our guide to link building explains, the aim is to earn genuine mentions rather than to engineer identical, keyword-stuffed anchors, which can look unnatural and cause problems.

How anchor text supports the bigger picture

Anchor text rarely makes or breaks a page on its own, but it is part of the fabric of clear, helpful linking that runs through good search optimisation. It supports your on-page SEO by making every link purposeful, and it reflects the broader logic of how search optimisation works: countless small, sensible choices that together make a site easy to understand.

Think of every link as a tiny act of hospitality toward your reader. You are pointing them somewhere useful, and the anchor text is your way of saying clearly where that is. Do that consistently across your site and you build something that feels trustworthy and effortless to navigate. If you would like a review of how your links and anchor text are set up, you can always get in touch.

A simple checklist for great anchor text

Before you publish, run each link through a few quick questions. Does the anchor text describe where the link goes? Would it make sense read aloud, out of context? Does it flow naturally in the sentence rather than feeling bolted on? Have you avoided the bare click here and the awkwardly repeated exact keyword? If you can answer yes to all of these, your links are doing their job beautifully, guiding readers and gently informing search engines at the same time.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best length for anchor text?+

There is no fixed rule, but a few descriptive words usually work best. A short phrase is long enough to describe the destination clearly yet short enough to read at a glance. Avoid single vague words like here, and avoid wrapping a link around an entire long sentence, which dilutes its meaning.

Can I use the same anchor text for every link to a page?+

It is better to vary it. Repeating the exact same phrase for every link can look unnatural, especially at scale. Natural writing produces slightly different descriptive phrases for the same destination, and that variety reads more authentically while still pointing clearly to the same useful page.

Do I control the anchor text of backlinks to my site?+

Usually not, and that is perfectly fine. Other sites choose their own wording when they link to you, which naturally creates a healthy mix of phrases. A natural, varied range of incoming anchor text is exactly what you want, rather than rows of identical keyword-stuffed links.

Is generic anchor text like read more ever acceptable?+

Occasionally, in a design context like a button, it can be hard to avoid. But wherever you can, replace it with a descriptive phrase. Readers using assistive technology especially benefit from anchor text that makes sense on its own, so descriptive wording is both clearer and more inclusive.

References

Google Search Central. "SEO Starter Guide: Use Links Wisely." developers.google.com.
Moz. "Anchor Text: The Beginner's Guide to SEO." moz.com.
Ahrefs. "Anchor Text: What It Is and How to Use It." ahrefs.com.

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