How to use anchor text without over-optimising it

Updated in 2026: The original post encouraged exact-match anchor text. That advice can produce unnatural writing and link-spam risk. This version focuses on reader clarity.

Anchor text should tell people what they will find after following a link. Use concise, descriptive wording for internal links; do not manufacture keyword-heavy external links to manipulate rankings.

Compare these links:

• ‘Read more.’
• ‘Read how Google discovers links.’

The second link remains understandable when read out of context. It helps sighted readers scanning the page, people using assistive technology and search systems interpreting the relationship between pages.

Internal anchor text

Link when the destination genuinely continues the current task. Name the subject naturally and vary the wording when the context changes. You do not need to force the same exact phrase into every link.

Avoid long lists of keyword links in footers, repeated site-wide blocks and vague labels such as ‘click here’. Also avoid adding links merely because a tool reports that a page needs more internal authority. The reader still needs a reason to follow them.

External anchor text

You usually control the wording on your own site, not on sites that independently cite you. That variation is normal. Asking publishers to insert a prescribed commercial phrase can turn editorial outreach into ranking manipulation.

Paid, affiliate and user-generated links need the appropriate relationship attributes. Google’s link qualification guidance explains rel="sponsored", rel="ugc" and rel="nofollow".

Use anchor text as navigation copy, not as a scoring exercise. If a person can predict the destination and the link belongs in the sentence, the wording is probably doing its job.