To write good anchor text, describe the page you are linking to in a few words that would make sense on their own, inside a natural sentence. Google's guidance asks for anchor text that is "descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant". Avoid "click here", avoid stuffing keywords, and vary the wording when you ask other sites for links.
The situation is usually one of these. You are editing a blog post and every link says "here". Or a site has agreed to link to you and asks, "What anchor do you want?", and you are tempted to send your main keyword. Both have a right answer, and it is the same one: write the link the way a helpful editor would.
What does Google say good anchor text is?
Google's link best practices give the clearest rule: good anchor text is "descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it's on and to the page it links to." The page, last updated on 10 December 2025, adds a simple test: read only the anchor text, out of context, and check whether it is specific enough to make sense by itself.
Accessibility standards say the same thing for a different reason. WCAG success criterion 2.4.4, a Level A requirement, says the purpose of each link should be clear from its text, or from the text plus its surrounding context. Screen reader users often pull up a list of every link on a page, and in that list "Read more" tells them nothing.
What is descriptive anchor text?
Descriptive anchor text names what the reader will get on the other side of the link. It is usually a noun phrase or the topic of the destination page.
| Weak anchor | Why it fails | Descriptive version |
|---|---|---|
| click here | Says nothing about the destination | our guide to checking anchor text |
| read more | Meaningless in a list of links | how link exchanges work |
| this website | Generic | Google's spam policies |
| best cheap link building services 2026 buy now | Keyword-stuffed, unnatural | a comparison of link building services |
| Knitted Cow invites local residents of Wisconsin to their grand re-opening by also offering complimentary cow-shaped ice sculptures | Far too long (Google's own example) | Knitted Cow invites local residents of Wisconsin |
The last row comes straight from Google's documentation, which labels the long version "weirdly long" and the short one "more concise".
How to write anchor text, step by step
Writing a good anchor takes a few seconds once you have the habit. Work through these in order.
Decide what the reader gets
Before you pick words, name the destination in your head: "a list of free backlink checkers", "the pricing page", "Google's guide to title links". That phrase is usually your anchor, or very close to it.
Put the link on the words that carry the meaning
Rewrite the sentence so the descriptive words sit where the link goes. "To see your backlinks, click here" becomes "You can see your backlinks in Search Console". Google notes that "the words before and after links matter", so the sentence around the anchor is part of the signal.
Keep it to a short phrase
Most good anchors run 2 to 6 words. One word ("SEO") is often too vague; a whole sentence is too long to scan. If you need a long phrase to explain the link, the explanation probably belongs in the sentence, not the anchor.
Don't chain links together
Two links side by side ("see this guide") are hard to tell apart and lose their surrounding text. Google's guidance says not to chain links next to each other. Give each link its own clause.
Write image links with alt text
For a linked image, Google uses the image's alt attribute as the anchor text. A linked logo with alt="Backlinkster" has anchor text; one with no alt has none.
What anchor text should you ask for when you get a backlink?
When another site links to you, ask for your brand name, the title of the page, or a natural description of it, and vary the wording across links. Save exact-match keywords for the rare case where they genuinely are the most natural description.
Branded anchors
Your brand or domain name ("Backlinkster", "backlinkster.com"). These are the most common anchors in natural profiles and carry the least risk.
Page-title anchors
The title of the page being linked, or a shortened version ("How to Check Anchor Text"). They describe the destination well and read naturally in most sentences.
Partial-match and descriptive anchors
A phrase that includes part of your topic without being your exact target query ("a free way to check backlink anchors"). This is what most editorial links look like.
Exact-match anchors
The precise keyword you want to rank for. Google's spam policies list links with "optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts, or press releases distributed on other sites" as link spam when they are meant to manipulate rankings. One or two from relevant sites are normal; a pattern of them is what gets noticed. Our page on a healthy anchor text ratio covers how much is too much.
How is internal anchor text different?
Internal links, from one page of your site to another, can be more descriptive and keyword-focused, because you control them and they come from your own site rather than an independent one. The same rules still apply: describe the destination, keep it natural, don't stuff. Using the same few words for every link to a page is fine internally; varying them helps readers when the context differs. For the rest of the internal-link basics, see what internal links are.
A worked example
Say you are linking to a page called "How to Check Anchor Text" from five places. Internally, "how to check anchor text" in a sentence works every time. For 5 backlinks from other sites, a natural spread might be: "Backlinkster", "this guide to checking anchor text", "How to Check Anchor Text", "a walkthrough of Search Console's linking text report" and "backlinkster.com". Only the page-title anchor matches the keyword exactly. That is 1 in 5 links (20%), which is fine for a handful of links but too high as a share of a whole profile, so later links would lean further toward branded and descriptive wording. Every anchor still tells the reader where they are going. The split is an illustration, not a quota.
Common anchor text mistakes
Most anchor problems come from writing for a search engine instead of a reader.
- Linking "here" or "this" so the anchor means nothing out of context.
- Sending every link partner the same exact-match keyword.
- Linking a whole paragraph, so nobody can tell what the link is.
- Using anchors that promise something the destination doesn't have (a "free tool" link to a sales page).
When you trade links on Backlinkster, the link sits inside a published article on the partner's domain, so the anchor has to fit a real sentence. That pushes you toward descriptive anchors rather than bare keywords.
Frequently asked questions
How long should anchor text be?
Short enough to scan and long enough to describe the page: usually two to six words. Google's documentation gives no word limit but flags "weirdly long" anchors and asks for anchor text that is "reasonably concise".
Is "click here" bad for SEO?
It wastes the link. Google lists "Click here" and "Read more" as too generic, because they tell neither readers nor Google what the destination is about. It won't get you penalised, but a descriptive anchor does the same job better.
Should anchor text include keywords?
Include a keyword when it is the natural way to describe the page, which it often is. Don't force extra keywords in: Google calls keyword stuffing a spam policy violation and suggests asking whether "the reader need[s] these keywords to understand the next page".
What anchor text should I use for backlinks?
Mostly your brand name, the page title or a natural description, varied from link to link. Keep exact-match keyword anchors to a small share of the links you build.
Does anchor text matter for image links?
Yes. For a linked image, Google reads the alt attribute as the anchor text, so give linked images short, descriptive alt text.
Related: What is anchor text? · How to check anchor text · What is a healthy anchor text ratio? · Do image links pass SEO value?