Links from one website to another usually have anchor text, unless they are links in the form of images. Anchor text consists of the word(s) which are visible and have to be clicked on to use the links. There are a variety of ways to use anchor text which work, but some offer more benefits than others.

When you use correct methods of creating anchor text links, it can make your web pages shorter (which makes them load faster and use less bandwidth) and have search engine optimization benefits. If you are linking to another web site/page you own or receive income from, using a descriptive anchor text phrase may improve the ranking in search results of the page you are linking to. Even if you receive no benefit from people visiting the other website, using correct and descriptive link text will help search engines provide users with more relevant results. Applying correct anchor link wording also helps visually-impaired people use the website more easily.

Websites often use phrases such as “To visit Burlington Vermont’s website, click here”, with “click here” as the anchor text for the link. A more correct way to do this would be to simply have a link with the anchor text “Burlington, Vermont.” This isn’t as long, and will have the above-mentioned effect on search results. Thus, after search engines have found this link, people will be more likely to see the Burlington, VT city website in results from searching for “Burlington, Vermont.” It is also more convenient for visually-impaired people using software which reads the web page to them, as the link destinations can be more easily identified. However, you should be careful not to have any other words on the same page which look like links (underlined and a different color than the rest of the words).

Full or partial URL addresses are also sometimes used as anchor text. This eliminates the above-mentioned search engine benefits, is usually longer than other forms of links, and is generally unnecessary because people can already see the URL by moving their mouse cursors over the links. One exception where an address as the text is more correct involves links to e-mail addresses. Not everyone uses software based e-mail programs (others use web-based systems like Yahoo! Mail), so it is more convenient to make available both the actual e-mail address and a link to it. As for references to competitors’ websites or sites you disapprove of, it is better not to create links to them at all, as it will only help such websites by improving their search rank.

Keeping these recommendations in mind should help you use anchor text links in a more correct manner, both making your website easier to use and providing search engine optimization benefits.

Related posts:

1. Anchors Aways: Anchor Text Optimization for SEM

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