Learn how to write anchor text that’s SEO-friendly and improves the user experience (UX) of your website overall. And most importantly, never use “click here” again. (I’m begging you.)
What is anchor text and where does it appear?
Anchor text, aka link text or text link, is the word or phrase that takes you to a destination URL (page the anchor text is linking to). You’ll find it on any text that’s clickable, including website navigation menus, buttons, CTA’s, headlines, footers, and within body copy.
Good anchor text is clear, specific, and relevant to the destination URL; it should never include the dreaded “click here” that I unfortunately still see on many websites and promotional emails.
As a web content writer and job seeker, I’ve explored many company websites where I’d love to be hands-on in improving the UX and SEO by updating the anchor text and other pieces of content. While I can’t become the content manager of every website I visit, I’ll share some best practices and mistakes to avoid when writing anchor text.
Use keyword-rich anchor text that’s relevant to the destination URL
When crawling your website, Google uses the anchor text on your site to inform what the destination URL is about and how it relates to the current page. If you’re linking to other internal pages on your site, make sure your anchor text accurately describes the destination URLs.
For example, I wrote a blog about Chemical-Free Natural Swimming Pools. Using the blog title, or something very close to it, for the link text makes sense as it tells you exactly what the destination page is about. The blog originally appeared on the Luxury Pools website and includes keyword-rich anchor text that links to other blog posts on the site, which helped the website’s SEO.
In addition to SEO, anchor text affects the UX of your website and how easily the user will be able to navigate it. They shouldn’t have to read the text before or after the anchor text to understand the topic of the destination URL. Additionally, if the anchor text doesn’t match or closely match the page title/heading of the destination URL, the user may think the page they’ve clicked on is the wrong page.
Use a descriptive phrase for anchor text
While recently exploring several newsletters from one company, I saw generic, single verbs like “wrote” and “spoke” used as anchor text for articles. While they may seem slightly better than “here,” generic verbs don’t describe the destination URL. This mistake is typically easy to correct as the surrounding sentence should already contain a relevant phrase that would be a much better option for anchor text.
For example, the title of the blog functions as good anchor text in the following sentence: In 2012, Debra Maurer, editor of Pool & Spa Outdoor, wrote and published a blog on How Michael Phelps Trained for the London Olympics.
If I used “wrote” as the anchor text, it would be unhelpful to the user because it doesn’t describe what the article is about.
On buttons, common one-word CTAs like “register,” “order,” and “submit” make sense for anchor text because you want to user to take a specific action. But when linking to pages in body copy, use more descriptive anchor text, especially when linking to articles, announcements, or related pages.
Make it unique from other anchor text on the page
If you use the same exact anchor text on the same page for two different destination URLs, it can confuse the user because they’d have to visit both pages to realize the destination URL is different.
For example, if I used “SEO best practices” as anchor text twice in this blog, but linked it to two different pages, a user may assume the same page was linked twice. It also doesn’t meet accessibility standards, meaning users who rely on screen readers won’t be able to decipher one link from the other.
On a page or newsletter with many links, it’s especially important to ensure that each text link is unique.
Never use “click here” or “here” as anchor text
I included “Don’t use ‘click here’ language” in my 5 Mistakes to Avoid in SEO Writing blog, but it’s worth repeating since it’s a common mistake.
Notice how in the previous sentence, I used the title of the blog, or something very close to it, as the anchor text. It lets you know exactly where the destination link will take you and what it’s about.
An example of poor link text would be if, instead of linking the blog title, I added, “To read it, click here.” If you were scanning the page, or using a screen reader, you’d have to read the previous sentence to know what “it” and “here” are referring to.
Don’t combine “click here” or “here” with good anchor text
I often see web pages in which the majority of the page uses good keyword-rich anchor text, but also includes a few random “click here’s.” I always find this odd because examples of good anchor text are already on the page, so changing the others to be unique and specific is a simple fix.
Button text: Use good CTAs and delete “here” entirely
In marketing emails or promotional pop-ups, I sometimes see a combo of good CTAs with “here” tacked on at the end, e.g., “Contact us here,” “Register here,” “Sign up here.”
Delete “here” entirely; it adds no value to user, and without it, the anchor text is greatly improved:
- Contact us
- Register
- Sign up
Additionally, you can replace “here” with something specific to the offer, or with “today” or “now” to create urgency:
- Contact us for a free demo
- Sign up today!
- Register now!
If you’re using a CTA in body copy where the anchor text needs to be more specific/keyword-rich, you can opt for something like:
- Register for the webinar
- Watch the demo video
- Sign up for our newsletter
Replace generic anchor text in templates
When editing any piece of content, anchor text is among the first things I review and change if necessary. Some email templates and CMS templates/components include placeholder text, which is meant to be replaced or deleted.
Why does “click here” still appear in some email footers?
Every time I scroll to the bottom of a marketing email to unsubscribe, I’m annoyed if instead of “Unsubscribe,” it says, “To unsubscribe, click here.” (For these examples, I’m using italics to indicate what the anchor text would be.) Given that the footer text is already incredibly small, you don’t want to make it even more inconvenient for users to have to search through an entire paragraph just to unsubscribe.
If it’s poor practice, why are major companies and retailers still doing it? They shouldn’t. It’s likely that they never changed it from the original template, or that it’s been that way for so long, no one is looking to change it.
Eliminate “click” and/or “here” from your CTA
Even if it’s not functioning as the anchor text, “click” should never be your CTA unless absolutely necessary. There’s almost always a better option for the action word, e.g., select, choose, explore, read, view, etc. And, if the anchor text is in the footer, it may not even need a CTA.
Poor CTA
- Click here to unsubscribe
- Click to read our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use
- Click to read the article
Improved CTA
- Unsubscribe
- Read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
- Read the article
Standalone anchor text (no CTA)
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
I hope the examples in this blog gave you a good idea on how to spot bad anchor text and some easy steps you can take to improve it.
