Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. In the sentence “Read more about SEO”, “SEO” is the anchor text. Search engines use anchor text to understand what the linked page is about, making it an important part of search engine optimisation.
Why is anchor text important for SEO?
Googlebot analyses anchor text to determine two things:
- Relevance — the link text tells the search engine what the target page is about. A link with the text “WordPress plugins” to a page about plugins confirms the topic.
- Context — the words surrounding the link provide additional signals about the content of the target page.
Good anchor texts strengthen your internal link structure and help search engines better understand and index your WordPress website.
Types of anchor text
| Type | Example | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Exact match | WordPress plugins | Sparingly — too many can look spammy |
| Partial match | “the best plugins for your website” | Natural and effective |
| Branded | WP Agency | Good for brand recognition |
| Generic | “click here”, “read more” | Avoid — provides no context |
| URL | https://wp-agency.uk | Only if the URL itself is informative |
Best practices
- Be descriptive — “read our SEO guide” is better than “click here for more information”.
- Vary — do not use the same anchor text repeatedly for the same target page. That looks unnatural.
- Keep it short — two to five words is ideal. Entire sentences as anchor text are unclear.
- Link relevantly — the anchor text should match the content of the target page.
Anchor text in WordPress
In the Gutenberg editor you create a link by selecting text and clicking the link icon (or Ctrl+K / Cmd+K). The selected text automatically becomes the anchor text. WordPress also makes it easy to search for internal links by page title, so you can quickly link to relevant content.
A consistent internal linking strategy with descriptive anchor texts is one of the most powerful SEO techniques you can apply — and it costs nothing.
