← Blog | November 14, 2026
Anchor Text Basics: How to Keep Your Backlinks Natural
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It gives readers and search engines a hint about the page it points to.
Common types of anchor text
- Branded: your site or company name.
- Naked URL: the plain web address.
- Generic: phrases like click here or read more.
- Exact match: the keyword you want to rank for.
- Partial match: a natural phrase that includes the keyword.
Why variety matters
In a natural profile, people link in many different ways. If almost every link uses the same keyword, it can look forced. Mix branded, URL and descriptive anchors, and use exact match sparingly.
Check your own profile
Export your anchors from your backlink tool and paste them into our Anchor Text Ratio Calculator to see which anchors you use most.
Keep it simple
Write anchors the way a real person would describe the page. If it reads naturally in the sentence, it is usually a good choice.