Anchor text is the clickable text within a hyperlink. When an external site links to your page using the text "SEO agency Manchester," Google reads that as a signal that your page is relevant to the topic "SEO agency Manchester." Multiplied across hundreds of backlinks, anchor text contributes significantly to how Google understands what your pages are about and which queries they should rank for. Managing your anchor text profile correctly amplifies the value of your link building; getting it wrong can trigger algorithmic penalties that suppress your rankings across all queries.
Why Does Anchor Text Matter for SEO?
Anchor text carries topical relevance signals. A backlink's anchor text tells Google what the linking page's author thought was relevant about your page. Historically, this signal was so powerful that websites could rank highly for competitive keywords simply by acquiring many backlinks with exact-match anchor text for those keywords.
Google's Penguin algorithm (first released in 2012 and subsequently incorporated into the core algorithm permanently) specifically targets over-optimised anchor text profiles: sites with unnaturally high proportions of exact-match keyword anchor text relative to the natural distribution one would expect from genuine editorial linking behaviour.
In 2026, anchor text remains a meaningful ranking signal, but the rules around it are well-established. The goal is to build a link profile that looks like the natural pattern of editorial links a genuinely respected website would accumulate, rather than one that looks like it was engineered to target specific keywords.
What Is a Natural Anchor Text Distribution?
A natural anchor text profile contains a variety of anchor text types in roughly the following proportions:
Branded anchors (30 to 50%): Links that use your brand name as anchor text. "Dynamically," "Dynamically.co.uk," "the Dynamically team." Branded anchors are the most natural link type because they reflect how writers naturally cite sources they are referencing: by name.
Naked URL anchors (20 to 30%): Links where the anchor text is the URL itself. "Visit https://dynamically.co.uk" or just "dynamically.co.uk." These are common in citation-style references and directory listings.
Generic anchors (10 to 15%): Links using generic phrases like "click here," "read more," "this article," "find out more," "source." These are natural because many writers link with generic call-to-action language rather than descriptive text.
Partial match anchors (10 to 20%): Links where the anchor text includes your target keyword alongside other words. "SEO agency in Manchester," "award-winning SEO consultancy," "digital marketing from Dynamically." These carry topical relevance without the over-optimisation risk of exact match anchors.
Exact match anchors (5 to 10%): Links where the anchor text is precisely your target keyword. "SEO agency Manchester," "link building UK." A small proportion of exact match anchors is natural and valuable. A high proportion is a red flag to Google.
Long-tail and variation anchors (5 to 10%): Links using related terms, synonyms, or topic-adjacent phrases. "organic search optimisation," "Google ranking strategies," "technical website SEO." These contribute topical authority signals without exact keyword repetition.
The percentages above are approximate guidance, not fixed rules. The "natural" distribution varies by industry, link source type, and how your brand is known in the market. A brand with a distinctive name will naturally accumulate more branded anchors; a brand with a generic name will have more variation.
How Do You Audit Your Current Anchor Text Profile?
In Ahrefs: Open Site Explorer, navigate to Anchors. This shows every anchor text phrase used in links to your site, sorted by number of backlinks. Export this list and calculate the proportions of each anchor text type.
Red flags to look for:
- Exact match anchor text representing more than 15 to 20% of your total backlink anchor text
- A sudden spike in exact match anchor text from recently acquired links
- Multiple links from different domains all using the same exact match anchor text (particularly suspicious if these were acquired in a short period)
- Anchor text that exactly matches competitive commercial keywords with little variation
Healthy signals:
- Branded and naked URL anchors dominating the profile
- Natural variation in how your brand and content are described across different linking sites
- Exact match anchors representing a small proportion, typically from editorially earned placements where the context made exact match anchor text natural
How Do You Build Links with Appropriate Anchor Text?
You do not always control what anchor text external sites use when linking to you. Genuine editorial links use whatever anchor text the writer feels is appropriate. However, you can influence anchor text in several ways:
When providing outreach templates or link requests: If you are conducting broken link building, unlinked mention outreach, or guest post link negotiations, the context you provide influences the anchor text used. Do not suggest exact match anchor text for commercial keywords. Instead, suggest branded or partial match options: "You can link to our guide on [topic] at [URL] if you'd like to attribute it" encourages natural attribution rather than exact keyword anchoring.
In your own guest post content: When writing guest content for external publications, you typically include one or two links back to your site. Use a mix of partial match and branded anchors for these links. A guest post covering marketing strategy might naturally link to your site with "Dynamically's guide to content strategy" rather than "content marketing agency UK."
In link building for resource pages: When acquiring links from resource pages or directories, the anchor text is often your business name or a description you provide. Provide your brand name as the preferred anchor text rather than a keyword phrase.
Through your own internal linking: Internal link anchor text is fully under your control. Using descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text in your internal links is good practice and has no penalty risk. "Our guide to technical SEO" as an internal link is more informative than "click here," both for users and for Google's understanding of the linked page's topic.
How Do You Fix an Over-Optimised Anchor Text Profile?
If an Ahrefs audit reveals that a high proportion of your backlinks use exact match anchor text, you have two options:
Dilute with new links using varied anchor text: The most straightforward approach is to build new links that predominantly use branded and generic anchors, gradually reducing the proportion of exact match anchors as your total backlink count grows. This approach is safe but slow.
Disavow the worst offenders: If your exact match anchor text is concentrated in links that appear spammy, unnatural, or from low-quality sites (purchased links, blog network links, link spam), disavowing these links via Google's Disavow Tool removes them from consideration. This approach is more aggressive and should be used carefully; disavowing legitimate links reduces your total link authority.
For most UK businesses, the over-optimisation issue is not from deliberate keyword stuffing but from early-stage link building that used exact match anchors without understanding the risk. Gradual dilution through building natural editorial links is usually the right approach.
What Is the Relationship Between Anchor Text and Link Context?
Anchor text does not operate in isolation. Google considers the context of the linking page alongside the anchor text itself. A link from a reputable UK legal website with the anchor "corporate law firm Manchester" to a law firm's website is a strong, relevant signal. The same anchor text in a link from an unrelated cooking blog would be treated with much less weight.
The semantic context of the linking page, the topical relevance between the linking page and your page, and the overall authority of the linking domain all interact with anchor text to determine the combined ranking signal. This is why chasing high anchor text match rates matters less than building links from genuinely relevant, authoritative sites, regardless of what anchor text they happen to use.
Dynamically audits and manages link profiles for UK businesses as part of our ongoing SEO service. If you want to understand what your anchor text profile looks like and whether it is helping or constraining your rankings, get in touch for a link profile analysis.
