Anchor text is the visible characters and words that hyperlinks display while linking to another document or location on the web. You change your website’s link colors and styles through HTML or CSS.
When deciding what anchor text to use for a link, there are many possible variations on how the text should be.
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What is Exact-Match?
The keyword or phrase you want a page to rank for is the anchor text. For example, if you link to a page about baking recipes on a site of the same name, you would use “baking recipes” as the anchor text.
Other types of anchor text are
- Branded: Branded anchor text refers to the practice of using your brand name as the anchor text for links to your website.
- Partial match: The text that links to your site includes a variation of your target keyword.
- Random or Generic: When you see the anchor text, you know it’s just a random or generic phrase such as “click here.”
- Naked URL: Anchor text is a descriptive link between one web page and another.
- Image: An image’s alt text is known as its “anchor text.”
Right Ratio of Exact Match vs Non-Exact Match
So what is the correct ratio of exact match anchor text to use when building links to a site? It might be tempting to think that you will give yourself the best chance of ranking for a keyword if you build links using only exact match anchor text. This strategy used to be a successful SEO tactic, but its effectiveness decreased a few Google updates later.
Google’s algorithm may suspect that you are using too many exact match links. And in fact, it is best practice to use no more than 10% of your total links as exact match links.
The relevance of the content is more important than the anchor text being an exact match. To ensure that our clients’ sites are well-represented in the search results, we strive to obtain links from pages that use a variety of relevant keywords. It helps us withstand future updates to Google’s algorithm and strengthens our client’s online presence.
What is the ideal percentage of link types in a website?
The consensus among SEO experts about the optimal percentage of links is vague and subjective. Many of them keep their research results and advice private and confidential for business purposes.
Although the exact match recommended percentage has been widely debated within the SEO community, several SEO experts have shown that this percentage is very low.
Building quality inbound links to your website are the most effective way to improve search engine rankings. However, search engines do not want to punish those who attempt to manipulate their ranking algorithms.
Search engines use various means to determine whether links are natural or not, such as:
- What is the main idea of the text included in the link?
- Where is the link placed concerning the surrounding content?
- What is the relevance of the site where a link is pointing?
- Is the link to your site a dofollow or a nofollow?
Dont’s Of Exact Match
It looks unnatural
When writing links, consider how they will appear to a human reader. In some cases, exact match anchor text can look unnatural when placed in the page’s context where it occurs. Also, when trying to force an exact match anchor text on a page, readers and search engines will notice this unnatural occurrence.
Partial match links are good for linking to another site while making your blog look natural. Generic links are also very safe and natural-looking.
Do Not Manipulate the anchor text
When building your link profile, do so from a search engine’s perspective. The days of using exact match keywords to increase your rankings in search are long gone, and it is now viewed as manipulation.
When Google’s Penguin update took effect in April 2012, many sites with excessive exact match links dropped in the rankings. One of the reasons for this update was to enable Google to pick up on paid link schemes and other black hat link-building methods. By contrast, webmasters should spend more time building authoritative, natural, and relevant links.
The percentage of exact-match anchor text in your backlink profile should be about 1% – 2%.
Too many Links
It would be best if you did not use excessive exact match anchor text links, or they will be viewed as spam. You should also not stuff your exact match anchor text with keywords that are not relevant to the content on your page or the linked content.
Building a strong link profile is important to the success of search engine optimization. You want to minimize exact match anchor text, which can trigger a Penguin penalty. Use various links and make sure they are relevant to your business. Focus on links that appear natural when building your link profile; choose sights whose audiences are your target customers.
Exact Match Anchor Text Penalty
Linking to yourself with exact match anchor texts is a risky strategy resulting in a Google penalty. Instead of linking to yourself as “SEO Company Coimbatore”, try using something more natural like [brand + keyword]: Ahbiv Digital Agency, an SEO company from Coimbatore. Otherwise, you risk having your rankings penalized by Google.
Almost half of the cases have exact-match anchor text for keywords a website is trying to rank, which are easily detected by Google’s spam algorithm.
For more details regarding exact match anchor text percentages, feel free to contact us. We are an result-driven SEO Agency and would be happy to assist you with your queries!
