Anchor Text
The visible clickable text in a hyperlink that tells Google what the linked page is about.
Anchor text is the visible, clickable words of a link. It tells both readers and search engines what the destination is about, which is why descriptive anchors outperform "click here". Over-optimising it — repeating the same exact-match phrase across many links — is a well-known spam signal rather than a ranking shortcut.
Definition
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Search engines use anchor text to understand what the linked page is about. Types include: exact match ("SEO tools"), partial match ("best SEO tools"), branded ("SlapMyWeb"), generic ("click here"), and naked URL.
Why It Matters
Natural, descriptive anchor text helps Google understand page topics. Over-optimized exact-match anchors can trigger penalties. A healthy backlink profile has diverse anchor text types.
Example
Good: <a href="/tools/word-counter">free word counter tool</a>
Bad: <a href="/tools/word-counter">click here</a>
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