Defining Anchor Text Types
In this task, we’re going to be checking the internal links and anchor text used for given website pages.
The Types of Anchor Text
Miscellaneous Anchor Text
This anchor text is anything that falls under generic and doesn’t focus around a specific keyword or phrase.
Generic
Generic anchor text may be something like:
-Click here
-Check this out
-Here
-This website
NoText
NoText anchors typically come from images which don’t have an alt tag attribute which Google reads as anchor text.
You’ll see these show up like:
Image
Image anchors will show as just the anchor text with no surrounding text.
Topic
Topic anchors will show the title of the page / blog article that it’s linking to.
For example, if page A is titled “How to Camp for Beginners” and page B is titled “Camping Tents for 5+ People”
Because Page A is a blog post, Page A might use the anchor text “Camping Tents for 5+ People” when linking to Page B which would also be the topic or title of the Page B.
We would then mark this as a Topic anchor.
This can get quite tricky when the topic of the page is also the target keyword which then this would need to be marked as Target Anchor Text.
If you have any questions about this, just ask.
Here are some more examples of topics if these were anchors:
6 Useful Tools for Starting (and Enjoying) a Backcountry Campfire – Gander Outdoors
5 Lesser-Known National Parks You Can’t Miss in 2019
10 Unique Gifts for the Camping Enthusiast in Your Life – Gander Outdoors
Avoid a Bear Scare: A Complete Guide to Bear Safety
You can see these look like blog topics, so to play it safe, if it looks like a blog topic as an anchor, just mark it as a Topic Anchor.
Target Anchor Text
Target anchor text mostly focuses around words that are slightly matching the target keyword and words exactly matching the target keyword. Sometimes a brand can also be mentioned.
LSI
LSI keywords and anchors are words that are relevant to the target keyword of the page.
For example, if Page A has a target keyword of Camping Gear, LSI anchor text might be:
-Outdoor equipment – another way of saying camping gear.
-Outdoor supplies – another way of saying camping gear.
-Tents – a specific item that can be included in camping gear.
-Boots – a specific item that someone might use when setting up camping gear.
-Outdoor clothes – a specific item that someone might use when camping.
The idea behind LSI keywords is that you would probably find them in the same article as the target keyword as the two are closely related.
In the above example, it’s easy to see how all these anchors could be relevant towards camping gear but don’t exactly mention “camping gear” together, so we mark these as LSI.
If #1 said “outdoor camping gear equipment”, this would be marked as a partial match, and not an LSI keyword because camping gear is used within this example.
Brand + Keyword
Simply put, these are anchors which include the brand name in combination with a keyword.
For example we have the brand Camping World:
-Camping World tents
-outdoor gear at Camping World
The structure tends to look like this – [Brand] + [Keyword].
Partial Match
Partial match anchors are anchors that “partially” match the target keyword for the page.
Essentially, if your target keyword for Page A is “camping equipment” – a partial match anchor might look like:
-This camping equipment list
-Great camping equipment
-This list of camping equipment
Basically, you’re looking for supporting or filler words in combination with the target keyword.
Exact Match
The easiest to discover of them all. An exact match anchor is exactly the target keyword and any plural/singular modifiers.
For example, if our target keyword is “camping equipment” exact match anchors would look like the following:
-Camping equipment
Or if our target keyword was “Hiking Boot” the exact match anchors would be:
-Hiking boot
-Hiking boots
URL / Brand Anchor Text
URL Anchor Text
URL anchor text is simple, it’ll be discovered as a URL, most of the time displayed as a resource to a page like so:
-www.ganderoutdoors.com/shooting/guns
-www.ganderoutdoors.com/shooting/
Brand Anchor Text
Brand anchor text is also very simple, this would match the name of the company or website you’re researching.
If we’re talking about our client Camping World, we’ll look at all brand related anchor text like:
-Camping World brand
-Camping World
-Camping World here
Branded anchor text includes miscellaneous words such as:
-Here
-Go
-Download
-Choose
-Make
The only time a branded anchor text wouldn’t fall into this category is if it were paired with a keyword like:
-Camping World Tents
-Camping World Hiking Boots
Then these would fall under Brand + Keyword anchors.
Naked
Naked anchors are essentially the same as URL anchors but they have the target keyword within the URL.
For example, if our target keyword is “camping gear” and this page also has /camping-gear within it’s URL then:
If Page B is linking to Page A with the anchor text:
-https://www.campingworld.com/camping-gear/specials
Then this will count as a naked anchor text because “camping gear” is within the anchor text and is in URL format.