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Link Building

Anchor Text Best Practices for Guest Posts

How to choose anchor text that reads naturally, gets approved by publishers and avoids over-optimisation.

Table of contents

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link. Good anchor text tells readers — and search engines — what they will find on the other side.

The main types

  • Branded: “DigitalTechTop”
  • Naked URL: “digitaltechtop.com”
  • Descriptive: “this guide to evaluating publishers”
  • Partial match: “choosing guest post websites carefully”
  • Exact match: “guest post websites”
  • Generic: “read more”

Practical rules

  1. Write the sentence first, then link the natural words. If the sentence only exists to hold the link, rewrite it.
  2. Default to branded or descriptive anchors.
  3. Use exact match sparingly and never repeatedly across placements.
  4. Keep anchors short — usually 2–6 words.
  5. Match the destination. Don’t anchor “pricing” to your homepage.

Generate options quickly

Our AI Anchor Text Generator suggests a natural mix for any target page.

Frequently asked questions

What is anchor text?

The clickable words of a link. Search engines use it as a clue about the linked page.

Is exact-match anchor text bad?

Not in itself, but many identical exact-match anchors pointing at one page look unnatural and are often rejected by editors.

Sources & references

  1. Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide (link text)
DigitalTechTop Editorial Team

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DigitalTechTop Editorial Team Editorial Team

The DigitalTechTop editorial team writes and reviews our guides on SEO, guest posting, link building and content marketing. Articles are fact-checked against primary sources and updated when guidance changes.

  • SEO
  • Guest posting
  • Link building
  • Content marketing
  • AI for content

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