The anchor text is the text that surfers click on in a hyperlink. The words in the anchor text can make or break your search engine ranking. This text is also referred to as the link label. While anchor text does not have to involve the link’s actual text, it is more useful to readers if it is. So be sure that such text links provide useful hints regarding the destination’s content. If search engines can figure out the topic of your page by the anchor text, this will move you up in search results.
Therefore, anchor text, when used properly, will improve number of hits your pages receive. Refrain from having link text like “click here”, since search engines will not have your site’s relevant information. Text backlinks also lead visitors to your pages. Occasionally backlinks are termed inbound links. Top ten Google results can include pages that are not using the search phrase on the destination page. This type of ranking is reffered to as “Google bombing” (or simply link bombing). Some of these link bombs are pranks, such as the famous 2003 Googlebomb pointing searchers to the White House page for President George W. Bush — as the best response when anyone typed in the phrase “miserable failure.” Link bombs aided writers who use humorous phrases as backlinks to win a high ranking. Less common phrases will lead to higher listings whenever it is searched. On the other hand, a word that is quite common will return several pages of search results.
However, Google announced in January 2007 that a reduction in “Google bombing” was a result of enhancements made to the search process. You can help other sites link to your pages by providing the HTML to add your link to their pages. This way, you will be picking your own anchor text. But be careful — if your site is all about pink doodads, then don’t just use “pink doodads” as the phrase in every link to your site. This can bring about another problem, referred to as “over-optimizing.” If you overuse your search terms, the search engines may penalize you for keyword stuffing or spamming. On the other hand, most search engines, and especially Google, give higher rankings to websites that have many high-quality backlinks.
Two examples of quality backlinks are:
1) optimized search phrases pointing back to your site
2) The highly relevant content on the backlinking website
When developing your content, here are the main ways you can use anchor text links:
1) Have links from external web pages
2) Internal links within your own site
3) Links from your site’s default page, website navigation in particular
Finally, keep in mind that you are speaking to live human beings, not just search engines, so the phrases in your anchor text links seem sensible to readers, in order to be useful to them, and thus to bring you more visitors.