Anchor Text

“Anchor text” is a term used in SEO science to describe the viewable term(s) in a hyperlink. Anchor text is used to create clean, easy-to-read links in a webpage without displaying raw information. While anchor text can be used as a word, phrase, or URL, the URL is generally omitted in a hyperlink that is using anchor text. Anchor text is most often used for SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, because search engines rate webpages higher in search results based on their relevant anchor text links. However, anchor text is often used to simply link to a webpage without displaying a messy URL or other link data.

How Anchor Text Works

Anchor text refers to one of three elements within a hyperlink. For example, the hyperlink “ByteGuide” consists of anchor text, a URL, and the resource elements. The anchor text of the hyperlink is the word “ByteGuide”, which can be seen by the user.

Example:  <a href=”http://www.byteguide.com/”>ByteGuide</a>

The URL of the hyperlink is http://www.byteguide.com/, which can be entered in the hyperlink field of any word processor or entered directly into the link, but is not seen by the end user. The URL of the link determines which webpage the link will display.

Example:  <a href=”http://www.byteguide.com/“>ByteGuide</a>

The resource element of the hyperlink would be any codes that tell the web browser how to create the link itself or modifiy how the link is presented.

Example:  <a href=”http://www.byteguide.com/“>ByteGuide</a>

Applications

Anchor text is most often used to link one webpage to another webpage, but can be used for specific purposes. For example, the popular SEO technique known as “Google Bombing” uses anchor texts to mislead readers into viewing webpages that often have nothing to do with the original subject. Anchor text is also used in e-books and other documents, as well as webpages, to allow users to “skip” to specific sections of the document.