Glossary
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable words that make up a hyperlink. The words you choose tell both readers and search engines what the page on the other end of the link is about.
What anchor text is and why it carries weight
When you read a sentence with a link in it, the underlined words are the anchor text. If a page links to your site with the words Lansing roof repair, Google treats that as a small vote that the linked page is about roof repair in Lansing. Repeat that signal across enough links and it adds up to relevance for that topic.
This works for links pointing into your site from elsewhere, and for links between your own pages. Internal anchor text is fully in your control and often underused. The wording you pick when linking your services page from a blog post quietly shapes what Google thinks that page ranks for.
The types of anchor text
Not all anchors are the same, and a healthy site uses a mix. Leaning too hard on any single type, especially exact keywords, looks unnatural.
- Exact match: the precise keyword, like furnace repair grand rapids. Powerful but easy to overuse.
- Partial match: a phrase that includes the keyword, like our furnace repair team.
- Branded: the business name, like Smith Heating.
- Generic: words like click here or learn more, which pass little topical signal.
- Naked URL: the raw web address shown as the link.
The over-optimization trap
Years ago, businesses gamed rankings by pointing hundreds of exact-match anchors at a page. Google's Penguin update shut that down. Today, a link profile where most anchors are the same exact keyword is a red flag that can suppress rankings rather than help them.
The fix is to stop engineering anchors and let them read naturally. A real mention of your business in a Detroit news article might use your brand name or a plain phrase. That natural variety is exactly what Google now wants to see. Worry less about packing keywords into anchors and more about earning genuine mentions.
Putting it to work inside your own site
The anchor text work that pays off most for a small business is internal. When a blog post mentions a service you offer, link to that service page using descriptive words rather than read more. This passes relevance to the page you most want to rank and helps visitors find it. Done consistently across a content library, internal anchors build a clear map of what each page is about.
The Michigan Business Initiative does this for you
We build the website, run the local SEO, and handle the Google Business Profile work, for a flat 249 dollars per month.