Anchor text is the visible, clickable words of a hyperlink, the text a reader actually sees and clicks rather than the underlying URL it points to. It shows up in internal links pointing elsewhere on the same site and in backlinks pointing to other domains, and in both cases, the words chosen carry real signal about what the destination page covers.
Different anchor types serve different purposes and carry different risk levels: exact-match anchors that mirror a target keyword directly, brand anchors using a company name, generic anchors like "click here" or "learn more," and compound anchors blending more than one type. A natural link profile, whether internal or external, tends to include a mix rather than leaning heavily on any single type, since real writers vary their phrasing without thinking about it, and overreliance on any one pattern is exactly the kind of thing that reads as engineered. Beyond SEO, clear, visually distinct anchor text, standing out through color or underlining rather than blending into surrounding text, matters directly for usability and accessibility: a reader scanning a page needs to be able to spot where the links actually are.
