Anchor text checker

Group every anchor on a page by type, see the ratio at a glance, and catch the patterns that look engineered: repeated exact-match keywords, walls of “click here”, image links with no alt text.

How the checker sorts anchors

TypeExample (keyword: “trail running shoes”, brand: “Acme”)
Exact matchtrail running shoes
Partial matchour guide to shoes for muddy trails
BrandedAcme, Acme’s fitting guide
Naked URLacme.com/shoes
Genericclick here, read more, this page
Imagean image link; the alt text is its anchor
Other descriptivehow to lace for downhill runs

What “natural” looks like

Google’s link best-practice documentation asks for anchor text that is descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to the target, and warns against keyword-stuffed anchors. On your own pages, the most useful anchors are the ones that would make sense read out of context in a list of links, which is exactly how screen-reader users often navigate.

Proportions matter most for backlinks. Google’s 2012 Penguin update targeted sites whose inbound links used the same money keyword over and over. For links on your own page, focus on clarity: replace generic anchors with words that describe the target, add alt text to image links, and avoid using one phrase for two different pages.

Questions people ask

What is anchor text?

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a link. For an image link, search engines use the image’s alt text instead. It tells readers and search engines what to expect on the page being linked to.

What is a good anchor text ratio?

There is no official percentage. Google’s guidance is to write descriptive, natural anchors. For links you control, a healthy page usually mixes descriptive anchors, some branded ones and few generic ones. A high share of identical exact-match keyword anchors, especially in backlinks, is a classic sign of manipulative link building.

What are the anchor text types?

Exact match (the target keyword alone), partial match (contains keyword words), branded (the brand name), naked URL (the address itself), generic (“click here”, “read more”), image (alt text) and other descriptive text. The checker sorts each link into one of these.

Can I check the anchor text of my backlinks here?

Only for pages you name. This tool reads the anchors on one page. To see anchors of all links pointing to your site, export them from Google Search Console (Links → Top linking text) or a backlink index such as Ahrefs, then check individual linking pages here or with the backlink verifier.

Does the same anchor for two different URLs matter?

It can confuse readers and search engines about which page is the best match for that phrase. The checker flags anchors reused for different targets so you can decide whether that is intentional.

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