Anchor Text Mistakes Common in Indian Link Building
Anchor text is essential in helping the search engines understand the content on your backlinks. But most of the sites in India make some common mistakes in using too much exact match anchor text, acquiring irrelevant backlinks, and using poor quality guest posts.
Backlinks should not just be gained at scale but be relevant and fit naturally into the content. Recognising these Common Anchor Text Mistakes will help businesses gain a better backlink profile.
What Is Anchor Text And Why Is It Important For Backlink Relevance?
Anchor text refers to the text that is clicked to take the user to a new web page. It allows readers and search engines to see what the link is for.
For example, if you're running a travel website and have written a blog about holiday destinations you may link to a hotel website using the anchor text 'luxury hotels in Goa'. If you're a portal for education you may use 'online degree programmes'.
There are several types of anchor text including:
- Exact match – This uses the target keyword e.g. 'best dental clinic in Mumbai'
- Partial match – This uses the target keyword and extra words.
- Branded – This uses the company/organisation name.
- Generic – This uses phrases like 'read more'.
- Naked – This shows the actual website name.
- Natural/Contextual – This uses descriptive and relevant anchor text.
Anchor text can help with Backlink Relevance but search engines will also look at the referring website, content and destination. This means anchor text is not the only factor that affects backlink quality.
Common Anchor Text Mistakes In India
Many backlink campaigns are set up to gain backlinks fast which can mean that anchor text is overlooked by SEO professionals.
Too Much Exact Match Anchors
An exact match anchor text is when the same keyword is repeated over multiple backlinks. For instance, if the keyword used is 'best dental clinic in Mumbai', then there is a likelihood that the same keyword will be used in most of your guest posts and listings.
Exact match keywords are not always bad, but using the same commercial keyword on different websites may lead to problems.
A better option is to allow the publishers to naturally mention your clinic. Some websites may mention your brand name and others may link to your dental treatments or patient resources. It should all depend on the content of the article.
Duplicate Anchor Text In Guest Posts
Guest posting can be a great way to target relevant audiences. However, if all your anchor texts are duplicated and point to the same destination page this can be an issue.
Imagine you've written 5 articles for property websites. All your anchor texts are 'luxury flats in Gurgaon' and point to your project page.
If you're writing about first time home buyers you may naturally link to an apartment buying guide. If you're writing about property investments you may link to property investment resources. The anchor text should vary depending on the article.
Too Many Commercial Anchors
Commercial anchor texts are phrases that show you're looking to purchase something or get a service. Often online stores, travel companies and real estate businesses will target these anchor texts.
For example, an online clothing store may gain backlinks with anchor texts such as 'buy women's dresses online', 'affordable women's clothing' and 'best online fashion store'. Whilst these phrases do relate to what the website offers, using too many commercial anchor texts can cause repetition.
A fashion blog talking about seasonal trends may link to a clothing collection. A lifestyle magazine may mention your brand. This provides a variety of anchor texts.
Irrelevant Backlinks
Backlinks need to be relevant to the article they're coming from. You want a reasonable connection between the backlink and the content.
If you're a bakery and have received a backlink from a tourist attractions article with the anchor text 'best online cake shop' this wouldn't be very relevant. However, if you're writing about birthday celebrations you could naturally link to your bakery with the anchor text 'custom birthday cake designs'.
This often occurs if you're targeting websites solely based on their Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (DA). Whilst these can be useful for initial research they don't indicate whether the backlink will be relevant.
Not Using Branded And Natural Anchors
Sometimes the focus is placed on the target keywords and branded and natural anchors aren't considered.
For example, if you're getting backlinks from education portals but all your anchor texts are 'online MBA courses' or 'distance learning programmes' there may be very few mentions of your university.
Publishers may naturally mention the name of the organisation, website, programmes and admissions. This will make your backlink profile more authentic.
Using Too Many Keyword Rich Anchors On Low Quality Directories
Directories can help people find companies. However, it's not wise to submit to hundreds of unrelated directories to gain backlinks.
For example, if you're a restaurant and are submitting to lots of general directories with the anchor text 'best restaurant in Jaipur' you'll be creating unnecessary duplicate anchor texts.
You should aim to target relevant and authentic directories related to your industry and location. The names, website, categories and contact details should be accurate.
Why Guest Posts And Paid Backlinks Can Cause Duplicate Anchor Texts
Guest posting can become an issue if the main reason for writing articles is to gain keyword rich backlinks. Some publishers will offer guaranteed do follow backlinks with set anchor texts and placement.
For example, a travel company may gain 15 guest posts all with the anchor text 'best holiday packages in India' and pointing to the same page. An automobile business may use the same anchor text 'best car accessories online' in unrelated articles.
This can cause duplication from the referring websites. Paid backlinks to try and manipulate the search results can be against Google's spam policies. Sponsored links should be placed with the right attributes. For example, rel="sponsored".
You should consider whether the guest posting opportunity is high quality, relevant and whether the content is useful.
How To Spot Over Optimised Anchor Text
Over Optimised Anchor Text occurs when you have a high amount of keyword rich anchor texts. This can happen due to aggressive guest posting, paid links and low quality directories.
For example, you may have 100 referring domains linking to your online furniture store. If many of them are using variations of 'buy furniture online' and 'best furniture store' then this is something to look into.
Some signs of over optimised anchor texts are:
- Too many exact match anchor texts from multiple domains.
- Commercial anchor texts pointing to the same landing page.
- Multiple backlinks coming from similar websites.
- A large increase in keyword anchor texts in a short space of time.
- Too many backlinks coming from unrelated directories.
Whilst this doesn't necessarily mean you're being penalised by Google it can help to spot any patterns.
What Should A Natural Anchor Text Profile Look Like?
A natural anchor text profile will reflect how different websites are mentioning your business, products, services and resources. There isn't a set anchor text ratio to follow.
For example, you may get branded mentions from health care publications. An online fashion store may get backlinks to collections and styling guides. A University may get mentions in admissions guidelines and degree programmes.
The anchor texts will depend on your industry, history of backlinks and how publishers are mentioning your website. You may get branded mentions, descriptive anchor texts, partial match keywords, exact match anchor texts and naked anchor texts.
Don't worry about following a fake percentage ratio. Focus on getting relevant backlinks that are providing value.
How To Fix Common Anchor Text Mistakes
Whilst you may notice some duplicated anchor texts it doesn't mean you should remove all your existing backlinks. You should look at where the backlinks are coming from, whether they're relevant and why they are there.
Look at your backlink profile and see if there are any duplicated commercial anchor texts, unrelated websites or paid links. If the publisher used misleading text then you may want to contact the website owner.
Stop doing link building activities that rely on the same commercial anchor texts and low quality publishing networks. Create resources that are useful to your audience such as travel guides, patient information and educational articles. This will help relevant publishers to genuinely link to your website.
Do not use Google's disavow tool as a regular backlink clean up. This is usually used in certain circumstances where you have a lot of fake/spammy backlinks and you've been hit with a manual action or are very likely to be.
How To Analyse Anchor Text Distribution With Ahrefs And Semrush
Both Ahrefs and Semrush offer backlink analysis tools. This can help you see anchor texts that are duplicated and investigate the referring domains.
Ahrefs
Go to Site Explorer and type your domain. Then go to the anchors report. Look at the anchor texts that are being used a lot and see which pages are receiving the anchor texts. Then go to referring domains to see which websites are linking.
Semrush
Go to Backlink Analytics and type your domain. Then go to the anchors report. Look at how many branded, commercial and descriptive anchor texts are being used. Go to referring domains to see where the backlinks are coming from.
For example, if you're an online furniture store you can look to see whether the duplicated commercial anchor texts are coming from interior design websites or unrelated directories.
These tools won't tell you whether you're being penalised by Google. Use these reports to see any patterns and investigate the quality of your backlinks.
How To Create A More Natural Anchor Text Strategy For Long Term SEO Growth
A successful backlink strategy will focus on earning relevant mentions. Anchors should be relevant to the resource you're linking to and provide useful information.
Don't focus on a set anchor text percentage ratio. Don't target websites with high authority ratings. Look at what the publication is about, the quality of the content, the context of the backlink and where it's pointing to.
I'm Vipul Rajput, an Off Page SEO expert Based in Delhi with 8+ years experience and 100+ projects completed. I have certifications from Semrush, HubSpot and Google Analytics. I focus on relevant backlinks, natural backlink profiles and long term organic growth.
Good backlink building isn't about using the same keyword on as many websites as possible. It's about earning relevant mentions that help your content and improve your search presence in the long run.
