# Anchor Text

The clickable visible text of a hyperlink; it provides search engines with a strong clue about the topic of the linked page.

**Anchor Text (Link Text)** is the clickable, user-visible text portion of a hyperlink. In HTML, it appears as `<a href="...">This part is anchor text</a>`.

Types of anchor text:

- **Exact match:** “keyword tool” → /araclar/anahtar-kelime/
- **Partial match:** “review the best keyword tool”
- **Branded:** “SEOYEN” → seoyen.com
- **Naked URL:** “https://seoyen.com”
- **Generic:** “click here”, “learn more”
- **Image anchor:** If the link is an image, the image’s alt text serves as the anchor text.

Anchor text provides search engines with a strong clue about _what the linked page is about_. However, excessive use of exact match anchors (over-optimization) can be considered spam by the Penguin algorithm.

**Tip:** A healthy backlink profile consists of a variety of anchor types: mostly branded and generic, a small portion partial match, and very little exact match. For internal links, use natural anchor text that is relevant to the topic.