Anchor text distribution

Anchor text distribution is the overall mix of clickable link text pointing at your pages. A natural profile is mostly branded and bare-URL anchors with a scattering of partial-match phrases; a heavy concentration of exact-match commercial anchors (e.g. “cheap running shoes” repeated across hundreds of links) is a classic manipulation footprint that can trigger a penalty.

First used in: 2.7 · Link building & digital PR