What anchor text tells Google, and what it tells a reviewer
The anchor is the clickable text of a link. Search engines read it as a short description of the page it points to, which is why it matters, and why a profile where most links use the exact phrase you want to rank for looks arranged rather than earned. Real links are written by people who use your name, paste your address or write "this guide". They rarely all use the same commercial phrase.
The seven kinds this tool sorts anchors into
- Branded: your name or domain label, such as "Backlink Market".
- Bare URL: the address itself, such as
backlinkmarket.co. - Generic: "click here", "read more", "this site".
- Exact match: the keyword you want to rank for, and nothing else.
- Partial match: a longer phrase that contains the keyword or most of its words.
- Other: descriptive text with no keyword or brand in it.
- Image or empty: a link with no text, usually an image.
What the warnings are based on
Google publishes no safe percentage, so these are rules of thumb used by people who audit link profiles, not limits. Exact match tends to stay under about 10 to 20 percent in a profile that was earned. Brand and bare-URL anchors tend to be the largest share, since they are what people write when nobody asked them to write anything. A single repeated non-brand phrase above about 15 percent stands out. Treat a warning as a reason to look at where those links came from, not as a verdict.
How to get your anchors
- In Ahrefs, open Site Explorer, then Anchors, and export the CSV. The tool reads the Anchor column and weights it by referring domains.
- In Semrush or Majestic, export the anchor text report the same way.
- With no export, list the anchors yourself, one per line. Add a count after a comma when one anchor appears several times.
Weighting by referring domains is deliberate. Fifty links from one site are one vote, not fifty, and counting them as fifty would make one bad placement look like your whole profile.
Fixing a profile that leans too hard
You cannot easily change links that already exist, so change the next ones. Ask for branded or generic anchors on new placements, and use a bare URL when a link sits in a list of sources. When you set the anchor for a placement, as buyers do in a Backlink Market offer, vary it deliberately. Pair this tool with the Backlink Checker to confirm each new link uses the anchor you asked for.
Frequently asked
Are exact-match anchors bad?
No. A few are normal and useful. The problem is a profile made of them, which is what paid and arranged links tend to produce.
Is my list uploaded?
No. The analysis runs in your browser and nothing you paste is sent anywhere.