Why the Wrong Anchor Text Harms Your Internal Linking Strategy

Most SEO audits find the same quiet culprit buried deep in the website architecture. Not missing meta descriptions. Not thin content. It's the anchor text, specifically the wrong kind, sprinkled across hundreds of internal links that were never given a second thought.

It's one of those quiet mistakes that compounds over time, gradually weakening the very internal linking strategy you thought you had covered.

This isn't a theoretical concern. It's a measurable problem with real ranking consequences, and it's one most small and mid-sized businesses are making right now without realizing it.

What Is Anchor Text and Why Does It Matter for SEO?

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. When you write "learn more about our SEO services" and hyperlink those last two words, "SEO services" is the anchor text.

It seems small, but it isn't.

Anchor text is one of the primary signals Google uses to understand the relevance and context of a linked page. When Googlebot crawls into your website and follows an internal link, it reads the anchor text as a label, a short description of what it's about to find. If that label is accurate and descriptive, the crawl is efficient, and the page’s topical relevance gets reinforced. If the label is vague ("click here") or misleading, Google has to work harder to understand the relationship between your pages, and it often concludes that the link has low value.

According to Google's own link documentation, "Good anchor text is descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page that it's on and to the page it links to."

Internal links serve three critical functions:

• They guide users through your content

• Distribute link equity (also called PageRank) across your pages,

• Help Google build a mental map of your website's topical structure.

Anchor text is the labelling system for all three. Get it wrong, and none of those functions work as intended.

How Google Actually Uses Anchor Text in Internal Links

Google treats internal anchor text as a contextual ranking signal for the destination page.

When multiple pages on your website point to a given page using descriptive, keyword-relevant anchor text, that page's relevance for those terms gets strengthened in Google's understanding. This is why deliberately chosen internal link anchor text is one of the highest-leverage technical SEO improvements you can make, and that’s why neglecting it leaves serious organic traffic on the table.

The data backs this up. A study of 23 million internal links across 1,800 websites by Zyppy found a strong correlation between anchor text variety and Google search clicks. It was so strong that the researchers ran the data three times to confirm. Pages receiving links from a diverse range of anchor text formulations consistently attracted more organic traffic. And according to aggregated technical SEO statistics, pages with at least one exact-match anchor text internal link had five times more traffic than pages without one.

That said, exact-match isn't always the answer. Overuse it, and you're looking at a different problem entirely.

A 2.5-million internal-link study by LinkStorm found that around 15% of internal anchors are still generic, such as "read more," "click here," and similar non-descriptive phrases. That 15% represents a wasted crawl signal. Every time you use a vague anchor, you're essentially giving Google a blank label on a filing folder. It still gets filed, but nobody knows where.

The 5 Most Common Anchor Text Mistakes That Hurt Your Rankings

• Using "Click Here," "Read More," or "Learn More"

This is the most widespread internal linking mistake on the web. These phrases communicate nothing to Google about the page being linked to. They pass no topical relevance signal. They waste the link equity that could be flowing to your most important pages.

What to do instead: Replace generic anchors with a short, descriptive phrase that reflects the topic of the destination page. "Learn more about Core Web Vitals" is infinitely better than "Learn more." Even a modest improvement in anchor specificity delivers a meaningful SEO signal.

• Over-Optimizing With Exact-Match Anchor Text

This is the opposite extreme. Some SEO practitioners, knowing that anchor text influences rankings, will link to the same page using the identical exact-match keyword dozens or hundreds of times across a website. It reads unnaturally. And Google notices.

As Semrush explains, over-optimized anchor text particularly keyword-stuffed variations, "confuses readers and search engines, violates Google's spam policies, and makes content feel unnatural." If you're linking to your web design services page with the anchor "custom web design services Kitchener-Waterloo" on every blog post, you've crossed from optimization into manipulation.

According to a 2025 survey of SEO professionals, 41.7% prefer partial-match anchors over exact-match (25.1%) for precisely this reason. The natural approach wins.

• Using Irrelevant or Mismatched Anchor Text

Linking to a blog post about website maintenance with anchor text that says "find out about our pricing" creates a signal conflict. Google arrives at the destination page expecting one thing and finds another. This confuses the crawler, weakens the page's relevance signals, and frustrates users who clicked expecting something else.

Mismatched anchors are particularly damaging when they're widespread. They tell Google that your internal architecture isn't coherent, and topical authority depends on coherence.

• Using the Same Anchor Text for Multiple Different Pages

If you're linking to your blog post on local SEO and your SEO service page with the same anchor text ("SEO tips for small businesses"), you've created a signal collision. Google now can't cleanly determine which page is your authoritative resource for that topic. This is one of the root causes of keyword cannibalization in internal linking, and we'll get into it more deeply in a moment.

• Ignoring Anchor Text Entirely in Automated or Templated Linking

Many websites use footer links, sidebar widgets, or CMS-generated "related posts" modules that automatically insert internal links with identical or generic anchor text. Because these links are sitewide, they can flood Google with hundreds of identical anchors pointing at the same pages; however, a study by Zyppy found that this performs poorly compared to varied, contextual internal links.

If you're using any plugin or template that auto-generates internal link text, audit it. Sitewide repetition of the same anchor text essentially counts as one editorial signal, not hundreds.

Is your website losing organic traffic without a clear cause? Read our guide to troubleshooting sudden SEO drops.

Anchor Text and Keyword Cannibalization: The Hidden Damage

A poor anchor text strategy can contribute to keyword cannibalization. When multiple pages are linked using the same or very similar anchor text, Google may struggle to determine which page is most relevant for a topic. This can weaken rankings by splitting authority across competing pages.

To avoid this, give each important page a distinct anchor text profile and use clear internal linking structures. Topic clusters work especially well, with supporting pages linking back to a central pillar page using relevant, varied anchor text. This helps search engines understand your website's hierarchy and topical authority.

Also, see how strong SEO architecture impacts rankings in our breakdown of on-page vs. off-page SEO.

How to Audit Your Anchor Text Right Now

You don't need an enterprise tool to start fixing your anchor text strategy.

Step 1: Run a crawl. Free tools like Screaming Frog (free up to 500 URLs), Ahrefs, or Semrush can export every internal link on your website along with its anchor text. Export this into a spreadsheet.

Step 2: Filter for generic anchors. Search for "click here," "read more," "learn more," "here," and any naked URLs used as anchor text. These are immediate wins. Replace each with a descriptive phrase that reflects the destination page topic.

Step 3: Identify anchor text collisions. Sort by destination URL and look for pages that receive two or more very similar anchor text variations pointing at different destination URLs. These are your cannibalization risks.

Step 4: Identify over-repetition. Look for any destination page where the same anchor text phrase appears more than three or four times. Diversify the wording across those linking pages.

Step 5: Prioritize your highest-value pages. Your service pages, key landing pages, and pillar content should receive the most intentional anchor text from your blog content. If your SEO service page is only being linked with "our services" from blog posts, you're missing a major relevance-building opportunity.

Struggling to understand why your new website isn't ranking? This post explains the full timeline.

What This Means for Your Broader SEO Strategy

Anchor text isn't a standalone tactic; it's the connective tissue of your entire website's SEO architecture. When it works correctly, it distributes link equity efficiently, reinforces topical authority, helps Google index your website accurately, and guides real users through a logical, useful content journey. When it fails, it undermines all of those functions simultaneously.

The opportunity here is significant. Because so many websites still use generic anchors or ignore internal linking strategy altogether, getting this right gives you a measurable competitive advantage.

Learn how Core Web Vitals affect your rankings and what to prioritize.

Understand why a well-maintained website holds its SEO gains over time.

The businesses that rank consistently in 2025 and beyond aren't necessarily those with the most content or the biggest budgets. They're the ones who've built coherent, well-signalled websites, where every page knows where it fits in the hierarchy, every link reinforces that structure, and every anchor text label tells the same clear story.

At REM Web Solutions, we help Canadian businesses build exactly that kind of foundation, an SEO strategy grounded in technical detail, not guesswork. If you'd like a fresh set of eyes on your internal linking strategy, our team is here to help.

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