Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink — the words that appear underlined (or otherwise styled) and take a user to the destination URL when clicked. Search engines read anchor text as a relevance signal about the destination page: linking to a page about corporate Excel training using the words "corporate Excel training" passes a strong topical signal that the linked page is about that topic. There are five common anchor text types: exact match (the exact target keyword), partial match (keyword plus additional words), branded (a company or product name), generic (phrases like "click here" or "learn more"), and naked URL. Healthy link profiles contain a natural mix of all types. Over-optimizing anchor text — using the identical exact-match phrase for every link pointing to a single page — creates an unnatural pattern that can trigger algorithmic over-optimization penalties.
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