Why does internal anchor text matter for SEO?

Anchor text tells Google what the linked page is about. Internal links with descriptive anchors ("ecommerce SEO guide") help Google understand topical relevance and pass link equity. Generic anchors ("click here", "learn more") waste that signal.

Should I always use exact-match keywords?

No. Mix exact-match, partial-match, and branded anchors. Over-optimization (every link uses the same keyword) can trigger Google's spam detection. Aim for natural variation.

What is "anchor text dilution"?

When too many internal links use generic anchors instead of descriptive ones, the SEO signal dilutes. A page linked 50 times with "read more" gets weaker ranking signals than one linked 10 times with descriptive anchors.

How many internal links per page?

No hard limit, but 50-100 is typical for content pages. Beyond 200, link equity per link drops noticeably. Quality over quantity.

Should I edit existing internal links?

Yes, for top traffic pages. Auditing and rewriting "click here" anchors to descriptive text is one of the highest-ROI quick wins in technical SEO.

What about generic words like "guide" or "article"?

Acceptable in moderation. "Read our SEO guide" is fine; "click here for the guide" is weaker. The descriptive word should be the anchor; generic words are filler.

Does this tool include nofollow links?

It catches all anchor tags. Nofollow vs. follow distinction matters for SEO, but the audit is about anchor text quality, which applies to both.

What is a healthy anchor text distribution?

Roughly 40% descriptive (target keyword variants), 30% partial-match, 20% branded, 10% generic. Pure descriptive is over-optimized; pure generic wastes equity.

How does this compare to backlink anchor analysis?

Same principle, different scope. Backlinks anchors are external (other sites linking to you); internal anchors are within your site. Both matter; this tool focuses on internal.

Can I batch-check multiple pages?

This tool checks one URL at a time. For full-site audits, use Screaming Frog or a similar crawler.

How often should I audit anchor text?

Quarterly for active blogs; annually for static sites. Recheck after large content updates or site migrations.

What if my site has thousands of links?

Audit in priority order: top organic pages first. The 80/20 rule applies — fixing anchors on the top 20% of pages drives 80% of the SEO benefit.

Free Internal Anchor Text Checker

Audit anchor text on every internal link from any URL. See distribution, generic patterns, and missing keywords. Free, no signup, instant.

4.6on G2

4.8on Trustpilot

Used by 35,000+ SEO teams

What the Anchor Text Checker does

Internal anchor text tells Google what each linked page is about. Generic anchors ("click here", "read more") waste that signal; descriptive anchors ("ecommerce SEO guide") pass topical relevance and link equity.

The checker fetches every internal link from a URL and breaks down the anchor text distribution. See which anchors are descriptive, which are generic, which are missing keywords.

How to audit anchor text

Five steps from URL to optimized anchors.

Paste any URL

Public URLs only. Pages behind login return errors.

Click Check Anchor Text

The tool fetches all internal links and parses their anchor text.

Review distribution

See breakdown of descriptive, partial-match, branded, and generic anchors.

Identify generic anchors

List of "click here", "read more" patterns to fix.

Edit and re-check

Update anchors in CMS, run again to verify improved distribution.

When SEO teams use it

Six common workflows.

Pre-publish content audit

Run new posts through the tool before publishing. Catch generic "click here" anchors and replace.

Top-page audit and rewrite

Audit top organic pages; rewrite generic anchors to descriptive ones for an immediate ranking lift on the linked pages.

Topic cluster validation

For pillar-and-cluster content models, verify that pillar pages link to subtopic pages with descriptive anchors.

Site migration QA

After a CMS migration, internal anchors may have lost text or become generic. Audit a sample.

Competitor research

Run competitor URLs to see how they distribute anchor text across their internal linking.

Quarterly SEO health check

Make anchor text audit part of quarterly SEO reviews. Track improvement in anchor distribution over time.

Platform-specific setup guides

How to optimize anchors on the platforms most teams use.

WordPress

Use the search-and-replace plugin to bulk-update common generic anchors.
In post editor, hover any link to see its anchor text.
Yoast and Rank Math provide internal linking suggestions during writing.

Webflow

In Designer, hover any text link to see its href and anchor.
For CMS-driven posts, edit the rich-text content directly.
Use Webflow's Find & Replace for site-wide anchor text edits.

Ghost

Edit posts via the editor; click any link to see and edit anchor text.
For bulk operations, export Ghost data, edit JSON, re-import.
Use Ghost's search to find common generic anchors across posts.

Next.js

Use <Link> component with descriptive children text.
Avoid <a href> with generic anchors; refactor to descriptive text.
Run a lint rule to catch "click here" patterns at build time.

Static sites

Run a grep across markdown files for "click here", "read more", "learn more".
Replace with descriptive anchor text manually or via a script.
Add to a CI check to prevent future regressions.

Grigora vs. other anchor checkers

Side-by-side feature comparison.

Capability	Grigora	Screaming Frog	Ahrefs	Free generators	Manual
Free + unlimited	Yes	Limited free	Free trial	Yes	Manual
All anchors per page	Yes	Yes	Yes	Partial	Manual
Anchor distribution analysis	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Manual
Generic anchor detection	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Manual
Single URL audit	Yes	Site-wide only	Yes	Yes	Manual
No signup	Yes	Account required	Account required	Yes	Yes
Result speed	<5 sec	<10 sec	<5 sec	<5 sec	Manual
Includes nofollow status	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Manual

Common errors and how to fix them

Eight issues teams hit when auditing anchor text.

Many links use "click here"

Cause: Lazy default copy or CMS auto-anchors.

Fix: Edit each link's anchor text to be descriptive. Bulk-edit via SQL or CMS admin if available.

Same anchor used 50+ times site-wide

Cause: Boilerplate footer/sidebar widget linking to one page.

Fix: Vary the anchor across instances, or accept that footer links carry less weight than body links.

Anchor is just an emoji or symbol

Cause: Decorative link with no text.

Fix: Add a text anchor or aria-label for accessibility and SEO.

Image links missing alt text

Cause: Image used as a link without alt attribute.

Fix: Add descriptive alt to image links; alt text functions as anchor text for image links.

Anchor exact-matches every link target

Cause: Over-optimization for SEO.

Fix: Diversify with partial-match and natural-language variations.

Link to page that has noindex

Cause: Wasted internal link equity.

Fix: Either remove noindex from the target page or remove the internal link.

Anchor includes URL

Cause: Auto-generated link from CMS without anchor text.

Fix: Replace with descriptive text. URL-as-anchor is a weak SEO signal.

Tool times out on large page

Cause: Page has 500+ links.

Fix: Such pages are rare; expect slower response. For full-site audits, use Screaming Frog.

Original data from our 2026 anchor text audit

Across 3,500 random URLs.

32%

Average % of internal anchors that are generic

click here (41%)

Most common generic anchor

Median descriptive anchor count per blog post

24%

% of sites with healthy anchor distribution

Frequently asked questions

Twelve answers about internal anchor text.

Related free tools

Other utilities that pair with the Anchor Text Checker.

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