Link Anchor Text Recommender — Page-Type Anchor Rules and Max Thresholds

Link Anchor Text Recommender

Anchor text recommendations vary by the type of page receiving the link. Homepage links carry different natural anchor patterns than inner service pages or blog posts. Applying the wrong distribution to the wrong page type is a common over-optimization trigger.

Homepage Anchor Text Distribution

The homepage naturally attracts branded references — people link to a company's homepage using the company name, not keyword phrases.

| Anchor Type | Target % | |---|---| | Brand name (exact) | 40-50% | | Brand + keyword | 10-15% | | URL / naked | 20-25% | | Generic ("visit site", "here", "website") | 10-15% | | Partial match | 5-8% | | Exact match | 2-5% (hard cap) |

Rule: Never exceed 5% exact match anchors pointing to the homepage. A homepage with 20% exact match keyword anchors is an over-optimization flag regardless of the domain's age.

Inner Page / Service Page Anchor Text

Service pages are where intentional keyword anchors are acceptable. Searchers linking to specific service pages sometimes use descriptive anchors.

| Anchor Type | Target % | |---|---| | Partial match (keyword + modifier) | 50-60% | | Brand + service | 15-20% | | Generic | 10-15% | | Exact match | 8-10% (hard cap) | | URL / naked | 5-10% |

Rule: 10% is the absolute ceiling for exact match anchors on service pages. If the current ratio exceeds 10%, the next 5-10 links acquired must use branded or generic anchors to rebalance.

Blog / Content Page Anchor Text

Blog posts attract natural, varied anchors — often the article title or a paraphrase.

| Anchor Type | Target % | |---|---| | Title or partial title | 30-40% | | Topic/theme phrase | 20-30% | | Generic | 20-25% | | Brand | 10-15% | | Exact match keyword | 3-5% |

Calculating Current Ratios

Before acquiring new links, calculate the existing anchor distribution:

1. Export all backlinks from Ahrefs or Majestic
2. Categorize each anchor: brand, partial match, exact match, generic, URL
3. Count totals and calculate percentages
4. Compare to the target distribution for the page type
5. Identify the deficit anchors (types under-represented) and excess anchors (types over-represented)

New link acquisition should prioritize the deficit anchor types until the distribution normalizes.

Anchor Text Velocity Rule

Adding 5 exact-match anchor links in a single week to a page that previously had 2 is a footprint — even if the total exact-match ratio is within 10%. Velocity of a specific anchor type is audited separately from the overall ratio.

Safe velocity: No single anchor type should increase by more than 2-3 links per week for a small site (under 50 total referring domains). Scale this proportionally for larger profiles.

New Site Anchor Protocol

For a site with fewer than 20 referring domains:

• 80-90% of all anchors should be branded or naked URL
• Do not acquire exact-match anchors until 20+ referring domains exist from non-exact-match anchors
• Introduce partial match anchors after the branded/URL foundation is established (around 25-30 referring domains)

This mimics the natural link acquisition pattern of a new business site and prevents algorithmic flags during the establishment phase.

Anchor Text Override: Campaign-Specific Rules

When running specific campaigns (GMB Sniper, CTRify, RYB), campaign anchor rules override the general distribution within the campaign scope. See [[anchor-text-distribution]] for campaign-specific anchor structures.

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