Anchor Text Analyzer

To see how your links are worded, paste a link export into the free Anchor Text Analyzer above. It works with a Screaming Frog inlinks report, an Ahrefs or Semrush backlink file, Search Console’s top linking text, or any HTML. It sorts every anchor into exact match, partial match, branded, naked URL, descriptive, generic or empty, and shows the mix for each target page. It flags over-optimised targets, the same anchor pointing at several pages, generic “click here” links and links with no text. It handles up to 20,000 rows in your browser.

Last updated: 6 November 2026. Written by Saad Raza.

Key takeaways

• Anchor text tells readers and search engines what the linked page is about, so descriptive anchors help both.
• For backlinks, a profile dominated by one exact-match keyword looks built rather than earned. Natural profiles are mostly branded, URL and descriptive anchors.
• For internal links, exact-match anchors are fine, but using the same anchor for different pages blurs which page should rank for it.
• Generic anchors such as “read more” and empty anchors on icon links waste the signal and hurt accessibility. They are the easiest internal fixes.

What anchor text is and why its mix matters

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Google uses it as a clue to what the destination page covers, which is why it has been abused: the original Penguin update targeted sites with unnatural, keyword-stuffed backlink anchors, and Google’s link spam updates continue that work. My article on what anchor text is and how to optimise it covers the basics.

The same anchors mean different things in different places. Internal links are yours to word as you like, and clear keyword anchors help. Backlinks are other people’s words, so a natural profile is messy: brand names, bare URLs, “this guide” and the occasional keyword. That is why the tool asks whether you are analysing internal links or backlinks and adjusts its warnings.

How to use the Anchor Text Analyzer

1. Export your links. For internal links, use a crawler’s inlinks report. For backlinks, use Ahrefs, Semrush, Majestic or the Search Console Links report.
2. Paste the CSV or upload the file. The tool finds the source, target and anchor columns by their headers. A plain list of anchors, one per line, or a block of HTML also works.
3. Optionally list target keywords as URL | keyword, keyword. Without them, the last part of each target URL is used as its keyword.
4. Enter your brand names, separated by commas, and choose internal links or backlinks.
5. Read the findings, the breakdown by target page and the most used anchors, then export the CSV with each anchor’s type.

How anchors are classified

A worked example

The example in the tool is a small internal link export for a dental site: 12 links to three pages. The overall mix was three exact match (25 percent), four partial match (33 percent), one branded, one naked URL, two generic (17 percent) and one empty link. The tool reported three findings:

• “teeth whitening” links to 2 different pages: the service page and a blog post about whitening cost. That is a warning for internal links, because it splits the signal for the same phrase between two pages, a common cause of cannibalisation.
• 17 percent generic anchors: “click here” and “read more”. Rewrite them to describe the destination.
• 1 link with no anchor text: an empty link from the home page, which has no accessible name.

The teeth whitening page received seven links, 43 percent of them exact match. For internal links that is below the warning level of 60 percent. Analysed as backlinks, the same mix would cross the 30 percent backlink threshold once there were five or more links, and the tool would flag it as over-optimised.

What to do with the results

• Same anchor, several pages: decide which page should own the phrase and change the other links. Confirm the overlap in Search Console with the keyword cannibalization finder.
• Generic internal anchors: rewrite them into descriptive phrases. The internal link suggester finds natural anchors in your text.
• Empty links: add visible text, an aria-label, or alt text on the image inside the link. The image alt text auditor finds linked images with no alt.
• Over-optimised backlinks: stop building keyword-anchor links, earn branded mentions and editorial links instead, and only consider a disavow file for clearly manipulative links. My backlink evaluation checklist helps tell the difference.

For a wider view of optimisation risk, including titles and on-page keyword use, see how to avoid over-optimisation.

Internal links and backlinks follow different rules

The same percentage means different things depending on who wrote the link. On your own site you choose every anchor, so consistent, descriptive anchors are good practice, and a high share of keyword anchors to a service page is normal. The risk there is confusion rather than penalties: one phrase pointing at several pages, or vague anchors that tell nobody anything. Backlinks are different, because you are not supposed to control them. When most links from other websites use the same commercial phrase, it suggests they were placed rather than given, which is exactly the pattern that link velocity analysis and Google’s spam systems watch for. That is why the tool applies a stricter threshold to backlinks and treats generic backlink anchors as normal.

Limits

The classification follows rules, not judgement, so a descriptive anchor that happens to contain a keyword is counted as partial match. Brand detection only works for the names you enter. Google has never published safe percentages, so the 30 percent (backlinks) and 60 percent (internal) thresholds are prompts to look, not penalty lines. Search Console’s top linking text has no targets or counts, so per-page analysis needs a full export. The tool reads the first 20,000 rows, and everything stays in your browser.

Questions about the Anchor Text Analyzer

If you want your link profile and internal linking reviewed properly, my off-page SEO service covers backlink audits and earning links, and you can ask for a free audit. You can also browse the other free on-page SEO tools.