From My Desk to Yours – 7th Edition
By: Penny, EzineArticles Managing Editor
Def: Anchor Text – The visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. (From Wikipedia)
In an article, anchor text (a.k.a. anchored text) is the blue, underlined word or phrase that the reader can click on to be automatically linked to a website. Like this link to the EzineArticles Submit page.
Anchor text is not a website URL. For example, http://EzineArticles.com/submit/ is not “anchor text”, it is a hyperlinked URL.
EzineArticles Editorial Guidelines state: “Please limit your anchor text link length to 3 words.” Authors that use anchor text in their articles must adhere to this guideline. Articles that have quality content and a higher word count may be given some flexibility. We will only allow 4-5 words in anchor text if the article has good quality content.
What is “Quality” Content?
Articles that have quality content offer unique, valuable and/or educational information. In general these articles will have a higher word count.
We Ask These 2 Questions to Determine Quality:
- Is the reader getting a good user experience?
- Is the content after the landing page good?
- Does the link provide the information that the author promises?
- What is the author’s intention?
- Is the landing page filled with affiliate products and have no content?
- Is the main reason for the article to drive traffic to the affiliate links?
Examples of Allowable Anchor Text:
- Identity Theft Family Law Attorney – This article has 506 words, is titled “Important Tips to Know to Help Prevent Identity Theft” and has good quality content.
- Develop Communication and Team Working Skills – This article has 493 words. Its title is “How to Be a Good Team Leader to Gain the Advantages of Team Work”. It gives 17 tips and has great quality content.
- Real Estate Signs Mastery Blog – This article is 985 words long and has good quality content about Real Estate.
Quality content does not include regurgitated and thin content. Articles that are about common and repetitive subjects will not be allowed to have more than three words in their anchor text links.
Examples of NOT Allowable Anchor Text:
- How to Get your EX Back
- Lose Weight with Acai Berry
- All Natural Hemorrhoid Treatment
Remember, our editors may not change your anchor text or alter the number of words. They can only approve or not approve it.
Bottom Line: Write high-quality articles that offer unique, valuable and/or educational information if you want to use anchor text that is longer than 3 words.
If you have any questions about anchor text links or thoughts about this particular guideline, please leave a comment.
Kathyrn,
If I understand this right, you want to link to a website that further clarifies your point? Yes, of course you can.
What you don’t want to do it link to a site so the reader can then get the rest of the information you promised to deliver in the article. But to add more value to your point, yes, link to your site and deliver more.
February 10, 2010 at 9:31 AM[Reply]