Anchor text best practices
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. For internal links, anchor text tells both users and search engines what the destination page is about.
Types of anchor text
Exact match — The anchor text matches the target keyword exactly. Example: linking the phrase "internal linking strategy" to a page targeting that keyword. This is what Automatic Internal Links creates when it uses focus keywords as anchors.
Partial match — The anchor text contains the keyword plus additional words. Example: "learn about internal linking strategy for WordPress". The Partial Match setting in the plugin controls this behavior.
Branded — The anchor text is a brand name. Example: "PAGUP" linking to the agency site. Useful for About pages but not for topical SEO.
Generic — "Click here", "read more", "this article". These provide zero keyword signal and should be avoided for SEO purposes.
Best practices for internal links
Use exact match or partial match anchor text for internal links. Vary the anchor text slightly across different pages — Google does not penalize exact match for internal links the way it does for external backlinks, but natural variation is still preferable. Keep anchor text concise (2–6 words). Make sure the anchor text accurately describes the destination page.
How the plugin handles anchor text
Automatic Internal Links uses the stored focus keyword as the anchor text. When the plugin finds "internal linking" in your content and that phrase is the focus keyword of another page, it wraps it in an <a> tag pointing to that page. This produces naturally occurring exact-match anchors without manual effort.