Generic Anchor
Anchor text without keywords, e.g., 'here', 'read more', 'click here'. Natural and safe for SEO, carries no over‑optimisation risk.
In brief
A generic anchor is link text that contains no keywords or brand names. Such anchors are common in natural writing and help diversify the link profile, passing equity without keyword load.
What is a generic anchor
Generic anchors without keywords ('here', 'read more', 'click here'). Natural and safe. A generic anchor is link text that contains no keywords or brand name.
Examples
- here
- read more
- continue reading
- this article
- click here
- learn more
- go to
Advantages
- Natural — this is how people link in normal articles
- Safe — zero over‑optimisation risk
- Universal — fits any context
Recommended share
15–20% of all anchors.
Usage in context
TEXT
// Good context
"To improve SEO, use proper URL structure. Read more about it [here]."
// Bad context (no relevance)
"[Click here] to buy an iPhone"SEO value
- Passes equity — yes (if dofollow)
- Keyword ranking — no (no keywords in anchor)
- Context — Google analyses text around the link
Even generic anchors can help rankings if the surrounding text contains relevant keywords. Google analyses context, not just the anchor.
FAQ
Common questions
Yes, for a natural profile. In the real web, people often link with words like 'here' or 'this article'. Without them, your profile looks unnatural.
Equity passes in full, but the relevance signal is weaker than with exact match anchors. However, the surrounding context can strengthen the signal.
Yes, but for internal links descriptive anchors are better to help crawlers understand site structure. Generics are fine for auxiliary links.
A naked URL anchor is just the URL ('https://site.com/page'). A generic anchor is a word or phrase without keywords, but not a URL.
Unlikely. Generic anchors are a natural part of the web; Google won't penalise them. But context should always be relevant.
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