Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. Changing backlinks anchor text

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Changing backlinks anchor text

    Link Building
    3
    6
    2698
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • clickangel
      clickangel last edited by

      Hi,

      I've read a few blog post here that suggests the strength of building links using your brand as an anchor text. This supposedly gives the site authority. Currently a chunck of the back links to my homepage are on generic terms i'm trying to rank for which doesn't seem to be working very well. I was thinking of contacting the various webmasters to change the anchor text to that of the site brand name but wondering if this will signal a manipulation of links to the search engines and potentially could be flagged as paid links?

      Has anybody done this before and what is the danger of doing this?

      Thanks

      Duke

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • clickangel
        clickangel @ResslerMotors last edited by

        Thanks for the info. Much appreciated guys.

        Duke

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • ResslerMotors
          ResslerMotors last edited by

          What's your percentage of exact match links in your overall link landscape?  Is it over 20% (I would assume lower, but this is the number I've been hearing)?  If so, you are probably over-optimized for your phrase.  The best action would be to change the links to either your brand, or more preferably, to a similar phrase.

          However, if you have less than 10% exact matching links, I wouldn't change those at all.  Exact match is still beneficial for ranking (but I doubt it will be forever), and you would actually have some room to grow with them.

          With that in mind, remember to:

          • Not focus on just one keyword at a time.  Gaining 50 Exact links in a row makes it obvious they aren't natural
          • Use variations of your keyword, as well as exact.
          • If it's your homepage, get a bunch of Brand links.
          • Keep a couple poorly optimized links in there (unless they are from high quality sites!)
          clickangel 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • SimonCullum
            SimonCullum @clickangel last edited by

            Hi Duke

            Thanks for the further info.

            As the objective is to not rank better for brand terms, so rather it is to rank better for Non-brand terms, then it doesn't make any sense to focus inbound links on brand terms within the anchor text. That can be counter-productive towards those important Non-brand terms.

            Brand is one of many factors when it comes to Search, which you seem to know already. The more brand mentions and links on brand terms, the more authority that brand acquires, in theory.

            However that doesn't necessarily benefit Non-brand search.

            So all-in-all, my advice is to focus link efforts on a natural blend of Brand and Non-brand links, catering for both is important.  Don't worry too much about changing existing branded links to non-brand, instead, focus on both types of links and anchor text moving forwards.

            With best regards

            Simon

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • clickangel
              clickangel @SimonCullum last edited by

              Hi Simon,

              Many thanks for your answer. The objective is not actually to rank better for the brand term. I thinking along the lines of the link profile and  how many of the achor text used are the brand compared to generic terms that we are trying to rank for. Apparently, there is the move towards rewarding inbound links on brand terms than generic term so the advise to webmasters is to build more links on their brand terms.

              Hope this clears my question up.

              Best regards

              Duke

              SimonCullum 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • SimonCullum
                SimonCullum last edited by

                Hi there

                Changing the anchor text of inbound links that's already optimized for your non-brand target keywords will risk in reducing your rankings for those keywords; obviously depends on factors such as the quality of those inbound links, competition...

                If you are already ranking top for your brand, then this doesn't seem like a worthwhile exercise to do, unless Brand is everything to your business.  If your brand is not ranking well, then by all means go for it for some existing inbound links.

                If you can identify any inbound links on anchor text such as 'click here' or 'visit the website' then by all means try to get that anchor text changed, if the link is worth it.

                In most cases, I'd suggest focusing on acquiring new relevant medium & high quality inbound links (natural links that is, not paid) with a variety of relevant anchor text, including both brand and non-brand.  This would be time better spent compared to changing existing links that may not help to achieve your goals;  increasing the number of relevant visitors to your site.

                Hope that helps,

                Regards

                Simon

                clickangel 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                Browse Questions

                Explore more categories

                • Moz Tools

                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                • SEO Tactics

                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                • Community

                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                • Digital Marketing

                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                • Research & Trends

                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                • Support

                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • laurentjb

                  Backlinks from local businesses

                  backlinks backlink profile blog post backlinks

                  Hello, I need to make sure I understand this correctly. Will it help my SEO if I: find local businesses with a good DA & low spam score select businesses that are somehow related to mine (Insurance Agency) offer to guest post and include a backlink on their blog ( ask them if they'd like to reciprocate) For example, businesses such as
                  Roofing companies
                  Contractors
                  moving companies
                  etc Please let me know if there's anything I'm missing? Many thanks

                  Link Building | | laurentjb
                  0
                • mowafi

                  How can i create backlinks from google redirect?

                  backlinks link building domain authority

                  I found some sites that make backlinks like this. How can I get it too?
                  https://maps.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ad/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ae/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.af/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.ag/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.ai/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.al/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.am/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.co.ao/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.ar/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.as/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.at/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.au/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.az/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ba/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.bd/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.be/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bf/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.bh/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.bn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.bo/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.br/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bs/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.bt/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.co.bw/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.by/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.bz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ca/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cd/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cf/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ch/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ci/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.co.ck/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cl/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.co/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.co.cr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.cu/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cv/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.cy/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.cz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.de/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.dj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.dk/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.dm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.do/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.dz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.ec/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ee/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.eg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.es/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.et/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.fi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.fj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.fm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.fr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ga/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ge/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.gg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.gh/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.gi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.gl/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.gm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.gr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.gt/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.gy/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.hn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.hr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.ht/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.hu/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.co.id/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://maps.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.co.uk/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.fr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.it/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.ca/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.nl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.ru/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.pl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.cz/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.co.in/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.co.id/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.com.tw/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.co.th/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.com.mx/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.com.ua/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.com.ar/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://images.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.be/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.se/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.pt/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.ro/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.gr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.hu/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.com.tr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.at/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://images.google.com.co/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.ch/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.fi/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.dk/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.cl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://images.google.com.pe/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.com.vn/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.com.sg/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.no/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://clients1.google.co.il/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.ie/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                  https://cse.google.co.kr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com

                  Link Building | | mowafi
                  3
                • wikiBudgets

                  Does iframe itself count as a backlink?

                  Our situation is similar to YouTube. We have an original content on every subpage that is genuinely useful when embedded as a widget on 3r party websites. That is why we offer an embeddable widget that shows slightly simplified version of the content - exactly like a YouTube video embedded on your blog. The embed code is simply an iframe sourcing from our subpage: <iframe src="wikibudgets.org/subpage"></p> </blockquote> <p>1/ Does the iframe itself pass any link value at all to the subpage?</p> <p>2/ If yes, what would be the equivalent of anchor text in iframe?</p> <p>3/ If not, will any link in the subpage pass link value from the 3rd party website to my domain/subpage?</p> <p>4/ If not, will I be punished/rewarded if I ask users to put a visible, unobfuscated link to the subpage below the iframe?</p> <blockquote style="background: #f7f7f7; padding-top: 5px; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-bottom: 5px; white-space: nowrap; overflow-y: auto; font-family: monospace;"> <p><iframe src="wikibudgets.org/subpage" /><a href="wikibudgets.org/subpage">rich anchor text</a></p> </blockquote></iframe>

                  Link Building | | wikiBudgets
                  0
                • poke1

                  Rankings Dropped After New Backlinks.

                  I have a low-traffic website (under 100 unique visitors per day) and I've encountered a strange issue started yesterday morning. I acquired three back-links, one of these back-links is contextual and the other two are site-wide. The site-wide back-links are from PA 40+ blogs. It looks like the back-links are already indexed by Google. Despite these new back-links, my rankings across multiple keywords have dropped several positions. I'm new to SEO, but I would assume new back-links would improve my rankings. None of these back-links are low quality links, they are from real established blogs with high domain and page authority values. Could anyone give me insights into why my rankings may have dropped with new back-links?

                  Link Building | | poke1
                  1
                • MMAffiliate

                  Backlinks from subdomain, can it hurt ranking?

                  I just started doing an SEO audit and noticed I have 40,000 some odd back links from an OLD version of our site that has been moved to a subdomain. The back links are for articles that already exist on our main site. I don't think Google is picking it up as duplicate content because that site isn't being crawled anymore. Could this hurt us SEO wise? I plan on removing the site, but how long after it's been removed should those back links disappear?

                  Link Building | | MMAffiliate
                  0
                • Eslam-yosef

                  Does backlinks in images equal naked backlinks?

                  I've discovered few backlinks in images came from websites points to my home page. What is the value of these links?

                  Link Building | | Eslam-yosef
                  0
                • jgower

                  Frustrated with spammy backlinks from competitors

                  I've only been doing SEO for my company for the last month and I've made some headway but what is really frustrating me right now is a couple of competitors that have OBVIOUS spammy links ranking in the number 1,2,3 stops all over the board for the keywords i'm going for.  One competitor in particular has anchor text links EVERYWHERE that make absolutely no sense...junk like... "I have never been more saddened by anything in my life than when my grandfather got cancer.  I told my uncle he needed to buy some auto insurance.  I really like pork." I mean, these links are the pages with the most page authority and page rank out of all of the ones they have...and I'd venture to say that almost all of their backlinks are like this...well, half of them are just random links with good anchor text on the sidebar of a bazillion spam websites (diapers, toys, fake blogs, etc.)...while i have about 3k links and most of my top competitors have about 5k links...these guys have over 33k. Worse yet, when I look at something like Alexa rank, they have pretty high overall traffic rank but it shows traffic rank in MX (mexico) instead of the US...these guys only sell in the US!  I mean, they're black hat if I've ever seen such a thing and they rank superbly on all keywords. What can I do to compete with this junk?

                  Link Building | | jgower
                  0
                • casper434

                  How important are edu and gov backlinks?

                  I have heard that edu and gov backlinks are important but how so in a niche area like mine - real estate? Perhaps I am missing the point but I do not see how either type of site would ever backlink to a commercial real estate entity. If these are that important in theory, are they obtainable in practice?

                  Link Building | | casper434
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • Local Citation Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.