How to Check Backlink Anchor Text — and What a Natural Distribution Looks Like (Real Data)
Anchor text is one of the signals Google uses to spot manipulated links; lots of exact-match commercial anchors is a classic link-spam pattern. Anchor text types, what a natural profile looks like, whether to act on spam links, with real anchor data for backlinko.com.
Anchor text is one of the signals Google uses to spot manipulated links; lots of exact-match commercial anchors is a classic link-spam pattern. Anchor text types, what a natural profile looks like, whether to act on spam links, with real anchor data for backlinko.com.
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. Google uses it to understand what the linked page is about, and also to detect manipulation: Google’s spam policies list "links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases" as an example of link spam.
1. Types of Anchor Text
| Type | Example | In a natural profile |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Backlinko, Brian Dean | Usually the largest share |
| URL | backlinko.com, https://backlinko.com | Very common |
| Empty / image link | (empty) | Common |
| Generic | here, source | Common |
| Partial match | Backlinko’s SEO guide | Moderate |
| Exact-match commercial | best seo tools, buy backlinks | Should be a minority; a high share is a red flag |
2. Real Example: backlinko.com’s Anchor Distribution
On 9 October 2026 we checked backlinko.com with the anchor text checker: 71,246 distinct anchors. Sorted by referring domains:
| Anchor | Referring domains | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Backlinko | 10,612 | 35% |
| (empty) | 1,984 | 7% |
| backlinko.com | 1,881 | 6% |
| Brian Dean | 954 | 3% |
| backlinks | 829 | 3% |
| Premium Backlink Services backlinko.com for Strong… | 695 | 2% |
| TELEGRAM @SEO_ANOMALY - SEO BACKLINKS, BLACK-LINKS… | 667 | 2% |
- Brand, URL, founder name and empty anchors make up more than half: a textbook natural profile.
- A topical word like "backlinks" is only 3%, from articles about links citing the site naturally.
- Two anchors are clearly mass-posted spam (selling link services, a Telegram ad), each from about 700 domains. Backlinko did not build these; well-known sites routinely attract this kind of unsolicited spam.
3. Should You Act on Spam Links?
Google says its systems recognise and ignore most spammy links, and most sites never need the disavow tool. Consider disavowing only if you bought or traded links yourself, received a manual action in Search Console, or have reason to expect one.
If exact-match commercial anchors (say "cheap running shoes") clearly outnumber your brand anchors and come from articles you paid for or traded, that is the real risk. Stop the practice, get those links removed where you can, and file a disavow if needed.
4. Auditing Your Own Site
- Check the anchor distribution: are brand and URL anchors the majority?
- Check referring domains: are your 50 strongest sources real sites rather than a batch of template sites?
- Compare with competitors: the anchor profile of well-ranking sites in your niche is a better benchmark than any "ideal ratio".
Anchor Text Checker
See the 50 most used backlink anchors of any site by referring domains, with share. One free check a day.
Referring Domains Checker
See how many domains link to any site and the 50 strongest.