Anchor text, or link text, is the visible, clickable text that connects one web page to another via a hyperlink. This text is an extremely important element in the field of search engine optimization (SEO) and plays a significant role in the ranking of the linked pages.
When a site links to another, the words used in the anchor text serve as a signal to search engines about the content and topic of the target page. If many sites use similar or identical keywords in the anchor to point to the same page, this helps the search engine rank that page higher for the relevant terms.
Despite its importance, the use of anchor text should be natural and varied. Excessive use of the same, highly optimized anchor (so-called exact match anchor) can be perceived by search engine algorithms as a manipulative practice and lead to penalties.