Over-optimised anchor text: links that shout one phrase

Look at the anchors pointing at one URL

List internal and external anchors aimed at a single page. A natural set includes the product name, a description of the job, and a few partial phrases. A set that is 90 percent one keyword was arranged.

Internal anchors are the ones you can fix this week. External anchors change only when you earn new mentions or ask a partner to correct a genuinely misleading link.

Write the anchor a person would click

Name the destination’s job: ‘the guide to citation-ready pages’, not a naked keyword repeated from the title. Surrounding sentence context matters as much as the clickable words.

Vary anchors because the recommendations are different, not because a tool asked for a percentage. Two links that truly deserve the same words can share them.

• Descriptive internal anchors.
• No sitewide footer of exact-match keywords.
• Leave branded and plain URL mentions alone.

Fix the template that stamps one anchor everywhere

A related-posts widget that always uses the target keyword, or a footer that repeats a money phrase on every URL, is the usual source. Change the component once.

Recheck the anchor list after the next crawl. You want a mix that still makes sense if you read only the link text.

Should internal links use exact-match keywords?

Sometimes, when that is the clearest name of the page. They should not all use the same phrase, and they should not be written for a density target.

Do you need to disavow over-optimised anchors?

Start by fixing internal anchors and earning ordinary mentions. Disavow is for links you would not want a reviewer to see, not for a slightly repetitive phrase.