Free tool
Anchor text distribution checker
Paste your anchors from any backlink tool. You'll see how they split across branded, URL, generic, partial and exact-match text, and whether exact-match keywords are crowding out the natural ones.
Comma separated. Used to spot exact and partial matches.
One per line. Add a count after a comma or tab (links or referring domains). No count = 1.
Distribution
Anchors by category
| Anchor | Category | Count |
|---|
What the categories mean
| Category | Example | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Branded | Margin, Margin notes | People talking about your company. The backbone of a natural profile. |
| Naked URL | margin.example, https://margin.example/pricing | Citations and resource lists. Also natural. |
| Generic | click here, this tool, source | Editors linking inside a sentence. Normal in moderation. |
| Partial match | notes that keep their sources | Descriptive anchors that include part of a keyword. Healthy when varied. |
| Exact match | research notes app | The anchor is your target keyword word for word. Keep this a small share. |
| Other | a tool I use every week | Everything else: topical phrases, sentences, image alt text. |
If exact match is high
Don't panic or disavow on anchors alone. Stop asking for keyword anchors in outreach, and let new branded and URL links rebalance the profile. If the exact-match links came from paid placements or link networks, that's when cleanup is worth it: ask for removal, and disavow what you can't remove.
Anchors are one signal among several. For the rest of the picture (relevance, placement, follow status and the site itself) see what separates a high-quality backlink from a risky one. If you're auditing a competitor's profile rather than your own, competitor backlink analysis shows how to turn their links into your prospect list, and the backlink gap calculator shows how many referring domains you need to catch up.
Questions people ask
What is a healthy anchor text distribution?
There's no official ratio. Natural profiles are usually dominated by branded and naked-URL anchors, because that's how people link to a company they mention. Exact-match keyword anchors are normally a small share. The thresholds in this tool are rules of thumb taken from looking at real profiles, not numbers Google publishes.
Why is too much exact-match anchor text risky?
Exact-match anchors are what you get when links are bought or placed to manipulate rankings, so a profile full of them looks engineered. Google's link spam policies call out keyword-rich anchors in links you control. A few exact matches from genuine editorial mentions are normal; a majority isn't.
Where do I get my anchor text data?
Any backlink tool's anchors report (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, Majestic) or Google Search Console's "Top linking text" under Links. Export to CSV and paste the anchor column, or the anchor and count columns together.
Should I count each link or each referring domain?
Referring domains, where you can. One site with a sitewide footer link can create thousands of identical anchors and skew the picture. Most tools let you export anchors with a referring-domains count. Use that number.
What anchor should I ask for in outreach?
Usually your brand name, or a short description of what you do ("Margin's source-linked notes"). It reads naturally in the sentence, the editor is more likely to accept it, and it keeps your profile looking organic. Leave exact-match keywords out of your ask.
Related
Disavow file generator
Paste spammy domains or URLs and download a clean disavow.txt in the exact format Google Search Console accepts.
Nofollow link checker
Paste a page's HTML and see every link to your domain with its rel attributes: followed, nofollow, sponsored or ugc.
White-hat link building checklist
What to check before, during and after outreach so every link you earn is one you would defend.
See where your next links could come from.
Paste your URL. The agent finds lists, comparison pages, resource pages and guides where your product fits, checks each site and finds the editor to contact. Free, no card.
