Anchor text is the text used to represent clickable links. Anchor text is used internally and externally on websites, which is the standard for all websites to follow. Anchor text is an important part of web design, development, search engine optimisation and pay per click, simply because the links are avenues through a website and between websites. Anchor text can be utilised anyway, from numbers to special characters, although for search engine optimisation purposes this is not advisable.
When links are created, they will be default show as the URL that they point too, links can then be assigned independent text, or can inherit the URL. When utilising anchor text there are many things to consider such as how relevant is the anchor text to the destination page, to does the anchor text read naturally. Using anchor text in the incorrect fashion can lead to problems when optimising a website.
Many websites have flaws because of the anchor text, either the anchor text is too long, or does not use the correct wording/keywords. Other problems include using the same anchor text on links that link to different pages, this creates a relevancy separation issue.
If a website uses links to different pages that share the same anchor text, search engines can become confused when determining what page is the right page to return for the keywords used, which is often the cause of supplemental results. Other problems include the use of anchor text for dynamic URL's that are not reachable or properly indexed by search engines.
So what is good anchor text, well good anchor text is text that relates heavily to the destination page, whilst being represented in a short and understood format. Avoid using too many stop words, avoid stop words in anchor text altogether if possible. Try not to make link text too long, more than 100 characters can begin to appear spammy, and can cause supplemental issues with the destination page if that page does not have enough authority.
Optimal usage for anchor text includes using the primary keywords for the link, so if the destination page is about cheap vauxhall exhausts, why not use that for the anchor text
"Cheap Vauxhall Exhausts" is far better than "Click Here" or "For More Information".
