How To Use HTML Anchor To Improve User Experience
HTML Anchor
The user experience: It has become one of the critical factors in SEO, especially after the latest changes in the Google algorithm. When creating and maintaining our website, we have to consider multiple factors that influence the user experience. Here we will focus on one that you may be overlooking: HTML anchors
What Is An HTML Anchor, And How Does It Work?
HTML is a markup language that allows us to indicate the structure of our website using tags.
In HTML, anchor tags are used to create links. We use the <a> </a> tags and the “href” attribute, which indicates where the link is directed. We may use these tags to create clickable links to other pages on our site, sections on the same page, or external pages.
When we create text links with the <a> tag, we must include an anchor text, that is, the clickable text displayed on our website. This text is essential SEO since Google uses it to know what the link is about and what type of content it points to.
Benefits Of Using HTML Anchor On Your Page
For Better User Experience (UX)
The HTML anchor can help improve the user experience, as links are crucial in assisting users in browsing your website.
A good UX practice is to create an index for long or visually dense content and include anchor links to the different sections. In this way, when a user lands on your page, you can quickly see which sections your article includes and go directly to the ones that interest them the most, without having to search for them by scrolling.
Likewise, including links to additional content from your site or third parties can also improve the user experience since they help to provide more valuable content. All links must be labeled appropriately and descriptively.
For Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The HTML anchor can indirectly influence your positioning by improving the user experience and helping you reach “position zero” or featured snippet.
In 2021, Google published an update on Core Web Vitals. The new algorithm gives more importance to the user experience when deciding the positioning of a website. One of the main factors it considers is interactivity, which means that Google now pays more attention to how users interact with pages, including how much time they spend on them.
If, when entering your page, the visitor cannot quickly see what it is about, it is very likely that he will leave it, leading to a higher bounce rate and therefore worsening your main web metrics and your positioning. Thus, including an index with anchor links to titles and subtitles helps you improve this factor.
In addition, the links to the different sections of the page can also become featured snippets on the Google results page. When a result reaches the coveted zero position, anchor links can be displayed in list form, indicating to users the content that can be found.
But that’s not all: Google can also include the anchor links in standard search results. This gives users more information about the content they will find and increases the chances that they will click on one of the links and become visitors to your page.
In short, while Google won’t penalize you for not using HTML anchors, adding anchor links whenever necessary helps you better inform search engines about the content on your page and get users to precisely the content they’re interested in. All this contributes to improving your website’s user experience and your positioning in search engines.
7 Best Practices In HTML Anchor
1. You can add anchor links anywhere on your website, including images. However, it is best to include them in titles and subtitles since you can summarize the content of your page for both visitors and search engines.
2. When you add an anchor link to a title, the text of that title becomes the anchor text of the link. Therefore, it is essential that the titles and subtitles are relevant, include keywords, and inform the user of the type of content they will find.
3. Try to make your anchor links one sentence, not a single keyword. Single-word links can be confusing to users and don’t give Google enough context about the type of page it will find.
4. Use Semrush Topic Research tools to research titles for your website content. To get started, you need to enter the main keyword, the topic, and the region you are targeting.
5. Do not over-optimize your anchor texts for SEO, as naturalness is very important. Try to use a combination of exact keywords, partial matches, brand names, and URLs.
6. To guarantee the best user experience, make all links relevant and contribute valuable information. Clicking on a link to find uninteresting content disappoints users and may cause them to leave our page.
7. Periodically check the links on your page with an auditing tool and immediately repair all broken links or go to pages that are no longer online.
Also Read: SEO Trends For 2022 That Will Optimize Your Web Positioning
