SEO Tools
Anchor text checker.
Paste a page's HTML to see each link with its anchor text, and find empty anchors, generic text such as "click here", javascript: links and the rel attributes in use.
Input
Result
Paste the page HTML, then press Check.
How the anchor text checker works
The tool reads each <a> element. Anchor text is the visible text; for an image link with no text it falls back to the image's alt, which is what Google uses. Links without an href are counted but skipped, because Google only follows <a href> links.
Worked example
Click Load example. It has "click here" and "Read more" (generic, review), a javascript:void(0) link (review) and an image link with no alt (empty anchor, fix). The SEO basics guide link passes.
What is checked
- Empty anchors, fix. Google can fall back to a title attribute but says that should not replace proper anchor text.
- Generic text: click here, read more, here, learn more, link, website and similar. Google labels "click here" and "read more" too generic.
- Anchors over 100 characters. Google asks for reasonably concise text; 100 is this tool's own threshold.
javascript:hrefs, and empty or#hrefs.- The same anchor text pointing at different URLs (a note).
- Counts of
relvalues:nofollow,sponsored,ugc.
The tool cannot tell if a link is internal or whether its target exists, and it reads static HTML only, so links added by JavaScript after load are not seen.
Sources
- Google Search Central: make your links crawlable
- Google Search Central: qualify your outbound links to Google
Sources reviewed October 2026.
Anchor Text Checker FAQ
What is good anchor text?
Google describes it as descriptive, reasonably concise, and relevant to the page it is on and the page it links to. A useful test is to read the anchor text alone and see if it makes sense.
Is "click here" bad for SEO?
Google lists "click here" and "read more" as too generic. Replace them with words that say what the destination is.
When should I use nofollow, sponsored or ugc?
Google asks for sponsored (or nofollow) on paid links, ugc (or nofollow) on user-submitted links, and nofollow when you do not trust the source.
How are image links handled?
Google uses the image's alt text as the anchor text. An image link with empty alt has no anchor text.
Does it check where links point?
No. It reads the pasted markup only and makes no requests.