Anchor Report

A full inventory of every anchor text on your site — who uses it, where it points, and which ones are problems. In Linkilo 3.0 the report is framed as a cleanup queue: consolidate diluted anchors, rewrite weak ones, leave healthy brand anchors alone.

What this is

Every link has anchor text (the clickable words). The Anchor Report shows you all of them at once.

Useful for:

• Spotting overused anchors (too many exact-match anchors pointing to the same place looks unnatural)
• Finding cases where the same anchor points to MULTIPLE different URLs (confusing for both Google and readers)
• Auditing your anchor diversity
• Replacing generic anchors ("click here", "read more") that tell Google nothing

Open the report

Go to Linkilo → Diagnose → Anchor Report.

What you'll see

• Page title: Anchor Report, with a scope selector — Internal links only, External links only or Internal + external.
• Two buttons at the top: Refresh analysis re-runs the local analysis from your link table (it does NOT re-scan posts), and Export CSV downloads the full anchor inventory.
• Stat cards: Anchors Tracked, Ready to Review (anchors with a severity score of 60 or more — start here), Multi-URL, Exact-match Overuse, Generic and Total Link Instances.
• A Start here panel explaining the order of work: consolidate Multi-URL anchors first, then rewrite Generic anchors, and leave Brand anchors alone.
• A Top 3 Anchor Moves box — the three rows with the clearest cleanup path, each with a Next move line.
• Filter chips (High, Multi-URL, Overuse, Generic, Empty/img, URL-as-anchor, Long, Brand, Dismissed) and a search box.
• A table sorted by severity with the columns Anchor, Severity, Top Target, Flags and Next Move.

Each row has a ▾ button to show every target the anchor points to, and a Dismiss button for anchors you've decided are fine (Restore brings them back).

Flag meanings

Multi-URL

Same anchor points to more than one target URL.

Example: "espresso machine" anchor points to your Best Espresso Machines post in some places and How to Choose an Espresso Machine in others.

Usually bad. Pick one canonical target. The Link Cannibalization report can consolidate these for you.

Exact-match overuse

Same anchor used four or more times pointing to the same URL.

Looks unnatural to Google. Mitigate by varying:

• Use synonyms ("top humidors" vs "best humidors" vs "premium humidors")
• Use partial matches ("humidor reviews" vs "best humidor reviews" vs "humidor buying guide")
• Drop some of them

You don't need to fix every occurrence. Getting from 50 uses to 30 is usually enough to clear the flag.

Generic

Anchor is "click here", "read more", "this article", "learn more", etc.

These tell Google nothing about the destination. Replace with descriptive anchors like "best espresso machine reviews" or "how to clean a humidor."

Empty / image-only

The link has no visible text (image links, empty <a> tags). Lost SEO signal and an accessibility miss. Often unintentional.

URL-as-anchor

The raw URL is used as the link text. Replace with descriptive copy.

Long auto-generated

Twelve or more words — usually a paragraph fragment picked up by automated linking. Tighten it.

Punctuation only

Symbol-only anchors (›, →, »). Pair them with a word for context.

Brand

Anchor is your brand name. Linkilo marks these but they don't hurt your score — it's informational.

Fix an over-optimized anchor

1. Click the ▾ button on the row. Linkilo shows every target the anchor points to and how many times.
2. Open the posts that use it and edit them.
3. Replace some occurrences with synonyms or partial-match alternatives.
4. Save. Click Refresh analysis to confirm the flag is gone.

Fix a multi-URL anchor

Expand the row to see the competing targets. Decide which is canonical (usually the longer, more comprehensive post). Then either:

• Open Link Cannibalization, choose the destination and let Linkilo repoint the other instances in a batch with rollback snapshots, or
• Edit the other posts to use a DIFFERENT anchor text, or remove the link.

Common Questions

How do I know which target should be canonical?

Look at:

• Word count (longer is usually canonical)
• Search rankings in GSC (which one ranks better for the keyword)
• Which page already has more inbound internal links

If you have Keyword Cannibalization data, Linkilo's already done this analysis — check there for the recommended primary.

A "click here" appears 100 times on my site — is that really bad?

Generic anchors don't pass topical signals to Google about the destination. They're not actively harmful, but they're a wasted opportunity. Every "click here" could be "best espresso machine guide" — same number of links, way more SEO value.

You don't need to fix all 100 at once. Replace 10–20 at a time during regular content updates.

What's the "brand" flag for?

Linkilo recognizes your brand name and marks anchors that match. Just informational — brand anchors are expected and normal.

How is severity calculated?

Each active flag adds to a 0–100 score (multi-URL up to 30, overuse up to 25, generic up to 20, others 8–15), with a bump for anchors used ten or more times. Rows at 60+ count as Ready to Review.

Can I bulk-replace anchors?

Not from the Anchor Report itself. For anchors pointing at multiple URLs, use Link Cannibalization, which repoints every matching link to the destination you choose. For changing a URL everywhere, use Update URL.

Refresh analysis vs. re-scan posts

• Refresh analysis — uses your current link table, recomputes stats fast (seconds).
• Perform Scan (on the Summary page) — re-reads every post and rebuilds the link table from scratch. Slower (minutes). Use only if the link table is out of date.

Last reviewed for Linkilo 3.0.0 (October 2026).