Natural anchor text patterns that signal genuine editorial intent
Anchor text is the visible text of a hyperlink. It's one of the strongest ranking signals because it explicitly describes what's on the other side of the link. An anchor text of 'running shoes' to a running shoes product tells Google clearly what the page is about. An anchor text of 'click here' tells Google nothing. The distribution of anchor texts pointing to a page teaches Google what that page is about and what keywords it should rank for.
A healthy anchor text distribution looks natural. It mixes four types: branded anchors using your company name or brand, naked URL anchors showing the plain URL, generic anchors like 'learn more' or 'this article', and exact-match anchors using the target keyword. Most inbound links should be branded or generic. Some exact-match anchors are fine. Too many exact-match anchors signal manipulation. If all your links say 'best coffee beans', Google suspects you're gaming rankings for that keyword.
Typical healthy ratios and red flags in anchor text patterns
Typical distributions for a healthy site are roughly 40-50% branded, 20-30% generic, 10-20% exact-match, and 10-20% naked URLs. These percentages are benchmarks, not rules. A brand new company with limited brand recognition might have higher exact-match percentages initially. An established brand might be 70% branded. The anti-pattern is 80%+ of your links using the exact same phrase. That screams manipulation to Google's algorithms.
Building natural anchor text distribution happens through editorial relationships. When journalists mention your product naturally, they write anchor text like 'ScrollChart helps visualize data'. When competitors link to you in roundup articles, they say 'similar tools include...' When you appear in directories, you get your company name. The distribution emerges from diverse, genuine links. If you're paying for links or using Private Blog Networks, anchors converge on your target keywords because the seller's incentive is to help your rankings. Healthy anchor patterns take time to develop, but they're also harder to fake at scale.