# Understanding the Anchor Terms Report

July 3, 2025

The **Anchor Terms Report** breaks down anchor texts into individual **words** to show how often each term appears in your backlinks. This gives you a more granular view of your anchor profile and helps identify dominant keywords across all anchor texts.

## What the report shows

Each row includes:

- **Term** – A single word extracted from all anchor texts
- **Total links** – Number of backlinks where the term appears in the anchor
- **Follow links** – Number of _follow_ backlinks using that term

Clicking any number will open the **Links Report**, filtered to show only links using anchors that include that term.

The full report can also be **exported to CSV**.

## How to use this report

### If you're viewing **your own domain**

1. #### Identify dominant keywords in your anchor profile
   
   This report highlights the most common **words** used across all your anchor texts. It’s useful for spotting keyword concentration and thematic focus.

2. #### Detect overuse of commercial terms
   
   If a specific keyword appears in a large number of _follow_ links, it might indicate over-optimization and increase SEO risk. Use this report to identify and address that early.

3. #### Audit brand visibility
   
   See how often your brand name or variations of it appear in anchor texts. This helps evaluate brand awareness and consistency in your link profile.

4. #### Discover irrelevant or spammy terms
   
   Unusual or off-topic terms may indicate spammy links or unrelated mentions. Use this to clean up or disavow low-quality backlinks.

### If you're viewing a **competitor’s domain**

1. #### Analyze their link-building strategy
   
   See what kind of anchor texts they use most.

2. #### Identify overuse of commercial keywords
   
   This may suggest aggressive link-building that could be risky—or working.

3. #### Spot branded vs non-branded anchor use
   
   Understand how much of their backlink profile is tied to brand awareness.

4. #### Find inspiration for your own outreach
   
   Use common anchors as a clue to the type of content or context that gets them backlinks.

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## Summary

The Anchor Terms Report gives you a word-level view of your backlink anchors. It's ideal for fine-tuning your SEO strategy, avoiding over-optimization, and maintaining a natural link profile.