If you’re wondering “What is a naked url in seo” then you’ve come to the right place.
Beginner SEO’s might hear the term, naked url or naked link.
In this article, we will cover anchor text and links for SEO.
A Naked URL is one in which the anchor text and the destination URL is the same. For example, www.google.com is a naked URL. The anchor text and destination URL is the same.
Naked URLs have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Naked URLs are readable to the user, making them more user-friendly. On the other hand, they also prevent web crawlers from knowing what the URL is about.
If a web-crawler accesses an “anchor text”, it knows what that page is about. On the other hand, a non-naked URL doesn’t have this privilege.
Naked URL Example
A good example is, If you comment on blog posts or forums, You’ll find that a lot of times, you cannot embed anchor text within your hyperlink. In those situations, you are forced to place a naked URL / link.
Here is an example of a hyperlink with an anchor text
The hyperlink above points to g-fx.net with the words “Here is an example of a hyperlink with an anchor text”
The wording is known as anchor text.
Here is an example of a naked url / link.
https://g-fx.net – There is no anchor text attached to the hyperlink. Hence, naked link.
Do Naked Links Work
A link is a link and naked links can be helpful, especially if it is on a high DA blog, the link juice from those blogs will do wonders for the authority of your own blog or webpage.
So, the quick answer is yes, they work. However, it doesn’t hold as much weight as a hyperlink that has an anchor text.
By having an anchor text attached to the hyperlink, it makes it easier for the web crawlers to understand what that link is about.
Although, having anchor text attached to your links holds weight and helps crawlers understand what your link is about. Doesn’t mean you should ignore naked links.
Why is Naked URL Important
A significant part of your anchor text strategy needs to incorporate naked URLs.
This form of connection helps diversify your link profile of your anchor text and thus keeps your site secure from the practice of aggressive anchor text and over optimization.
Google’s Penguin update began targeting and punishing sites with unnatural link profiles, resulting in the loss of traffic on thousands of websites.
A part of this update also centered on aggressive anchor text practice alongside link relevance. In general terms, websites were vigorously (in large proportion) flagged against Google’s rules using their main keywords as anchor texts.
The update meant that while it may be beneficial for anchor texts to be important, you would be penalized by using the same key phrases and anchors over and over again in your links.
Healthy Link Profile
A healthy-looking natural anchor text profile would have a higher mix of anchor text links (e.g. www.yoursitename.com, yoursitename.com, click here, read more, your website title, yoursitename.com/blog-post-url, etc.) than your keywords pertaining to your site.
Another benefit of using naked links is that branding a website is good for them. Since the URL itself is visible and includes your site’s name, it’s much easier to remember the address of your site.
To dilute your backlink profiles, naked URLS are also best used. Although you know that with your money keywords, your anchor text profile is a bit violent, you can easily establish some links with naked URLs to maintain a pleasant balance of your diversity of anchor text.
Since the Google algorithm is getting smarter day by day, creating a solid plan that fits with Google guidelines is the best practice for SEO.
Although there are hundreds of variables that account for a website’s ranking, as part of your SEO strategy, naked URLs should not be simply ignored.
Anchor Text Length
Anchor text is an important factor in your website’s SEO health. In Google’s eyes, anchor text helps it determine whether your site is running spam operations or if it’s legit.
A well-placed anchor word also tells your readers where they can find more information and what is on the other side of your links.
For example, this article is about hyperlinks and let’s say I wanted to direct you as the reader to another page or site related to hyperlinks or websites, etc.
I would do something like: Now that you know about naked urls and links, have you ever wondered how quickly should a website load?
As you can see from the above example I’ve added a long anchor text which clearly tells you what that link is about.
The same works for web crawlers, longer anchor text gives more information to crawlers, helping readers and crawlers understand more about that link.
How Long Should Anchor Text Be
As mentioned above, the longer the anchor text is, the more information you provide to the crawlers.
However, you don’t want to create a whole paragraph or page and use it as an anchor text.
The length should be long enough for you to quickly understand where you’re going to next on the site.
Honestly, there is no cookie cutter anchor text length and do what you feel is natural.
Different types of Hyperlinks
Now that you know the difference between a naked url or a hyperlink with anchor text. Let’s go over the different types or major categories of anchor text:
Branded text links — your brand name linked (e.g. G-FX)
Naked URL — a link without broadcast information (e.g. https://www.g-fx.net/)
Website Name — your website’s domain name (e.g. g-fx.net)
Page/Blog Post Title — a page’s title anchor text with a link on it (e.g. What Is A Naked URL In SEO)
Exact-match Keywords — a targeted keyword with a link on it (e.g. Tech Blog)
Partial-keyword Match — a word or phrase with a link on it (e.g. Best Tech Blog In 2020)
LSI Keywords — keywords related to a targeted keyword (e.g. Tech Blog, Tech Bloggers, IT Blogs, Technology Blogs)
Generic — (e.g. Click Here, More Information, Read more, Check this out)
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions
The original meaning for “link” in the early days of the Internet was “hyperlink.” An outgoing external link is also termed an outbound link. From a purely technical perspective, this is a direct link from one hypertext document to another.
Bottom Line
Naked URLs have benefits and drawbacks of their own.
The user is able to read naked URLs, making them more user-friendly. They even keep web crawlers from knowing what the URL is about.
It holds weight to have anchor text attached to your links and lets crawlers understand what your link is about.
Google’s Penguin update started targeting sites with unnatural linking profiles and punishing them. Naked URLs need to be integrated into a major part of your anchor text plan.
It keeps your site away from aggressive anchor text practice and over optimization.
The anchor text is an important factor in the health of your SEO website.
Anchor text in Google’s eyes allows it to decide whether the platform is running spam operations or whether it is legitimate.
A well-placed anchor word often informs your readers where more information can be found. The longer the anchor text is the more data you supply the crawlers with.
Naked URLs should not be simply ignored as they offer diversity in your linking profile.
Anchor text length should be long enough to make you understand where you are going quickly.
