Doing SEO for any client is intimately associated with getting the most out of every link. Anchor text is an important element that “unlocks” every link’s potential — to the extent that Google had to roll out its first Penguin update in 2012, cutting tried-and-true anchor text over- optimization methods out of the picture. Over the past five years, the best practices of anchor text optimization have considerably evolved. It is time to learn how anchor text best practices can allow you to get the most out of links in 2018. Anchor text and Google Penguin The release of Penguin 1.0 in April, 2012 shook up the SERPs, affecting around 3% of all search queries in English, German, Chinese, Arabic, and other popular languages. Since then, there have been at least five major Google Penguin updates: Penguin 1.1 — May, 2012 Penguin 1.2 — October, 2012 Penguin 2.0 — May, 2013 Penguin 2.1 — October, 2013 Penguin 3.0 — October, 2014 Penguin 4.0 — September, 2016 Since Goo...