How to Include Heading Links in WordPress

Long articles often score better on search results pages because Google prefers long-form content. The difficulty is that readers' attention spans are shrinking, even as search engines favor lengthier material. This implies that if you want people to discover the information they want in your articles and pages, you must make it easy for them.

Anchor links are useful in this situation. You can use a table of contents or any similar tool to guide readers to particular sections or subheadings within a single page. In this manner, users won't have to sift through hundreds or thousands of words to locate the specific answers they need.We'll explain how anchor links function in this post, as well as the benefits and Cons of using them.

What exactly are anchor connections, then?

Have you ever noticed that when a link on a website is clicked, it occasionally goes to a lower page instead of directing you to a different one?

An "anchor link" is that. 

Improve Your Site's Navigation and Anchor Links

It is an excellent tool for assisting visitors in finding what they need when navigating, particularly on lengthy sites.

The two components of anchor links

Tag for Anchor: The URL to which it should be connected is indicated by this HTML element. It is written as follows: , where the section's unique ID is used in place of "anchor".

Link: The text or picture that may be clicked points to the anchor. It mentions the anchor name by inserting a hashtag, such as My Link. Clicking this link will scroll the page to see the anchor tag.

Combining the two, anchor links allows material farther down a page to be accessed directly instead of requiring the user to scroll and find it themselves.

How to Make Anchor Links in WordPress

The following three techniques can be used to create jump links in wordpress:

Step 1: Use the Gutenberg editor

• If WordPress is currently installed on your computer, the Gutenberg "blocks" editor comes with a built-in jump link-building feature.
• Highlight the header in the Gutenberg Block and select "Advanced" from the right-hand window.
• Enter a link ID for the highlighted header in the "HTML Anchor" field.
• Then, select the text within the block that you wish to use as your anchor link by highlighting it and clicking the chain link button. Put "#anchor-link-ID-you-just-created" (no quotes) in the link field.
• Press the enter key to save and execute.

Step 2: Manual

• If you're still using (or simply prefer) the Classic Editor, the approach is slightly different:
• Verify that the Edit Page or Edit Post screen is in the "Visual" tab.
• Type in or highlight the text to be linked.
• To open the link window, click on the little chain link symbol above the page editor.
• Instead of attaching the text to a URL, post, or page as you would with a regular link, give it an anchor name by typing "#your-anchor-name-goes-here" (without the quotes) into the link box. To save and use your new URL, click the blue Enter symbol.
• Then, to convert to the HTML view, select the "Text" tab in the page editor.
• Find the location in the text where you want the link to "jump" to (preferably a header), and add an ID attribute right after the heading tag, inside the brackets. As an illustration, consider this:
• You may find your anchor name here. The Heading Text is as follows
• Save for the test and application.

Step 3: Plugin

• Although we don't encourage employing plugins for simple or infrequent operations, these two will automate the procedure for you:
• TinyMCE Advanced (which gives the Classic Editor more features, such as an "Anchor" option in the "Insert" selection)
• Easy Table of Contents (automatically adds a list of anchor links for every header in your page or post by using the [ez-toc] shortcode)

In summary

Now that you know how to make anchor links in WordPress, you can elevate your long-form material to the next level. Use anchored links so that users may go easily to the interesting and helpful content.

When used properly, anchors may make sense of disparate concepts, make navigating easier, and entice users to read more. Use technically sound and easily understood anchor links to improve the reader experience. This will help search engines better comprehend the content's structure and enhance accessibility and concept continuity.

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