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I have an question that I'd like to get an in-depth answer for and could not find an answer.
If we assume that both of the following are styled exactly the same, which is better/worse/right/wrong considering SEO:
<h3>Awesome Apple juicer</h3>
<p>This awesome apple juicer works great on juicy apples.</p>
<a href="...">Read more & order</a>
OR
<a href="...">
<h3>Awesome Apple juicer</h3>
<p>This awesome apple juicer works great on juicy apples.</p>
<p>Read more & order</p>
</a>
For SEO, this really does not matter. Sure, you want relevant anchor text for your links, but if your anchor text is a monster, it'll be overkill.
This is one of those cases where you have to think about the user, and about accessibility. Imagine a person who can't see your copy, using a screen reader. The screen reader will read each section in turn, down the page, and point out what is a link that can be clicked. I personally would rather hear the copy in the <h3> and <p>, and then have a clickable link with a call to action, than have a huge block of text that's also a link. Plus, the second option will look plain ugly on the page, in most cases, and appear spammy to boot.
I advise going with the first option.
It is better to enclose a relevant keyword or phrase in <a></a> tag that leads to the destination page than wrap more than one elements like <h3> and <p>.
If the page is like a category page where there are list of articles, you may wrap the heading, read more separately.
The First is more specific and accurate, even though there is not a big difference between both, in SEO right now (I doubt it though), I think it's safer to look for what search engines developers are trying to achieve, and try and do that. Because the tools change constantly but the aim is the same: link what users search for, to the most relevant content. an h3 tag is a heading and it should be used as a descriptive heading, not inside a link.
When considering SEO, you should keep User Experience top of mind. In this case, the mark-up itself won't have a huge impact on SEO, but it could on user experience which often indirectly translates to better rankings over time.
If your styling makes it difficult or abrasive for users to read the linked text, then you would want to avoid linking the entire section and focus just on the call to action.
You could also test the UX of both scenarios using something like Hotjar.
You could also test the UX of both scenarios using something like Hotjar.
