diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 443ef7d6865..a62c6e00f49 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ Features added
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
+* #11542: linkcheck: Properly respect :confval:`linkcheck_anchors`
+  and do not spuriously report failures to validate anchors.
+  Patch by James Addison.
+
 Testing
 -------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
index 1b7b56eeea3..81b1e145f8e 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/linkcheck.py
@@ -406,7 +406,8 @@ def _check_uri(self, uri: str, hyperlink: Hyperlink) -> tuple[str, str, int]:
                     _user_agent=self.user_agent,
                     _tls_info=(self.tls_verify, self.tls_cacerts),
                 ) as response:
-                    if response.ok and anchor and not contains_anchor(response, anchor):
+                    if (self.check_anchors and response.ok and anchor
+                            and not contains_anchor(response, anchor)):
                         raise Exception(__(f'Anchor {anchor!r} not found'))
 
                 # Copy data we need from the (closed) response
diff --git a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
index 42e4e03521b..04b09314044 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_linkcheck.py
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ def test_defaults(app):
     }
     # looking for '#top' and '#does-not-exist' not found should fail
     assert rowsby["http://localhost:7777/#top"]["info"] == "Anchor 'top' not found"
+    assert rowsby["http://localhost:7777/#top"]["status"] == "broken"
     assert rowsby["http://localhost:7777#does-not-exist"]["info"] == "Anchor 'does-not-exist' not found"
     # images should fail
     assert "Not Found for url: http://localhost:7777/image.png" in rowsby["http://localhost:7777/image.png"]["info"]
@@ -166,6 +167,22 @@ def test_defaults(app):
     }
 
 
+@pytest.mark.sphinx(
+    'linkcheck', testroot='linkcheck', freshenv=True,
+    confoverrides={'linkcheck_anchors': False})
+def test_check_link_response_only(app):
+    with http_server(DefaultsHandler):
+        app.build()
+
+    # JSON output
+    assert (app.outdir / 'output.json').exists()
+    content = (app.outdir / 'output.json').read_text(encoding='utf8')
+
+    rows = [json.loads(x) for x in content.splitlines()]
+    rowsby = {row["uri"]: row for row in rows}
+    assert rowsby["http://localhost:7777/#top"]["status"] == "working"
+
+
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('linkcheck', testroot='linkcheck-too-many-retries', freshenv=True)
 def test_too_many_retries(app):
     with http_server(DefaultsHandler):