Helping users understand the destination of links is an important step towards increasing the usability and accessibility of your content.
Benefits of descriptive hyperlinks
Many screen readers like NVDA, JAWS and VoiceOver give users the option to have just the links on a web page read to them. Therefore, it is useful to write links that make sense when taken out of context. Links should describe the destination where site visitors will arrive when selected. Avoid “click here,” "read more," or other ambiguous phrases. Additionally ink text should be made up of phrases rather than single words, so that users with limited motor control will not have difficulty selecting links.
NOTE: Some search engines, such as Google, give higher rankings to sites that use “context-rich” text links.
Accessible vs. inaccessible link text
Following are examples of inaccessible link text along with corrected examples. The main issue with the inaccessible links is that they do not clearly indicate a specific destination.
Examples of link text which is not ideal:
Example 1: Click here for instructions.
Example 2: Learn more about color and accessibility here and here
Example 3: Story 1-Full Title (Read More) | Story 2-Full Title (Read More)
Example 4: Accessibility 101 (Register) | Accessibility 102 (Register)
Corrected examples:
Example 1: Instructions for the tool are available online.
Example 2: Learn more about contrast and color coding,
Example 3: Story 1 full title, Story 2 full title
Example 4: Register for Accessibility 101, Register for Accessibility 102,
Best practices for hyperlinks
These guidelines apply to links embedded within the text of a document or a Web page.
- Write links that make sense out of context. Use descriptive link text detailing the destination; not just “click here,” or other similar phrases.
- Link text should be made up of phrases rather than single words, so that users with limited motor control will not have difficulty selecting links.
- Maintain the standard that text links are underlined and are a different color value (lighter or darker) than the main text. This provision will help colorblind users find links more easily, and is good usability practice.
- Hover over and focus states of the link should be clearly different from surrounding text.
- If you use an image to create links, make sure the destination is included as an image ALT tag.
Periodically audit online content
It’s a good idea to audit your online content at least annually to make sure all your hyperlinks are still working and relevant. Some content management systems will run automated scans and detect broken links, but this can report false positives if the content has moved but the link is still active.