Meaningful link text

Back to the a11y checklist

Why it matters

The purpose of each link should be able to be determined from the link text alone. Link text should help users to know something about their destination if they click on it. Link text such as “Click here” and “More” fail to meet these criteria. Screen reader users can generate a list of links and navigate them alphabetically. Redundant or ambiguous link text such as “More” is meaningless in this context. Users of speech recognition technology can select a link with a voice command like “click” followed by the link text. Therefore it is also helpful to use unique link text that is short and easy to say. Remember that well written links benefit SEO by giving more context to Google as to what the linking page is about and what it should be ranking for.

WCAG 2.0 reference: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context), 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only)

Example 1

Phrasing links the right way by explaining what the link offers

Example 2

If the link text is added at the end of repeated blocks of text, for example “Read more” links at the end of short teasers for blog posts, there are a variety of acceptable techniques for making those links more accessible, without adding clutter or sacrificing readability. For example, the aria-label or aria-labelledby attributes could be added to the link, providing more descriptive link text specifically for screen reader users.

How to check for this

1. For link elements that use aria-label, check that the value of the aria-label attribute properly describes the purpose of the <link> element.
2. Check for any uninformative links. Manual

Collaborators

If you see written material that deviates from our content strategy principles, reach out to the content author.

Resources

• Descriptive hyperlinks and text guidelines (Cars.com SEO team)
• Cars.com content strategy principles