Website Accessibility Tip of the Week: Meaningful Hyperlink Text
Hyperlink text is more useful when it makes sense out of context since screen reader users can obtain an alphabetically-organized list of links at any time on a web page. It wouldn't make sense to hear "website" as a link name, since it doesn't inform the user about which website they will land once they click on the hyperlink. Avoid non-informative link phrases such as:
- click here
- here
- more
- read more
- link to [some link destination]
- info
These words as hyperlinks are ambiguous when read out of context. A link that says "click here to access today's news" can be shortened to "today's news." Avoid typing out the full URL as the link name, since screen readers will read out every character of the URL to users, creating accessibility barriers.
Please take this time to review all hyperlinks on your website and in your website documents to ensure that the purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone.
For a deeper understanding of the intent of the WCAG 2.0 Guide 2.4.4, more examples, related resources, techniques, etc., visit the W3C Working Group WCAG 2.0 Guide 2.4.4 note or the Trent University Marketing & Recruitment website accessibility guide.
Posted on December 5, 2016
