Links and Digital Accessibility

Well-written and well-placed links are an important tool that content creators can use to help engage their audience with online documents and webpages.

Why are accessible links essential?

Research has shown that sighted users typically scan pages for links to help them find what they're looking for. People using screen readers can do something similar by selecting an option to hear a list of all the links on a page.

Well-written and well-placed links provide good “information scent”. They increase the usability and functionality of web content for everyone, and are essential to those who use screen readers or other adaptive technology.  

In the article Information Scent: How Users Decide Where to Go Next, Raluca Budiu from the Nielsen Norman Group describes "information scent": 

“The web is all about hyperlinks. But, you may wonder, when presented with a bunch of links, how do users decide which link to click on and which to ignore? The answer is: information scent. Like food scent guides animals to their meals, information scent guides people to those web pages that are likely to contain the content they’re looking for.” 

Best practices for links

You can improve both the accessibility and usability of links in online documents and webpages by linking text that is meaningful out of context, concise, and descriptive. This will improve the "information scent" of your links for everyone. Here are some best practices to get you started:

1. Link meaningful text. Links should be able to stand alone.
   • Don’t use generic phrases such as "Read More" or "Click Here".
   • Avoid URLs as link text in most cases. URLs are not always human-readable or screen-reader friendly. If the URL is relatively short (such as a site's home page), it may be used as link text but be considerate of screen reader users who must listen to the longer, less intelligible URLs.
2. Avoid repetitive links.
   • When the same link appears more than once on a page, your audience will assume each goes to the same place. If the links refer to different pages, make sure that the text is unique.
3. Be descriptive and concise.
   • When writing link text, don’t waste words. While there isn't a maximum number of recommended words per link, each should count. As with all web writing, front-load your links with the most important words first.

Resources

• Links and Hypertext (WebAIM): A three-part introduction to links and hypertext from WebAIM, a leading provider of web accessibility expertise. 
• Writing Hyperlinks: Salient, Descriptive, Start with Keyword (Nielsen Norman Group)
• A Link is a Promise (Nielsen Norman Group)
• Better Link Labels: 4Ss for Encouraging Clicks (Nielsen Norman Group)