The Art of Linking - Don't "click here"

Years ago, the W3C made recommendations regarding how to create effective links. It goes against much of what we've become accustomed to seeing on the web. The gist of it is that your links should contain text descriptive of the site or page to which you're linking. They recommend that we avoid using non-descriptive text (e.g. "Click here") or verbs (e.g. "Download"). Instead, use meaningful text which describes the destination (e.g. "Please view our web application development portfolio.").

The reasons for this are pretty straightforward, but not always immediately intuitive. First, search engines look at the text within links when indexing pages. And the links to and from your site heavily influence how search engines judge your site's relevance to those keywords and, therefore, how well your site (or the site on the other end of the link) ranks for those keywords.

Secondly, visually impaired people often use screen readers which scan the page and read the links aloud. "Click here" just doesn't cut it. It doesn't give them any indication what they might find by clicking there.

So, in a nutshell, if your site is about "click here", then, by all means continue using it as your anchor text. :-) For the other 100% of us, we should begin using text which in some way explains what the search engine will find at the other end.

At Ars Nova, we're firm believers that there are no absolutes. We definitely believe that these guidelines are important for the reasons stated. But sometimes, "Read More" is exactly what you want a link to say. A competent web developer will make decisions based on context.

Sources & Related Articles

• 6.1 Link text in the W3C HTML Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• W3C QA Tips
• Provide clear navigation mechanisms from the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0