Don't use "click here" as link text
What a link means
When calling the user to action, use brief but meaningful link text that:
- provides some information when read out of context
- explains what the link offers
- doesn't talk about mechanics
- is not a verb phrase
An example
For instance, avoid the following sentence on your page:
To download W3C's editor/browser Amaya, click here.
or:
To download Amaya, go to the Amaya Website and get the necessary software.
Both of these sentences divulge too much of the mechanics of getting the Amaya software. If you want to call your reader to action, use something like:
Get Amaya!
Note that "get" is left out of the hypertext; we do not recommend putting verb phrases in link text. Thus, rather than:
Tell me more about Amaya.
You should write:
Tell me more about Amaya: W3C's free editor/browser that lets you create HTML, SVG, and MathML documents.
Further Reading
- section 6.1 Link text in the W3C HTML Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, November 2000
- Avoid talking about mechanics and Make your (hyper)text readable in the Style Guide for online hypertext, by Tim Berners-Lee, 1992.
- Writing hypertext copy in What is good hypertext writing?, by Jutta Degener, April 1998. (See also: Dangerous words)
- Mail thread on the www-qa list, suggesting this tip.
About the "QA Tips"
The W3C QA Tips are short documents explaining useful bits of knowledge for Web developers or designers, hosted and produced by the Quality Assurance Interest Group at W3C.
While the tips are carefully reviewed by the participants of the group, they should not be seen as anything else than informative bits of wisdom, and especially, they are not normative W3C technical specifications.
Learn more about the Tips, how to submit your own pearls of wisdom, and find all the other QA tips in the Tips Index.