Link Text

Why It Matters

• Users decide whether to click based on it. The link text is the preview of what is on the other end. "Download our 2025 pricing guide" gives users confidence about what they will get. "Click here" gives them nothing.
• Search engines use it to understand linked pages. When your link text says "page speed optimization tips," search engines use that as a signal about the topic of the page being linked to. Descriptive link text helps with relevance.
• Screen readers rely on it heavily. Users who navigate with screen readers often browse pages by tabbing through links. If every link says "read more" or "here," the experience is confusing and frustrating.
• It affects the scannability of your page. Links naturally draw the eye. Descriptive link text creates a secondary way for users to scan your content — they can quickly spot relevant links without reading every word around them.

How to Write It Well

1. Describe the destination. Link text should tell users what they will find when they click. "Our guide to responsive design" is clear. "This article" is vague. Always answer: "Where does this link go?"
2. Keep it concise but informative. A few words to a short phrase is ideal. "Contact support" works. An entire paragraph turned into a link is overwhelming and hard to scan.
3. Avoid generic phrases. "Click here," "read more," "learn more," and "here" are the usual culprits. They tell users nothing about the destination and are meaningless when read out of context.
4. Make it work standalone. Imagine reading just the link text without any surrounding content. Does it still tell you where the link goes? If yes, you have good link text. If not, make it more specific.
5. Use natural language. Link text should read naturally within the sentence. "Check out our guide to improving site speed" flows well. Forcing exact-match keyword phrases into link text often sounds awkward.

Common Mistakes

• Using "click here" everywhere. This is the single most common link text problem. It wastes an opportunity to be descriptive and creates an unhelpful experience for screen reader users navigating by links.
• Using the raw URL as link text. "Visit https://www.example.com/products/category/subcategory/item" is hard to read, hard to scan, and tells users nothing useful about the destination.
• Making link text too long. Wrapping an entire sentence or paragraph in a link makes it hard to distinguish where the link starts and ends. Keep link text to a few meaningful words.
• Using the same link text for different destinations. If three links on the same page all say "Learn more" but go to different pages, users cannot tell them apart. Differentiate each one with specific text.