Dear Sherry,

I keep hearing that when including a link to a website or resource I should make the link meaningful. Isn’t it meaningful to use, “Click Here”? I’m telling my reader they need to click a link, what is more meaningful than that? I feel lost in links, please explain.

Sincerely,

Lost in Links

_____________________________

Dear Lost in Links,

The best definition of a meaningful link is that it will make sense out of context and will clearly communicate where it is pointing to. Many times when linking out to a resource, we tend to link to a website using one of the following: Link, Click Here, Read More, Here, etc. Screen reader users can ask the reader to pull up a list of the links in the document in order to quickly find where they need to go, however, a list of 20 Click Here’s, or Read More’s is like using Google Maps with “turn left” and “turn right” but no street names.

The general rule of thumb for formatting links is as follows:

• If a document will be printed, include the web address as non-linked text. 

• • Please go to the NMC Website (https://www.nmc.edu/) for more information.
• If the document isn’t meant to be printed, you do not have to include the web address. 
  • Please go to the NMC Website for more information.

Dive a little deeper and check out the following article, Build Connections with Meaningful Links, from Tufts University.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about making your links meaningful, contact me at 995-1978 or at strier@nmc.edu.