Descriptive Links
Link text is the text contained in a hyperlink. Making hyperlinks accessible is one of the most important factors of accessibility. The purpose of descriptive links is to provide users with the proper context of where the link will take them. Screen readers navigate websites going from link to link, so providing descriptive text is very important.
In many cases, the appropriate link text is already in your content, it just needs to be emphasized as the link. Screen readers announce the presence of a link so it is vital not to include words such as "link" or "website" in the link text. You don't want to provide unnecessary redundant information for students. Also do not use words such as "click here" or "more" for link text as it will become difficult for screen reader users to quickly identify what the link is.
How to Create Accessible Links
Label your links with concise, unique, and descriptive text. Users of assistive technology rely on this to navigate documents.
- Concise: no more than 5 words.
- Unique: no other link in the document has the same text.
- Descriptive: it indicates exactly what will happen when the link is clicked.
Say you would like to link to the University of Michigan's Accessibility website (https://accessibility.umich.edu/ Links to an external site.), then the following are examples of good and bad texts to use:
Good Example:
To learn more about digital accessibility visit the University of Michigan Accessibility Website Links to an external site. [University of Michigan accessibility website is the link]
Bad Example:
If you would like to visit the University of Michigan’s Accessibility website, click here Links to an external site..
WebAIM has an article that describes how descriptive links are used to enhance accessibility for all not just people with disabilities. Oregon State's Descriptive Links article describes how to write good, descriptive link text.