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Are your links as strong as they could be? This is the first of a series of posts all about how to write effective links. There’s a lot to say about links and link text but it all stems from seven basic facts.

Seven facts about links

Here are the seven facts. I’ve listed them all here so I can refer back to them easily in future posts.

• Links stand out from normal text
• Not all links are equal
• Links can be read out of context
• It is bad style to draw attention to web mechanics
• Not everyone clicks links
• Links get broken
• Link text affects your search engine ranking

Links stand out from normal text

Links are usually highlighted in a different colour, underlined, or both. Underlining is particularly effective because it halts the eye as we scan from top to bottom.

Not all links are equal

Often the whole point of a page is to persuade a visitor to follow a link.

Maybe you want the visitor to buy, subscribe, send you an email, or take a lesson. These actions might be the reason you publish the website in the first place. They need what Brian Eisenberg calls a persuasive architecture around them.

On the other hand, links can be distractions too. Sometimes the visitor should not have to follow a link.

There is a similarity with references in essay footnotes. References are very important, but you should only have to refer to them in very specific circumstances. You don’t want to keep having to refer to them just to follow the argument in the essay. It’s the same with some links.

Links can be read out of context

People using screen-readers can skip through the just the links on a page. That way, they don’t have to listen all the content. You can experience this for yourself by installing the free Fangs extension for Firefox.

It’s not just people using screen-readers. When people scan (visually) they tend not to read all the text. They will read link text because links stand out. But they won’t necessarily read the surrounding text.

It is bad style to draw attention to web mechanics

Have you ever seen an index of a book like this:

Koala bears
Move the corners of the pages to page 112 of this printed book
Move the corners of the pages to page 144 of this printed book
…

I guess you haven’t. There’s no point in mentioning that what you’re reading is a printed book. There’s no point in saying “move the corners”. Convention means all you need is a list of numbers.

But how often have you seen this:

Koala bears
Click here to visit the Koala Sanctuary homepage
Follow this hyperlink for the Kool Koala Webpage
…

The same comments apply. Do you really need be told how to use a link? No. So there are more words on the page than necessary. That’s bad style because extra words get in the way of what’s important: koalas!

However, it is common courtesy to warn visitors of non-HTML resources. It’s a good idea to mention if you’re linking PDFs or movies to say so, and say how large the files are.

Not everyone clicks

Not everyone uses a mouse to click a link. Other ways to follow a link are:

• Keyboard
• PDA stylus
• Voice activation

Links get broken

Links get broken. They normally have to be checked by hand. There’s no push-button or programmatic method of checking when external links are broken.

There’s a balance to be struck: broken links hurt the credibility of your website; but they take time to check. Deep links direct to the most useful information are better for your visitors; but homepages change much less frequently.

Link text affects search engine ranking

Using keywords in links and link title text improves search ranking.

Facts to action

The seven facts about links are not very useful by themselves. The question is, what implications do they have for writing effective link text? Over the next few weeks I will be writing much more on this topic. Yes, the year of the Rooster is the year of the link.

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