The art of the click-worthy link

Effective links are beacons of blue underlined clarity, fulfilling your readers' yearning to click.

But it can all go horribly wrong. For example:

Here

Click here

More info

Fingers need plenty to click on

Imagine someone with arthritis or Parkinson's trying to make contact with a link as small as this. It's not easy. Our job is to make clicking easy. 

Longer links give a bigger landing zone for a finger.

Links need to make sense out of context

Effective links tell the reader what they'll get when they click. They work independently of the text around them. 

Imagine someone using assistive tech to get around your document or website. 

Some tech, like screen readers, read out all the links on a page, one after the other. How unhelpful to hear 'here, click here, here, doc, info, here'. 

Imagine someone hearing your link in isolation

Depending on how many words you link to, the listener will have different experiences of the link. 

Which of these is most useful to you?

My gut goes with one of the last two. If acknowledging Vision Australia is important, the final link is the more useful choice. It depends on what's relevant for your reader.

By the way, click on one of those links – the videos are a great education!

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✨ Check out my Business Writing course, where I teach you reader-focused structure in writing.

✨ Look into the School of unProfessional Writing and check out the course on accessibility and inclusion.