Descriptive links 

Descriptive links are important for both usability and accessibility 

Descriptive links for accessibility

• people who use screen readers will often navigate a website by tabbing from link to link, without reading the surrounding text
• this means that the screen reader reads a list of links to them

• this is only useful if the individual links are meaningful, even when read without the surrounding text

Descriptive links for usability

Most people scan read pages so descriptive links will help guide them to what they are looking for.

Writing descriptive links effectively 

When you add a link to a page imagine each link was on its own and had no text before or after.  Would you know where that link would take you?

Its easy to say, ‘click here’ or ‘email us’, but these will cause frustration for those using screen readers or for those who are in a rush and scanning for something specific, so the key is to make it as descriptive as possible.

Remember to include the action the user will take, ie download or visit, and what is it, such as:

Visit Sutton Councils website 

View a map of Sutton

If you are linking to a document, state the file type and if possible the file size. This will indicate to the user that they are about to download something. This is particularly important for people using phones where device storage or data plans may be limited.

Download the Adult Social Care policy (2MB PDF)

Test your links

• use a free screen reader such as NVDA (Windows) and see if the links make sense

• when referring to someone online their name should be linked to their email address e.g. Contact Joe Bloggs