Link Text Purpose

Link Text Purpose refers to the clarity and descriptiveness of the text associated with hyperlinks in an application. The text should provide a clear indication of the link’s destination or purpose, ensuring that users, particularly those utilizing assistive technologies, can understand the context and intent of the link. For example, users with screen readers, can request a list of links on a page, and without descriptive link text, it becomes challenging to navigate or comprehend the content effectively.

Success criteria

The rule checks for the following potential violations:

• Links with text that includes generic stop words such as click, here, learn, more, etc.
• Links whose purpose is not clear from the link text alone and requires additional context.

How to Fix?

To fix violations related to link text purpose:

• Avoid generic link text
  Ensure that the link text is descriptive and specific about the destination or action it performs.
• Provide context
  Make sure that the link text, in combination with its surrounding context, makes the link’s purpose clear. The text should be meaningful and should provide enough information about what the user can expect upon clicking the link.
  

Example:
Instead of For more details, click here, update the link and surrounding text to Read our detailed guide on accessibility standards here.

Example

The following example scan report highlights the link text purpose violation. The link text here is too generic and does not provide enough context for users to understand its purpose, especially those using screen readers.

Fix

• Replace the generic link text here with descriptive text that clearly conveys the purpose of the link.
• For example, instead of Visit our website: here, update the link text to something more descriptive like Visit our company website.

Reference

• Learn more about Label WCAG: 2.1 - 2.4.4 (Level A) guideline.
• Learn more about Label WCAG: 2.2 - 2.4.4 (Level A) guideline.