2.4.4 Link Purpose – In Context (Level A)

Write your anchor link text so it’s clear to users what the linked page is about.

What you need to know

• Anchor text is comprised of the words you attach to a link.
• Keep in mind that the whole point of link text is to let the user know where they are headed if the click on it.
• This success criterion allows for more ambiguous link text, so long as the preceding text provides context for the link.
• This is actually one of the more common accessibility failures of websites, but the good news is it’s one of the easiest things to fix.

What you need to do

• Use keywords that have meaning when you’re creating links.
• Don’t use terms like “click here” and “learn more.”
• Write link descriptions that are easy to read and keep your anchors concise.
• Be sure to write useful alt text when linking images.
• Don’t create redundancy.

Related Resource

Check out our blog post “Writing Meaningful Link Text” for more information about this success criterion.