Write effective hyperlinks

Hyperlinks give digital publications one of their biggest advantages over printed publications. Adopt the strategies in this guide to make the most of this feature.

In brief

  • Do Use informative link text.

  • Do Use links wisely — consider the context and whether the link will really add value.

  • Do not use click here or similar short-cuts.

  • Do not overload the body text with inline links — they are distracting and hard to maintain.

  • Avoid long link text that might wrap over multiple lines.

Use informative link text

The text of a hyperlink should be as self-contained as possible. That is, they should be descriptive and meaningful, so that the reader has a good idea of what the link will lead to. The reader should not have to click on a link just to find out what it leads to.

  • Do not use non-descriptive link text like click here, more, full information or PDF. Link text of this kind is only acceptable in specific use cases, such as 'teaser content' in informal communications.

  • Do add context like …​in this guide, …​on the Wikipedia website or …​(PDF) after the link, so the reader knows what to expect.

Ideally, your target item has a well-formed title or heading, and your authoring tool can make use of this automatically when you link to it. (See also Titles and headings in this guide.)

Otherwise, use these tips to adapt your approach:

  • If the name of the target item gives a clear indication of what it is about then make the link text a close match.

  • If the name of the target item does not give a clear indication of what it is about then add some context to clarify what it is that the reader will find — but be concise.

Use links wisely

Hyperlinks are the foundation of the Web and digital publications, and can be enormously useful. But you can overdo them — they can be distracting for the reader, and they can be hard to maintain over time.

To minimise these unwanted effects, adopt the following practices:

  • Use links within the body text sparingly. Consider whether you can present related links as a short list at the end of the topic. With this method you can provide better labels and more explanation without harm to the body text or the reader’s flow.

    (Ideally, your authoring tool helps you to do this with relationship tables, for ease of maintenance.)

  • Where you do place a link in the body of the text, place it at the start or the end of a sentence if you can — interruptions make sentences harder to read.

  • Where possible, place the link so that the text won’t be forced to wrap over multiple lines in the output.