The same hyperlink text should not be used for hyperlinks going to different destinations. Users may not notice the difference if the hyperlinks are not properly explained. If the destination pages are not the same, make sure the hyperlinks can be distinguished by their hyperlink text alone and make it clear that those lead to different destinations.

When creating a hyperlink you will want to embed the hyperlink within other text, rather than the full text of the hyperlink. This will make your page easier to understand and provide the user details as to the destination of your hyperlink, instead of a seemingly random combination of characters. This is a critical step for screen reader users so that they won’t have to listen to their screen reading software read every single character of the URL.

When creating a hyperlink to a file such as a Word or PDF document, you should include the document with the rest of the embedded text. For example, linking to a PDF map of the Allendale Campus would be Allendale Campus Map (PDF).

Use descriptive hyperlink text rather than only URL text or non-descriptive text. Hyperlink texts should be written so that they would make sense out of the context of your page. Generic hyperlink text such as “Click here” and “More” gives no indication as to the destination of the hyperlinks. We should not make our users have to click a hyperlink to find out where it goes.