Good wording for links

Quick tip of the week: give the links within your text a makeover and make them earn their keep!

In-line links (ones within the page rather than on a menu) are important because:

• they catch a reader's eye as they scan the page
• visually-impaired users may have a screen reading tool which 'announces' link text aloud
• search engines spider them to rank pages according to its content.

For all of these reasons, meaningless and generic text such as 'click here', 'this link' or 'more' is a waste of a good resource. You've got a good chance to use some of your content's key words here, and to grab a user's attention.

So, when confronted with 'To find out more about the programme, please click here', take the following actions.

1. Banish the meaningless phrases and make the important bits the link itself.
2. Don't bother being polite - it's a waste of words and makes the content sound as if it's asking for a favour.
3. Don't waste words telling users that a link is a link and describing what to do with it.
4. Mention the key words related to the link's destination.
5. Make the link an active call to action.

You'll end up with 'Find out more about the Diploma support programme'. More informative, more succinct and more eyecatching.

Please let me know if you find these tips helpful and whether you thinks it makes a positive difference on your pages.