While your site visitors are in a searching mood they will click on the first link that looks plausible. A link is like a promise. The site visitor must be able to predict a link’s destination. He expects that the information appearing on the site will fit the link he clicked.
Do’s
- Colour and underline the link text.
- Unvisited links should be blue. Visited links should be purple. If you plan to use other colours use a bright, vivid colour for the unvisited link and a weaker variant or shade of the same colour for the visited link.
- Put the most important keyword into the first 11 characters of the link.
- Keep your links short (2-5 words).
- Use descriptive links that are meaningful to your users.
- Turn relevant words or a phrase within the text into links.
- Write informative links that explain what kind of information is waiting behind the click.
- Use an active phrase for an active link: “Sign up now”, “Go to the shop”, “Search for articles”.
- Indicate if the link is linking to a PDF file or launching an audio or video player.
Don’ts
- Don’t use verb phrases in links. (You can click here to get more information about…)
- Don’t use single nouns for links.
- Don’t promise too much.
- Don’t colour text when it’s not a link.
- Avoid generic instructions, such as: read more, click here, go.
- Don’t underline text that is not a link.
- Don’t create additional links if the word is already used within the text.
- Don’t add visual effects when the cursor hovers over a link.
