Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [153]
This reinforces the need for the usage of HTML markup language to better define elements on the page for both search engines and assistive technology. Both technologies need this information to interpret and display information, visually or aurally, in order to help visitors. When these are done properly and designed well, it helps everyone better understand the content on the pages.
Anchor Text
The old WCAG accessibility guidelines wrote it simply: “Checkpoint 13.1: Clearly identify the target of each link.” WCAG 2.0 made people scratch their heads in wonder when the sentence was changed to “Checkpoint 2.4.4: Each link is programmatically associated with text from which its purpose can be determined.” Don’t let the big words get in the way. All it means is that people, regardless of access device, should be able to determine the purpose of the link from its context.
What I am talking about is the small but powerful concept of anchor text—the contextual text that hyperlinks to another page or another site. The problem is the number of sites that employ the following use of anchor text:
Click here
More info
Skip intro
An anchor text link of “click here” or “more info” provides no information as to what the visitor will find on the other side of those links. The goal of usability is for a site visitor to easily find their way through a site without thinking. Each step is clear and logical; information is easily found and communicated. “Click here” provides an action but not a reason.
This is a prime oversight, especially when “click here” links are littered throughout the page. These are links that are supposed to describe what you will find when you click the link. There are three reasons for eliminating this harmful practice from your site: usability, accessibility, and search engine rankings. I tend to favor usability over search engines ranking tactics, but this is one area where there are obvious benefits in usability and accessibility, so I’ll take the search engine benefits as a nice bonus. When you see this simple potential for greater success, I am sure you will spend a few hours working on removing these unusable road signs in your site.
If “click here” or “read more” were used as a proper context, it may be helpful, but the majority of time, it is a lazy alternative to constructing a clear call to action within the information. Visitors all know what blue, underlined text denotes. It is not difficult to surmise the purpose of the link by reading the linked text. If it is written well, it is effective.
For accessibility, repetitive “click here” links create a headache to anyone using a screen reader or other assistive device to access the page. Most assistive technology allows users to bypass the navigation and go directly to the content. These programs also allow users to list the links on the page, which allows them to quickly navigate to the content. Imagine hearing a page’s link list with “click here” repeated five or more times in a row with no clear description to the destination or available content. Where does that leave the user?
Lastly, using anchor text for internal and external page links can have a positive effect on your rankings if they are structured properly. I can’t imagine that many site managers are striving for top rankings for “click here,” but it seems as though there is a competition. You can affect your rankings by changing the anchor text to be more descriptive of the content and using keywords in the description.
One of the better examples I have seen in a use of content in anchor text, especially in the light of this chapter, is WebAIM’s website, www.webaim.org (a great accessibility resource). In developing its navigation, the site identified the five major groups of visitors that are targeted by the content of the site and the particular interests they have. By identifying their markets and the unique concerns of each group, they were able