Creating links
Do use links (hyperlinks)
Links make it easy for the visitor to explore relevant areas of interest, based on what they are currently reading.
Whenever a reference is made in the flow of text to:
- another UHI partner
- a department, school or subject area
- a particular further or higher education course on offer
- an event or news article
- a member of staff with a profile page
- staff or reception contact details
- external websites
- or similar
Remember to create a link to that page or website within the relevant text. For example:
The Institute for Northern Studies are internationally renowned for innovative undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research programmes.
Think about your link text carefully. For example, if it:
- takes a user to a course page - it should contain the name of the course
- e.g You can study BA (Hons) Applied Music at UHI Perth.
- downloads a pdf - it should contain the word 'download' or 'view' and the name of the pdf
- takes a user to student support - it should contain the words 'student support'
- e.g. UHI offer many support services for students across the partnership.
Put yourself in the shoes of a user and make the link text wording as short and descriptive as possible.
Don't use 'click here', 'learn more', 'here' or similar for link text
This kind of wording is unnecessary extra text, and lacks meaning for search indexing and makes it harder for people using accessible technologies to navigate the website.
Look at these four examples:
- Our Gaelic Language Plan is now available - click here to view.
- Click here to view our Gaelic Language Plan which is now available.
- Our Gaelic Language Plan is now available - learn more.
- Our Gaelic Language Plan is now available.
Number four is the best example. The link should always go on the text that is most relevant to the destination page or document. This maintains the flow for easy reading, and provides useful anchor text for search engines and accessible technologies, to add meaning to the content.
People using accessible technologies can also request a list of the links on one page. Imagine there is a page with 10 links on it and they all say 'click here'. A list of 10 links that all say 'click here' isn't going to be very helpful as they lack any context as to what the link does or where it takes them when clicked.
If that same page were to have its 10 links be meaningful, the link list could look similar to the following:
- Start in September
- See all courses
- Explore our subject areas
- postgraduate research degrees
- continuing professional development
- short courses
- research specialisms
- postgraduate student satisfaction
- National Student Survey
- contact us
A much more useful list that gives a clue to the user what each links does or where it takes them.
There's hardly ever any need for 'click here', 'learn more' or similar, especially considering around half of readers of the page won't be clicking at all, they'll instead be tapping a mobile or tablet screen.