{"id":774,"date":"2009-04-15T12:37:45","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T12:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/meaningful-links-a-must\/"},"modified":"2024-07-25T17:02:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T15:02:49","slug":"meaningful-links-a-must","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/usability-blog\/meaningful-links-a-must\/","title":{"rendered":"Meaningful links: a must"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For eons now, usability experts have been saying links need to be meaningful.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meaningful links help surfers to scan a page. They drive clicks and enhance conversion rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And yet, websites and blogs are still littered with &#8220;Click here&#8221; and &#8220;Read more&#8221; links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s a little reminder, and a few examples, of why meaningful links are so important. <!--break--><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-why-meaningful-links\">1. Why meaningful links?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Links stand out <\/strong><br> Because links are underlined and a different colour, they stand out. They&#8217;re like little anchors for the eye. If our brain registers things like &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/ux-services\/user-research-agency\/usability-review\/\">Click here<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/ux-services\/user-research-agency\/user-testing-agency\/\">Read more<\/a>&#8220;, that&#8217;s not very helpful. Links like &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/ux-services\/user-research-agency\/usability-review\/\">Usability review<\/a>&#8221; or &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/ux-services\/user-research-agency\/user-testing-agency\/\">User testing<\/a>&#8221; are far more useful. Surfers know what to expect when they click these links.\u00a0\u00a0<br> \u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Google likes meaningful links<\/strong><br> When indexing pages Google not only takes into account the words on the page itself but also the words\u00a0in the links to that page. A link to a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/ux-services\/user-research-agency\/user-testing-agency\/\">User testing<\/a>&#8221; helps that page score better for the words &#8220;user testing&#8221;.<br> \u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Visually impaired users<\/strong><br>\n\tVisually impaired users also scan web pages. Not with their eyes but by jumping from link to link with special software.<p><\/p>\n<p>\tThe links appear on the braille reader or are read out. No prizes for guessing which sort of links they prefer.<\/p><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-tips\">2. Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Avoid links that only say &#8220;Click here&#8221;, &#8220;Read more&#8221; or similar things.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure&nbsp;a link says something about the page it refers to.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Titles of articles on home- and overview pages should be clickable. That way, you don&#8217;t even need a &#8220;Read more&#8221; link at the end. &nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Put the most important words first, to play into surfers&#8217; scanning behaviour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-examples\">3. Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image small\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/blog\/2009\/04\/meaningfullinksbad2.gif\" alt=\"Meaningless link\" class=\"wp-image-103\" title=\"Meaningless link\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Better: &#8220;Find an Invisalign doctor near you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image small\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/sites\/default\/files\/blog\/2009\/04\/meaninglesslink.gif\" alt=\"Meaningless link\" class=\"wp-image-104\" title=\"Meaningless link\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Better: Leave out the &#8220;More&#8221; link and simply make the title clickable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meaningful links help surfers to scan a page. They drive clicks and enhance conversion rates.<br \/>\n<span class=\"note-blauw\">Find out&nbsp;why meaningful links are important&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing-for-the-web","tag-links"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meaningful links: a must | AGConsult<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meaningful links help surfers to scan a page. They drive clicks and enhance conversion rates. A reminder why meaningful links are important and some examples.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/usability-blog\/meaningful-links-a-must\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meaningful links: a must\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meaningful links help surfers to scan a page. They drive clicks and enhance conversion rates. A reminder why meaningful links are important and some examples.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.agconsult.com\/en\/usability-blog\/meaningful-links-a-must\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AGConsult\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agconsult.be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-15T12:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-25T15:02:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Els Aerts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Els Aerts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Els Aerts\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fca4a24fdf77c4fcdbe768843a7fdecb\"},\"headline\":\"Meaningful links: a must\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-15T12:37:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-25T15:02:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":299,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Links\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Writing for the web\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/usability-blog\\\/meaningful-links-a-must\\\/\",\"name\":\"Meaningful links: a must | AGConsult\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.agconsult.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-15T12:37:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-25T15:02:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Meaningful links help surfers to scan a page. 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