Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks connect different web pages and websites. They assist users by facilitating easy navigation around your website and to other relevant sites. They are important to your business or organisation because good cross-linking across your website can assist with search engine optimisation.

Internal hyperlinks point to other pages within your site.

External hyperlinks point to other websites.

There are different ways to incorporate hyperlinks within your website. An in-text hyperlink highlights relevant words in the text and does not interrupt the text to display the whole URL address to the user. In-text hyperlinks are considered good practice because they are clearer and easier for the visitor to read. The two hyperlinks in the first paragraph of this page are examples of internal and in-text hyperlinks.

The alternative to in-text hyperlinks are exposed hyperlinks, which present the entire URL for the user to follow. They are often used for external URLs and/or where the URL points to a downloadable document such as a Portable Document Format (.pdf) file. You can learn about .pdf files at the following site, which is an example of an exposed, external hyperlink:

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html

Hyperlinks are usually differentiated from the main body of the text by appearing in a different colour. Sometimes they are underlined, although this is often considered to detract from the visual appeal of a site.

You can also attach hyperlinks to image files such as pictures or logos.

Using hyperlinks effectively

As well as providing content that is well written and appropriately presented, you should ensure it flows logically and that visitors can navigate easily between pages.

The use of hyperlinks is the most common tool to facilitate easy browsing by the visitor and the key to providing paths to content.

A path may be content-driven or user-driven.

A content-driven path is a cluster of related content that the visitor is encouraged to step through. The group of pages you are viewing on “Websites and content” is an example of this.

A user-driven path is a cluster of information that you consider a visitor with specific interests might wish to click through sequentially.

Some considerations for using hyperlinks are:

• Exercise restraint and judgement when adding links to a page. They add clutter and provide potential exit points from your carefully planned content. Make access to the resources on your site evident in the navigation, rather than relying on links in text.
• Provide the user with choice and control. Ensure an in-text link is sufficiently descriptive so that the user understands where it leads and what value it provides. This is especially important for people who use screen readers and other devices. Avoid largely meaningless terms such as ‘click here’.
• Making external hyperlinks links opening in a new window can mean visitors do not leave your site when they click on them, however if overused, links that open in a new windows can annoy visitors.
• When creating an internal hyperlink, make sure the link opens in the same window. This prevents many windows opening as the user navigates through your website. The exception to this is if the visitor opens a document or image file, which should usually be opened in a new window so the visitor does not leave the page that they were on in your website.
• When linking to a document, image, spreadsheet or database file, make it clear that the user is initiating a download by accessing that link. Either do this with sufficiently descriptive text or else move the link to a place on the page where you can provide an indication of the file type and size. A user who unwittingly triggers the download of a large file, or an unsupported file format, will not thank you for locking up their system and/or consuming bandwidth.
• If you are creating a hyperlink from an image, make it clear to the user both that a hyperlink is available from the image and where it leads.