---
title: "Link text is meaningful when read out of context"
date: "2024-08-19T05:27:20+00:00"
summary: "Learn how to create meaningful link text for better accessibility. Improve user experience for those with sight, motion, or cognitive impairments."
image:
type: "page"
url: "/web-governance/link-text-meaningful-when-read-out-context"
id: "8200f298-9149-43f4-b053-5c0dcf1151e0"
---

Table of contents will be added

**2.4.4 Link Purpose (in context)**

This document gives information about the related accessibility checks:

*   Link text is meaningful when read out of context.
    

What
----

Make sure that your link text is meaningful on its own. Users who read the link out of context must be able to understand the purpose of the link.

Why
---

For some users, it takes too much time to read through an entire web page. They may, instead, use shortcuts to navigate directly to links on the page. In such situations, the user cannot understand what the link redirects to if it depends on the surrounding text for context.

Common examples of link texts that are not meaningful when read out of context are: “Click here”, “Learn more”, and “Read more”.

### This check affects the following users who have:

*   **Sight-impairments**: Who access the site contents with a screen reader or other assistive software where it may be beneficial to navigate by links rather than reading the entire page.
    
*   **Motion-impairments**: Who use keyboard navigation to tab from link to link or who use alternative pointing devices.
    
*   **Cognitive limitations**: Who may become disoriented with confusing links that are out of context. 
    

### User story

![Woman smiling while doing yoga, with a child playfully climbing on her back in a cozy living room.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/ab902dae-f391-4c4d-a431-77ca08d2adc6/web/Mon_AccessibilityHelpCenter-UserStory-WomanDoingYogaWithGirl.png)

Bridgit is a blind mother to a five-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy:

_“The children’s school posts all news about events and activities on their website. I feel that it takes a long time to find what I want to read because all the links from the overview page to the individual news articles just say, "Read more." I have to click on each news article to understand what it's about.”_

### Examples

This section will give some examples of the issue.

#### Example 1

The text on a link is “Read more.” This does not indicate to the user what the link is about or what they will find when they access it.

#### Example 2

A good link text, for example, “Read annual report”, clearly tells the user what the link is about and where it points to.

#### Example 3

The example below shows a list of links on a page as they are found by a screen reader, which is typically used by people with visual impairments. The list contains multiple links with the text “Learn more”. These links do not indicate to the user what they do or where they point to. The list also includes a “Privacy Policy” link, which clearly communicates its destination to the user.

![A webpage contains brief information about the different services that a company offers. Every section of information is accompanied by a link with the text "Learn more". At the bottom of the page, a link to the company's privacy policy is present. A screen reader is active, listing all the links found on the page. It lists three instances of "Learn more" and one instance of "Privacy Policy".](https://acquia.widen.net/content/5a02aa6f-e61d-4cea-ac0b-92cb344a6f43/web/Mon_AccessibilityHelpCenter-Example-MultipleLinksSameText.png)

How
---

This section gives instructions on how to review and fix the issue with Web Governance.

Find each link text on the web page. Determine if the link text makes sense when it is read in isolation. A meaningful link text should clearly indicate the content that a user can expect to be directed to when they access the link. You can use the Web Governance platform to review the links you have on your page:

1.  Click **Accessibility** (icon of a human with arms outstretched) on the menu bar. The _Accessibility_ dashboard opens.  
     
    
    ![The location of the Accessibility button on the domain toolbar.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/79462b58-cd9b-4a6a-a404-8a111c48805e/web/Mon_Opt_Dashboard-Accessibility.png)
    
2.  Click **Pages with Failing Checks** from the menu on the left side of the page.
    
    ![The Pages with Failing Checks option in the left menu on the Accessibility dashboard. The menu items are described in the document text.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/a2048703-c496-4c5a-8eb9-7703f74af666/web/Mon_Opt_Accessibility-LeftMenu-PagesWithfailingChecks.png)
    
3.  Click **Open Page Details** (the page icon) on the same row as a page with failing checks.
    
    ![The location of the Open Page Details button on the same row as an issue.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/989515e9-43ab-49c7-866b-2b659e6d4e36/web/Mon_Opt_Accessibility-PagesWithFailingChecks-OpenPageDetails.png)
    
4.  On the list of checks, find the check, “Link text is meaningful when read out of context.” (You can use ctrl+F or the _Search_ feature to assist with this.)
    
    ![Location of "Link text is meaningful when read out of context" check.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/ff53a45f-43f6-4555-a8fe-22cd3aa83adc/web/Mon_Accessibility_link_text_is_meaningful.png)
    
5.  Click the **Pages** button on the right side of the column to view a list of the pages where this issue is found.
    
6.  Review each link. If you are unfamiliar with HTML, here’s an example: 
    
         <a href="http://google.com/images">Google Image Search</a>
    
7.  `_<href=_` <-- whatever comes after this is the link’s destination.
    
8.  If it’s an external page, the whole URL will be written out (as in the example above).
    
9.  If it’s an internal page that starts the same way as your website, the URL will be written out with only the second part. (In the example above, the URL would appear as `href=”/images”` if it was linked from google.com.)
    
10.  The text that comes before `</a>` is the link text that a user will see and click.
     
11.  **If the link text is descriptive** (matches the destination): Change the check status to _reviewed_.
     
12.  To review the check for one page, click **Reviewed**.
     
     ![All screenshots for Monsido Accessibility module documentation, Monsido Accessibility module images for user documentation](https://acquia.widen.net/content/23d5fc97-5293-4aed-b535-bdec96ab6931/web/Mon_Accessibility-PageDetails-ReviewedButton.png)
     
13.  Review the check for every page where the link appears on your site (recommended). To do this, continue with these steps:
     
14.  Click **Open FastTrack for this HTML Snippet** (the highway icon).
     
     ![The location of the FastTrack button on the error description section of the page to the right of the list.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/1dbf34d4-1d28-4cca-90de-56ccdefc8bed/web/Mon_FastTrack-PagesFailingCheck-FastTrackButtonSelect.png)
     
15.  Find “Link text is meaningful when read out of context” on the list of checks.
     
16.  Click **Action** and select **Review** on the same row as the check.
     
     ![The location of the Action button, expanded to show the Review option.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/75d0b0e1-a7fc-4f74-99b2-f44d575ca56d/web/WebGov_Accessibility-FastTrack-Action-Review.png)
     
17.  Type a justification (optional).
     
18.  Click **OK**.
     
     ![Location of the OK button on the accessibility error review dialog.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/69e0bdb2-3d4d-4e68-acd5-ef6d0df5f719/web/Mon_Accessibility-ReviewDialog-OKButton.png)
     
19.  **If the link text is NOT descriptive**, edit it from your CMS. After you have completed the changes, follow the steps again from Step 6.
     
     Note
     
     If a link is located in the middle of a paragraph, it is acceptable to use link texts such as "Read more" or "Click here" if the sentence enclosing the link provides context for an otherwise unclear link. However, it is still good practice to strive for descriptive link text in all cases.
     

### Who in your team can typically fix this?

*   **Content Author**: for link text issues found within the content.
    
*   **Front End developer**: for link text issues found elsewhere on your website.
    

Additional resources
--------------------

### WCAG success criteria

[2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/Understanding/link-purpose-in-context)

For information about the Accessibility feature, see the user guide articles: 

*   [Accessibility Introduction](https://docs.acquia.com/acquia-optimize/features/accessibility)
*   [How to review an accessibility issue](https://docs.acquia.com/acquia-optimize/features/accessibility/how-review-accessibility-issue)

Related articles
----------------

*   [Heading code is not used for visual formatting only](/web-governance/are-headings-used-formatting-0 "Are headings used for formatting?")
    
*   [Provide sufficient contrast between text and background colors](/web-governance/provide-sufficient-contrast-between-text-and-background-colors "Provide sufficient contrast between text and background colors")
    
*   [Document has a valid language code](/web-governance/document-has-valid-language-code "Document has a valid language code")
    
*   [Text color must provide high contrast with its background](/web-governance/text-color-must-provide-high-contrast-its-background "Text color must provide high contrast with its background")
    
*   [Links inside text are distinguishable](/node/58141).