Many small business websites include hyperlinks that read “Click Here”, and the site may have been created without realizing why that type of link is a major mistake in website design. Most website hyperlinks are obvious, so visitors will know the colored text within a paragraph is a link. Rather than “Click Here” using a more literal text description of the content at the link destination is better for several reasons:

1. The descriptive text makes the linked content more obvious
2. Persons with disabilities using screen readers have literal feedback
3. Search engines give more value to key words in links for improved SEO

Visit the Small Business Resource Center home page to view examples of multiple text links. Each meets the 3 items and advantages on the list shown above. Anything you can do to enhance your visitor’s experience, including search engines, will benefit your small business website performance.

Tip: There are more methods to assist persons with disabilities, especially blind or vision impaired visitors, who depend on easy accessibility to understand your content. It is a major mistake having graphics on your site without adding a small piece of code in the html called the ALT tag. The ALT tag is best kept at 4-5 words and is used to describe the graphic that persons with vision actually see, and allows vision impaired persons to know what is displayed even though it cannot be viewed.

Ask your designer if you have a site with graphics and the ALT tags are missing. They’re easy to fix.

Literal hyperlinks instead of “Click Here” and ALT tags for graphics are simple to add, and will result in a more professional website design.