Tuesday, March 29, 2016

user behavior - Why shouldn't we use words such as 'here' and 'this' in textlinks?


Over the years of surfing on the web I have found numerous examples of people saying that you shouldn't use the word "here" in a textlink etc. Personally I like the idea of using the word, because it is so straightforward for your visitors to know where to click.


The only reason that I can truly think of is for SEO purposes. The word here doesn't have much value as a keyword as such.


I would like to know some other opinions on why we should/shouldn't use word like "this" and "here" in a textlink.



Answer




Most of the other answers here seem to be focusing on accessibility, which is fine, but is hardly the point. Screen readers are what? Less than 5% of the market for a general website? The reason "Here" and "Click Here" are bad is because they are useless words. They provide no context. This isn't an accessibility issue; it is a usability issue.


There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that website visitors don't read, they scan. They scan for links to find the link they want to click on next. If your link says "click here" and the user has to read the text around the link to find out what it is for, you are adding to their cognitive load, meaning they are less likely to continue on.


The same thing holds true for "Click here for special offers" and "For special offers, click here" (as TomA listed in his answer). You are still adding to the users' cognitive load because now your links have additional words that are completely unnecessary.


As long as your links look like something that the user can click on (and if they aren't, you are doing something wrong), then things like "here" and "click here" are a complete waste of space.


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