Accessible Links

Accessible links use descriptive link text in place of bare URLs. Write links to ensure they are unique and descriptive and use the built-in link tool to create hyperlinks. Manually review your links to ensure they are unique and descriptive. Use Word’s default style of dark cyan and underline for link text.

Who benefits from accessible links

Effective link text helps readers locate links and understand their destination and purpose. For users of assistive technology links can be used to understand and navigate content efficiently. Bare URLs or links written as “click here” or “read more” provide less information to everyone and are not useful to assistive technology users.

Consider the following demonstration comparing screen reader software reading bare URLS, informative link text, and useless link text.

How to ensure links are accessible

To create accessible links:

1. Write a brief description of the link destination.
2. Highlight the text to be linked.
   1. Right-click and select Link.
      
      Or move to the Insert tab and select Link.
      
      Or press Control (Command on macOS) k.
3. In the Insert Hyperlink window, paste the destination URL in the Address: field.
   Verify the Text to display field is descriptive and unique.
4. Select Ok.

Learn more about writing descriptive hyperlinks.

Use Word’s default style of dark cyan and underline for link text.

In instances where documents are to be printed or distributed in physical format only, use a link shortener like bit.ly or TinyURL.

Read more about accessible links in the Accessibility Handbook for Teaching and Learning.

Double Check

Unfortunately, the Word Accessibility Assistant does not check for accessible links. Manually review your links to ensure they are unique and descriptive, ensuring no bare URLs are present.