Links

There are two types of links—internal and external. Internal links point to a page within the University website community. External links point to sites not associated with the University. Keep external links to a minimum.

Adhere to the following standards for links on your website:

• Make links clickable from logical words, such as “apply now.”
• Avoid acronyms and internal organization information.
• Use action words or make terms cover a broad range of items listed in the subsequent site.
• Keep links short in length.
• Always link to relevant information.
• Use embedded links 
  • For example:
    • Check out Web Writing Tips 
      and not:
    • Check out Web Writing Tips at https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/writing-for-the-web.html
• Headlines should never be links. This is confusing for the user.
• Avoid starting links with the same word or phrase (such as ‘read more …’).
• For email links, use the email address as the link text.
• Never use images of text as links.
• Never underline text that is not a link.
• Don’t place links beside each other in a sentence (often seen in blog posts).
• Don’t clutter paragraphs or pages with links scattered throughout text.
• Consider grouping links below the relevant paragraph or at the end of the page.