Reference
Hyperlink & HTML Glossary
Plain-English definitions for every term used across this site's tools and guides — each one links to where you can see it in action.
- Hyperlink
- A clickable piece of text, image, or button that takes a visitor to another location. Full definition
- Anchor text
- The visible, clickable words of a hyperlink. How to write good anchor text
- URL
- Uniform Resource Locator — the address a hyperlink points to, such as https://example.com/page. On its own, plain text, it isn't clickable until it's wrapped in link markup. Make one clickable
- Hypertext
- Text that contains links to other text — the broader concept a hyperlink belongs to. Coined by Ted Nelson in 1965. Read more
- Anchor tag (<a>)
- The HTML element used to create a hyperlink, written as
<a href="url">text</a>. Build one - href attribute
- Short for "hypertext reference" — the attribute inside an anchor tag that holds the destination URL. See the full attribute breakdown
- target attribute
- Controls where a link opens — target="_blank" opens it in a new browser tab instead of the current one. See it in the generator
- title attribute
- Optional tooltip text that appears when a visitor hovers over a link, written as title="Read the pricing guide". See it in the generator
- rel attribute
- Describes a link's relationship to its destination, such as nofollow, sponsored, or ugc — a signal search engines use to interpret the link. Choosing the right rel value
- nofollow
- A rel value telling search engines not to pass ranking credit through a link — used for untrusted or unvouched-for links. Read more
- sponsored
- A rel value marking a link as paid, an advertisement, or an affiliate placement. Read more
- ugc
- A rel value marking a link that appears inside user-generated content, like a blog comment or forum post. Read more
- noopener / noreferrer
- Security-focused rel values added automatically whenever a link opens in a new tab, preventing the new page from accessing the original tab (a risk known as tabnabbing). Why this matters
- Markdown link
- Link syntax written as [text](url) — used by Discord, Reddit, GitHub, and many Markdown-based editors. Generate one
- BBCode link
- Link syntax written as [url=address]text[/url] — used by many forum platforms. Generate one
- DOI
- Digital Object Identifier — a permanent identifier for an academic source, formatted as a hyperlink starting with https://doi.org/. APA/DOI citation guide
- mailto: link
- A link that opens the visitor's email client with a destination address pre-filled, written as href="mailto:name@example.com". Build one
- tel: link
- A link that starts a phone call on mobile devices, written as href="tel:+15551234567". See link types
- QR code
- A square scannable barcode that stores a URL (or other text) directly in its pattern — pointing a phone camera at it opens the link without anyone typing it. Generate one
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