Writing good anchor text
Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of a hyperlink. It's one of the strongest on-page signals both search engines and assistive technology use to understand where a link goes — so it should describe the destination, not the mechanics of clicking.
| Avoid | Use instead |
|---|---|
| "Click here" | "Download the 2026 pricing guide" |
| "Read more" | "Read our full accessibility checklist" |
| "Link" | "View the source code on GitHub" |
HyperlinkCreator's tools flag generic anchor text automatically — try it in the hyperlink creator.
WCAG link purpose
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines include Success Criterion 2.4.4, Link Purpose (In Context), which requires that the purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone, or from the link text together with its surrounding context. Screen readers commonly let users navigate a page link-by-link, out of context — so ambiguous anchor text like "here" becomes meaningless in that navigation mode.
Reference: W3C WAI — Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
Choosing the right rel attribute
| rel value | When to use it |
|---|---|
nofollow | Links you don't want to vouch for, or that you don't want to influence the target's ranking. |
sponsored | Paid placements, affiliate links, and advertisements. |
ugc | Links inside user-generated content, like blog comments or forum posts. |
noopener noreferrer | Any link using target="_blank", for security (see below). |
Reference: Google Search Central — Qualify your outbound links to Google.
New-tab links & security
When a link uses target="_blank", the newly opened page can, in older browsers, gain partial access to the originating page via window.opener — a risk known as "tabnabbing." Adding rel="noopener noreferrer" closes that gap. Every link generated by HyperlinkCreator adds this automatically whenever "open in new tab" is checked.
Quick checklist
- Anchor text describes the destination, not "click here."
- Links that open in a new tab include
rel="noopener noreferrer". - Paid or affiliate links are marked
rel="sponsored". - User-submitted links are marked
rel="ugc". - Link text is unique enough to make sense out of context, for screen-reader users.
Build it correctly the first time.
HyperlinkCreator bakes every one of these best practices directly into the tool.