{"id":22660,"date":"2020-01-13T06:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?page_id=22660"},"modified":"2024-01-17T10:14:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:14:14","slug":"quotes-on-how-to-write-link-text","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/micro-content\/link-writing\/quotes-on-how-to-write-link-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotes on how to write link text"},"content":{"rendered":"

What writers & others say<\/h2>\n

\"Quotes

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“If you don’t give many relevant links, it’s unlikely you’ll get many in return.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Amy Gahran, media consultant and content strategist<\/h6>\n
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\u201cWell-crafted links not only connect. They also inform, guide, highlight, and create context.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Amy Gahran, media consultant and content strategist<\/h6>\n
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Following embedded links “can be the web\u2019s equivalent of traveling without an itinerary.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 P. Lynch and S. Horton in the Yale C\/AIM Web style guide<\/h6>\n
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\u201cLink length is less important than a good link description.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Marieke McCloskey, a user experience specialist with Nielsen Norman Group<\/h6>\n
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Providing links to other sites \u201cis a sign of confidence, and third-party sites are much more credible than anything you can say yourself. Isolated sites feel like they have something to hide.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group<\/h6>\n
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“Users shouldn’t have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Jakob Nielsen, principal of the Nielsen Norman Group<\/h6>\n
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\u201cNever name a category \u2018Links\u2019 by itself \u2014 this is akin to labeling a category of information \u2018Words\u2019 in a print medium.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Jakob Nielsen, the “king” of usability<\/h6>\n
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\u201cUsers look for links on pages like puppies look for your best shoes.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Kara Pernice, Kathryn Whitenton and Jakob Nielsen, in How People Read on the Web<\/em><\/h6>\n
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Embedded links \u201cfoster a kind of attention deficit disorder, creating casual, easily distracted surfers instead of committed, engaged readers.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Jan H. Spyridakis, professor at the University of Washington College of Engineering<\/h6>\n
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“Too many links on a page are like too many traffic lights at an intersection. And that’s not what we mean by ‘build traffic’ online.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications Inc.<\/h6>\n
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“1996 called. It wants its Click here<\/em> link back.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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“Avoid Fat Fingers\/No Bars Syndrome: Mobile readers already click 40% less often, according to MailChimp. Don\u2019t compound that problem by writing generic link text.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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\u201cRemember Dolly the sheep, the first mammal ever cloned, back in 1996? Your Click here<\/em> link does.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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“Click here<\/em> is so 1996. We\u2019re talking 14.4k modems, a CompuServe account and the Spice Girls singing \u201cWannabe\u201d on your portable electronic device, aka a Sony Discman.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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“If you saw a road sign that said, Go here, Drive more or Road sign, would you follow it? Probably not. And if you saw a link that said, Click here, Read more or Link, would you click it? Probably not.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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“Make links as short as you can and as long as you must.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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“Writing Click here<\/em> or Read more<\/em> link text is like writing Buy this<\/em> for an ad. They\u2019re calls to action, sure. But not very persuasive ones.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach<\/h6>\n
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