If you care about accessibility, your links matter more than you think
When I write articles or posts, quite often I become reluctant about where exactly I should put the link to the source - at the end of the sentence or to the specific word (which is not possible in Linkedin) or at the end of the article... So many ways to do it, but the most important question is how that link is experienced by someone using a screen reader?
According to WCAG and multiple usability studies:
screen reader users often navigate by links only
they may not read the full sentence, just a list of links
vague links like “click here” or “this” create confusion and slow navigation
In other words: links must make sense out of context
❌ Common mistakes:
“Click here”
“Read more”
Linking random words like “showed” or “here”
Dropping a raw URL at the end with no context
Example: “The research showed significant results. Click here.”
A screen reader might announce: “Link: click here”, which is not helpful at all.
A better practice is to make the link text descriptive and meaningful.
Instead of: “The research showed significant results.”
➡️ Write: “The 2023 study on air pollution and lung health showed significant results.” (putting a source link in the phrase “2023 study on air pollution and lung health”). Now a screen reader user hears: “Link: 2023 study on air pollution and lung health”
But LinkedIn doesn’t support embedded links in posts, so using this platform we need to adapt and always give context before the link:
➡️ Solution for Linkedin: “According to a 2023 study on air pollution and lung health: https://…”
➡️ Or: “According to a 2023 study on air pollution and lung health (link in comments)”
A good link answers this question: “If I hear only this link, do I know where it leads?”
Accessibility checklist for links:
1️⃣ Link text clearly describes the destination
2️⃣ No “click here” / “read more” / “this”
3️⃣ Links make sense out of context
4️⃣ Important keywords are part of the link
5️⃣ File type is mentioned if relevant (PDF, video, etc.)
6️⃣ Links are visually distinguishable (not color-only)
7️⃣ On platforms like LinkedIn: context comes before the URL
It is important to remember that accessible links don’t just help screen reader users, they improve clarity for everyone.
