Link Purpose (In Context)
The purpose of every link must be clear from its text, or from the link text combined with its surrounding context — the sentence, list item, table cell, or paragraph it sits in. Screen-reader users often hear links out of context, in a links list.
What it asks
When a screen-reader user pulls up a list of all links on a page (a common navigation strategy), they hear the link text stripped of surrounding prose. “Read more” repeated 15 times tells them nothing. The SC allows two ways to pass: the link text alone is descriptive, or the link plus its programmatically-determined context (same sentence, same paragraph, same list item, same table row, or aria-label/aria-describedby) makes the destination clear.
For AA-level conformance, in-context is enough. At AAA, see 2.4.9.
How to meet it
- Write self-explanatory link text whenever you can:
"Read our 2026 accessibility report"not"Read more". - If the design calls for a generic CTA, make sure the heading or paragraph immediately before the link names the destination, and they share the same sentence or list item.
- For card layouts, wrap the whole card in the link, or use
aria-labelledbyto point the link at the card’s heading. - Use
aria-labelto override link text only when you can’t rewrite the visible text — e.g. a ”→” icon link that needs to read as “Next page: results 21–40.” - In tables, link text like “Edit” or “Delete” passes when the row context (an adjacent name cell) makes the target obvious.
Common failures
- “Click here,” “Read more,” “Learn more,” “Here” used multiple times on a page with different destinations.
- A grid of identical “View” buttons under product cards, with the product name in a heading but not programmatically associated with the link.
- A “Download” link that doesn’t say what’s being downloaded — and no
aria-labelor context that does. - Image links with empty alt text and no surrounding text label — screen readers announce the URL.
- “More info” appearing 30 times in the links list of a single page, each pointing to a different article.
Why it matters
Skim-reading is how screen-reader users navigate long pages. The links list and the headings list are their two main maps. A page full of “Read more” links is the audio equivalent of a printed page where every link is replaced with a blank underline — technically navigable, practically useless. Fixing this SC almost always improves SEO and conversion rates too, because descriptive link text helps everyone.