I once had a chat with a woman I met while we were waiting for a procedure.

I’m always curious about people’s experiences using websites.

Especially health or government websites people are forced to get information from.

This woman told me, "The website made it so hard to figure out what to do. Not because I'm not smart. Because I'm busy."

She's not alone.

Here's what I’ve come across constantly over the past 2 decades in digital communications:

Teams want beautifully designed pages but don’t realise content is what brings a page design to life.

Why this happens constantly

It’s a natural instinct.

You picture the finished page first, or you say, “I’ll have what they’re having!”

You know, that swanky page that looks like it’s got it all: the looks and the substance.

And you want it asap!

But you ain’t gonna get no bread if you don’t knead it!

Design organises information.

If the information isn’t kneaded and moulded, no fancy design will fix it.

You just end up with a gorgeously designed page that’s still confusing, still repetitive, still missing what people need.

I see this constantly working with healthcare practitioners and communications teams.

Someone opens a blank page, tries to cut and paste, pick photos, and format all at once, and 45 minutes later they’ve got a shoddy page that won’t do anyone any favours.

Use this 5 step process to get your content published

Step 1: Dump everything into a doc

Get every piece of content out of people’s heads and half-finished documents onto one page.

Answers to common questions, guidelines, processes, referrals, types of services, whatever exists.

Don’t organise it yet.

Just get it all in one place so you can see what you’re working with.

You know, sort of like when you’re doing a puzzle.

You’ve gotta take out all the pieces first and place them the right way up.

Step 2: Sort into buckets

Group what you’ve dumped into natural categories.

For instance, service categories might include:

What we do.
Who we are and who we help.
How to get referred.
Where we provide the service.

This is where a template genuinely helps. If you’ve got a structure like the template I shared for service pages, drop your content straight into those buckets.

If you don’t have one, create your own topics or ask AI to give you a hand.

If you want images, look for your images now… but give yourself a time limit before you go down that rabbit hole ;)

If you find content that doesn’t fit, don’t be afraid to archive or shred it.

Your reader will thank you.

Step 3: Cut the duplicates and the filler

Once it’s sorted, you’ll almost always find the same point made 3 different ways in 3 different documents.

Pick the clearest version.

Cut the rest.

You’ll also spot the stuff that sounds important but doesn’t help anyone decide or act, toss those into the recycle bin too.

See a pattern happening? :)

Discarding gets easier I promise.

Like sourdough discard - when you know it’s helpful to the outcome, it’s easier to do.

Step 4: Write and format

Now you’ve got content.

Write to suit the way people read online.

Structure your content so it flows with answers to questions in the order a reader might ask them. Make it easy to scan.

Use words and phrases that are easy on the brain.

Short paragraphs.
Clear headings.
Plain language.

People reading health info aren’t usually there for fun, are they?

If you’re writing for your colleagues, they’ll appreciate concise, clear content too.

Respect your reader’s time. Consider the stresses, overwhelm, anxiety they may be feeling as they read your content.

Write your content for your scanning reader in mind. Give them what they need quickly.

If you know they’ll want more info about a topic, share a clearly labelled link to more.

Step 5: Design and publish

Almost there!

You’ve got complete, well-organised content in front of you.

Now design the page.

You already know how many sections you need, roughly how long each one is, and what the logical flow and hierarchy looks like.

Here’s where I usually create a design in a simple graphic design program like Canva to show where headings, text, and photos would go - like the screenshot below.

I also know what type of page element to use when setting up the page because I have the content to work from. Examples of page elements are text, image, table, headings.

For instance, if you have an event schedule that would be easy to read in a table format, you’d plan for it in the design rather than using loads of paragraphs or an image.

That way when you’re setting up the page, you’ll know what goes where and what type of element you need to add to the page.

See the below example of how I set up a content design including a section for a table:

The design serves content that’s been carefully chosen, instead of content trying to mould to a design that was decided too early.

Almost there… preview then publish

Content that looks fine in the editor sometimes looks different once it’s live.

Text spacing goes wonky.

Images don’t show up.

A para you thought was small looks like the never ending story.

I know it’s exciting to get the page out into the world.

But always check the page on desktop and on mobile before you hit Publish.

In a nutshell: content first

Your reader is busy, like the woman I met.

They've got limited time, they're stressed… they need an answer asap.

A gorgeous page with disorganised or outdated content won't help them. They'll click away. And they won't come back.

Use the 5-step process to separate writing from designing so your readers get what they need easily and quickly.

Sort your content first.
Organise it.
Cut the duplicates.
Write for how people actually read.
Then design.

You’ve got this.

Hey mate, what’s the part of building a page that trips you up most: the sorting,
the writing, or the publishing? Drop a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

A GP told me about her experience using AI for notetaking at my daughter’s appointment last week (much to Adele’s annoyance, she can’t stand it when I start chit chatting).

The GP loves the thoroughness of the AI scribe. And the legal backup, knowing it’s all captured if she ever needs it.

But she feels overloaded with the content it spews out. She showed me how she needs to edit the blocks of texts into dot points so it’s easier to scan.

Yet she has trouble cutting out content “because once it’s there it’s hard to take out”, she shared.

Interestingly, she also told me, “When I look through a colleague’s notes on a patient, I can’t tell who wrote it.”

Reading someone else’s note used to feel like hearing their voice.

Now half the practice’s notes sound generic.

Still, she said, “Overall it’s pretty helpful.”

That’s about the most honest review of AI in health communications I’ve heard, and it stacks up pretty well with what the research actually shows.

What the research actually says

After the appointment, I dug around for AI scribe studies to get the lowdown from other practitioners.

A 2026 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared AI scribe notes with notes written by doctors across 5 clinical scenarios. Reviewers didn’t know which was which. So, did AI or doctors take better notes?

Doctors.

The worst gap showed up in a back pain appointment with background noise in the room, the typical way clinics often sound. The AI couldn’t deal with it. The good doctor did awesomely.

Another research tells a different story. A 2026 study about the quality of AI notes found AI notes were more thorough and organised. Human notes were more accurate.

The 2 studies don’t fully agree, which feels about right for where this technology is at.

But what these studies both agree on?

AI saves real time.

Physios, podiatrists, and OTs in a 2025 study cut their documentation time by a third.

A large 2026 JAMA study of more than 8,500 clinicians across 5 academic medical centres found they saved around 16 minutes of documentation time for every 8 hours with patients.

Useful. Not transformative.

So, the time saving is legit.

The trust gap is also legit: doctors aren’t sure whether to fully trust AI notes.

One piece on building trust in AI notes has a great recommendation:

Treat every AI note as a draft until you’ve read and approved it yourself.
Not as an admin formality.
As a clinical act.

The process of writing notes by hand is itself a form of verification. That check doesn’t disappear just because the tool does the typing. You still need to do it.

The upside is real too: more eye contact with your patient, more presence in the room.

But as my GP found, reviewing a wall of AI spew adds cognitive load. That’s the trade-off the sales pitches don’t mention.

You know this: trust is important. Human validation is part of that trust when it comes to AI notetaking.

The errors aren’t random, they cluster

This is the part that should change how you use these tools, not whether you use them at all.

Research in npj Digital Medicine identified 2 failure patterns worth knowing about.

The first is omissions. When something important the person said during the appointment doesn’t make it into the note.

The second is misinterpretations. When something that relies on context may get recorded wrong. A medication. A care plan detail. Something that made sense in the room but not on the page.

On top of these 2 failure patterns, I reckon there’s a bigger gap:

AI can’t capture what was never spoken.

AI scribes only hear.

They can’t see a patient’s face tighten.

They don’t have the intuition and experience to notice what a skilled clinician picks up without anyone saying a word: body language, hesitation, the thing a patient didn’t say that would usually trigger a note.

None of that means “Screw it, it’s not helpful, let’s not use it.”

It means the editing pass has gotta be done… and not just for typos or grammar (not that docs have time for that anyway).

Practitioners need to add what the audio missed that’d usually trigger a note, observed, felt from their intuition, experience, and knowledge.

Do these 2 mental checks when using AI

Read it like you’re meeting the patient for the first time

Don’t read like you’re proofreading.

You’ll only catch what’s missing if you deliberately ask yourself: is anything important from this conversation not on the page?

Be clear about who you’re writing for

The GP I mentioned couldn’t tell who wrote the notes with the scribe.

The generic style of a scribe may be fine for a colleague who can read between the lines and knows the lingo.

But it’s ain’t helpful for a person who’s scared, anxious, or overwhelmed at a diagnosis or discharge.

AI scribes are built for documentation between practitioners.

Plain language and warmth matter more than thoroughness when the information is for your client or patient.

So, keep those jobs separate.

In a nutshell

It’s not about deciding if AI scribes are fab or crap.

It’s knowing that AI is brilliant at creating a truckload of content that’s spoken… but doesn’t consistently capture the unspoken.

AI scribes are a tool, not a replacement for noticing. Not a replacement for validating.

The GP put it well: helpful overall.

Still worth reading every word before you put your name to it.

Have you used AI for client or patient communications? Drop me a comment, I’d love to hear what helps or hinders.

Hope you’re having a fab week :)

This week, I’ve been in a hospital ward with my dad who needs a procedure done. I heard a cardiologist explain kidney dialysis to the patient, John, next door.

John asked the cardiologist to speak slowly and louder, “I’m partly deaf”, John shared.

He did.

The cardiologist also used everyday words to share what life might look like short term and long term.

It was a fab example of accessible communication in action.

And it got me thinking: that cardiologist did instinctively what most of us forget to do when we sit down to create digital content.

We forget to adjust for the person on the other end.

This issue is about one of the most overlooked ways we shut people out of our content without realizing it:

Images.

Sometimes images don’t load. Someone can’t visually see the page.

When that happens and your images have no description?

They get nothin’. A broken rectangle. A file name. Sometimes, the word “image.”

That’s not accessible communication. That’s a door slammed in our reader’s face.

📊 Numbers worth knowing

18.5%

18.5% of all home page images have no alternative text (also known as “alt text”). That’s 11 images per page on average where readers have no idea why an image is there.

Source: WebAIM Million Report 2025

📖 Worth reading

How to write alternative text — Nielsen Norman Group → Covers context, length, and the most common mistakes. Nielsen Norman Group

Images tutorial — W3C WAI → A practical guide to the different types of images: informative, decorative, and functional.. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Alt text, captions, and titles for images → Guidance on writing alt text and captions that support the image’s purpose. Helpful no matter which country you live in. Oz Government Style Manual

💭Worth sitting with

“...alt text promotes a human centered design approach by encouraging communication between content creators to constantly expand their understanding of why they are using images and how to accurately describe them.”

— U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Picture Perfect: How Describing a Picture is Part of Accessible Design

⚡One thing you can do today

🔍 2 steps to make your images accessible

Best practice: don’t add text into an image if you can avoid it. If you do, keep it to a few words. Also make sure your alt text includes exactly what the text says.

Step 1 Decide: is the image informative or decorative?

🖼️ Informative images

Informative images share important content that supports the meaning of the page. For instance:

• A nurse showing how to use personal protective equipment

• An infographic that shares survey results

• A form, chart, or instructional visual, such as a hand hygiene diagram

These need alternative text that explains what’s shown and why it matters.

Below is an example I used at work to help medical staff understand alt text.

Informative image example: 5 Moments for hand hygiene diagram

✅ Alt text: “Patient in a hospital bed with blanket, bedside drawer, intravenous drip, fluids bag. The 5 moments for hand hygiene are labelled for each section of the diagram, text shared on the page.”

The information in this diagram is important and worth adding to the text surrounding it, not in the alt text. So, share text in the body of the page.

The 5 moments for hand hygiene labelled on the diagram are:

1. before touching a patient

2. before a procedure

3. after body fluid exposure

4. after touching a patient

5. after touching patient surroundings.

The diagram is a fab supplement to the text next to it. But it doesn’t rely on the reader seeing the image to get the important steps.

Decorative images

🎨 Decorative images may look lovely but your reader won’t miss anything important if they don’t see or hear about the image.

For instance: background textures, icons that repeat what’s already in text, or decorative banners.

Here’s an example of the type of decorative images used at my workplace, on the hospital intranet:

Busy medical staff won’t miss anything important if they can’t see this image.

So we don’t want to waste their time reading alternative text.

Step 2 Choose the right approach

For decorative images

The alternative text needs to be a meaningful description of what the image shows and why it matters to the reader.

Then add a caption. The caption is an overview of the image. It’s different from the alt text. It’s a good place to add your image source too.

Two different jobs. The alt text explains the image for someone who can’t see it. The caption labels it briefly for everyone.

In your platform’s image accessibility settings, mark the image as decorative or add an empty alt text (alt=” ”).

This tells screen readers to skip it.

Below I share 2 common ways to mark your image as decorative, including how to do it on Substack. Your platform will likely give you either option.

Tick the ‘Mark image as decorative’ box

How to add alt text and a caption in Substack

Here’s how I labelled the decorative image in the earlier example in Substack:

1. Hover over the image.

2. Select the 3 horizontal dots (…).

3. Select ‘Edit alt text’.

4. Add an empty alt text (““).

The screenshots below show this process visually:

Screenshot: Find the alt text option

Screenshot: add empty alt text

How to add a caption

1. Hover over the image.

2. Select the 3 horizontal dots (…).

3. Select ‘Edit caption.

4. Add a brief image label. I typed: “Example of a decorative image. Source: Image by AhmadArdity from Pixabay”

The screenshots below show this process visually:

Screenshot: Find the caption option

Screenshot: Where to type the caption text

The main question to ask yourself every time you add an image

Does this image give my reader extra information that isn’t already in the text around it?

If yes: it’s informative. Write alt text and a caption.

If no: it’s decorative. So mark it as decorative. A caption is optional depending on whether it’s helpful for your reader.

🛠️ 3 tips worth knowing before you write alt text

Tip 1

Don’t start with “Image of…” or “Photo of…”: Screen readers announce it’s an image. So “Image of a nurse…” becomes “image, image of a nurse.”

Tip 2

Complex images need more than alt text: Infographics, flowcharts, and graphs can’t always be squeezed into a short alt text. Write a brief alt text summary of the main idea, then include a full description on the page near the image. Refer to the hand hygiene example.

Tip 3

Keep it concise: Aim for one clear sentence that states the image’s purpose. If it reads quickly aloud, it’s likely the right length. If you’re listing every detail, it’s too long.

🛠️ Free tools

WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluator → Free browser tool. Chuck in your URL and it’ll spit out every image missing alt text as quickly as my dad eats chocolate! WebAIM

W3C Alt Text Decision Tree → Not sure what type of alt text your image needs? This walks you through it in under a minute. W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

How to write alt text — Nielsen Norman Group → An awesome practical guide to writing alt text well. Worth reading once and keeping handy. Nielsen Norman Group

About

Write with Impact is published weekly for health and community service content creators.

Gotta question about plain language, web content accessibility, or clear communication you’ve never found a straight answer to?

Give me a shout, I’d love to hear from you. 💌 Cheers, Cynth

Disability is part of being human. Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their life.

I recently watched a presentation where the presenter took ages to get a slide up – all we could see was a black screen.

The audience looked excited about being there. Even with that glitch, we were patient. But then the presenter’s audio stopped working too.... and our patience dried up.

Around 2 minutes in, I saw the blank looks appear. The smiles disappeared. We all looked distracted. And annoyed.

The presenter Staphenie then dropped a bombshell that brought back the smiles:

‘When you couldn’t see anything but black on the shared screen. Were you thinking:

• How could you help in resolving the issue? Or did you feel frustrated or stressed?

• What about when you knew I was talking but you couldn’t hear? Were you annoyed?

• Can you recall a time when you couldn’t fix a computer issue?’

In this powerful exclusion example, Staphenie helped us realise that we all have trouble completing activities in some way at some point in our lives – we all have – or have had – a disability.

The World Health Organization’s definition of disability:

Disability is part of being human. Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their life.

Disability results from the interaction between individuals with a health condition, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and depression, with personal and environmental factors including negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social support.

This means that when we don’t consider accessibility online, we’re preventing people from participating.

Where do we start?

It may seem daunting to know where to start. It’s a tough ask to make content accessible to everyone, on every device, all the time. Yet we’ve gotta try.

Apart from being considerate and respectful by creating content that includes all our readers, we have a professional obligation to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The guidelines tell us our digital content must be perceivable, easy to navigate and understand.

It’s also gotta be robust and work with assistive technologies, across devices and browsers.

Describe photos

Don’t rely on your audience to physically see an image.

Include text descriptions of all images that you use. That includes in email signatures, presentations, and briefing attachments.

‘Alt text’, short for alternative text, gives users who can’t see images an alternative way to gain information from images.

It’s helpful for people as it allows text to be read aloud using assistive technology such as screen readers.

Alt text is also helpful for sighted users, for instance, if they have slow internet connection.

How alt text helps people understand images on websites

The below video shows how a reader uses a screen reader to browse websites. Skip to 1:57 minutes to see how he ‘reads’ images.

Video: Screen Reader Demo for Digital Accessibility (by UCSF Documents & Media Photography)

How to write alt text

The W3C shares a fabulous alt text decision tree that helps us:

• figure out what type of image we’ve got

• what to do about the alt text.

Your organisation may also have its own style guides based on this type of information since W3C sets global guidance.

For instance, the Aussie Government Style Manual Alt Text guide reinforces the W3C guidance and defines it further. It recommends:

1. Include short alt text – less than about 100 characters for all informative images.

2. Decorative images should have null alt text (alt=”“) - decorative images are images that are nice to look at but don’t give the reader extra information, which is why there’s no need to overload the user with a description.

Example: If you included an image of these logos in your email signature the alt text should be ‘Victorian Public Sector Commission, Aboriginal flag, Torres Strait Islander flag, and Pride flag.’

Make your content easy to skim

We’re overloaded with content each day. It’s no surprise we don’t read every word. Instead, we skim.

We’re likely to read only 20% of the words on a web page, according to research by web usability experts, the Nielson Norman Group.

People who have a disability skim too.

In the video below, Carin shares how she reads web pages using a screen reader:

A common misconception that a lot of people have about screen reader users is that they sit and listen to the screen reader droning on all day.

I don’t have all day. I got things to do! So I do a lot of skimming. But I can only do that if a page is written well.

Video: Carin using a screen reader to access an online course (by D2L)

5 Easy ways to make your pages easy to skim

1. Use headings and subheadings

Write clear, short headlines with keywords upfront.

Use the heading levels that are built in to your template: don’t just bold and enlarge text so that it appears as a ‘heading’!

Screen readers rely on us using these heading levels. They’re built into the templates we use. Our job is easy. We simply need to remember to use them.

Video: How to create heading levels (by SDP Community and Training)

2. Break up walls of text

Keep paragraphs within 2-3 sentences. Stick to one idea per paragraph.

This one might be hard to get used to as we’ve been taught in school to write an idea in a paragraph and include all the supporting points in that same paragraph.

Be brave. Be kind to your reader. Avoid walls of text.

3. Write in plain language

Use simple words. Write at a lower secondary level - use the free Hemingway editor app to figure out the level of your writing.

Simple word replacements
Instead of ‘prohibit’, use ‘ban’
Instead of ‘communicate’, use ‘tell us’, ‘let us know’
Instead of ‘demonstrate’, use ‘show’
Instead of ‘facilitate’, use ‘help’
Instead of ‘amend’, use ‘change’

4. Give hyperlinks meaningful labels

Write link text that tells the reader where they’ll go. Avoid generic link label terms such as ‘Click here’ or ‘Read more’.

Both sighted readers and readers with low vision scan text to quickly figure out what’s on the page.

Generic link labels are confusing as they don’t tell the reader where they’ll go if they select the link. This creates uncertainty and risk. Remove risk and manage their expectations.

5. Use dot points for lists

Paragraphs with lists of items can be broken down into numbered or unordered lists.

Create lists with 3 or more items with similar line lengths that begin with a noun or verb. Choose full sentences or fragments, not both.

For instance, each item on this list begins with a verb, has a similar line length, and is a fragment rather than a sentence:

• Pick up kids

• Sell shoes

• Buy groceries

Video: How to create dot points in web content (by Nielson Norman Group)

Summary

We don’t need to be blind or deaf to appreciate accessible content. We’ll all have a disability at some point in our lives: temporary, permanent, or situational.

That’s why it’s always worth creating accessible digital content. These can make all the difference to your readers.

A few ways to do this are to describe images and make sure content is skimmable.

Give it a go and leave a comment below if you have any questions.

Want to make sure your communication is accessible before hitting publish or send?

You’ve surely seen it.

‘Click here’ hyperlinks.

You may have used this hyperlink text in your own writing when you want to direct readers to another page or document.

If not ‘Click here’, perhaps you’ve used ‘Learn more’ or another repetitive hyperlink phrase.

I’ve been guilty of using terms like these. Have you?

Today we’ll explore why ‘Click here’ isn’t great for our readers.

Then we’ll learn better ways to write hyperlink text.

‘Click here’ text creates uncertainty for readers, slows them down, and assumes they’re clicking.

Why does it matter?

Unclear links can make it harder for a busy mum to book in a maternity health check. It makes it harder for a senior to apply for a pension. And it can also make it harder for a young person to get tax help for their first job.

Let’s explore these in more detail, shall we?

Problem 1: It slows your reader

If you’re ever writing for a website, an app, or an online tool, one of the simplest ways to see how well it works is to sit behind participants as they complete set tasks on a website.

In these sessions, I’ve discovered readers skim content rather than read every word. When they have a task to complete, they want to get it done as quickly as possible.

Can you relate?

As they browsed a website, I asked them what they were searching for.

It turns out they had keywords and key phrases in mind to help them find what they need — the same way we look up information on Google.

Headings, subheadings, and links help website visitors scan pages.

In How little do users read, usability experts Nielsen Norman Group found people read between 20–28% of words on a page.

Key takeaway: Don’t slow readers with repetitive and vague hyperlink labels.

Problem 2: It creates risk and uncertainty for readers

Imagine a salesperson knocks on your door. “I’ve got something to show you”, they say.

Would you open the door?

Hell no.

You look through the peer hole in your door and demand to know where they’re from and quickly tell you what they want.

Likewise, a generic term is risky and unwelcome. It doesn’t tell your reader what’s behind the link. They’re worried:

Will I go to a dodgy site?
Will I stay on this site?
Will I download a document I don’t want?

“Where the hell are you from and what do you want?”

If they’re not sure, they’re less likely to select the link.

That’s understandable: no one wants to be directed to dodgy sites. Waste time waiting for an unknown page to load. Or waste data downloading content they don’t want to read.

Key takeaway: ‘Click more’ makes our readers uneasy.

Problem 3: It assumes our readers are clicking

I’ve managed websites over the past 14 years and analytics consistently show more than half of all users on websites use a mobile device. Such as an iPad or mobile phone.

Yet even without analytics, you and I know how often we use our phones: to order take out, to register for events, and to research products and services.

Not every reader is clicking a mouse. Your reader is more likely to be tapping on teeny mobile screens rather than a big screen and a laptop. Or selecting options by voice.

In Don’t use “click here” as link text, W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) tells us link labels shouldn’t talk about mechanics.

Key takeaway: ‘Click more’ assumes our readers are clicking when they may not be.

So far we’ve discovered ‘click here’ creates uncertainty and risk for readers. It slows them down. And it assumes they’re clicking, when they may be using another approach.

On top of that, design research recommends we avoid ‘click here’ links.

So, how do we write better hyperlink text? Let’s explore 3 ways:

3 ways to write helpful hyperlink text

1. Be descriptive

2. Write unique text for each hyperlink

3. Place keywords upfront

Tip 1: Be descriptive

Clear and meaningful link descriptions help your reader quickly understand what’s on the page and where you’ll take them.

It gives them helpful information even when read out of context.

For instance, recently I’ve been studying a course at night on my phone.

After a long day working in front of my computer screen, I don’t feel like spending more time there.

Instead, I read content for each topic on my phone. Then I scan through the page for interesting links to open on another tab.

It’s fidgety having multiple screens open on a phone so I’m picky about what links I open.

I rely on clear and meaningful link descriptions to help me decide.

Especially because I’m not opening links immediately as I come across them:
I read them at the end, so I don’t remember the exact context surrounding the links.

Your readers—and you—may relate to this too.

We scan a page, figure out which sections interest us, then head off the page for more details about something mentioned on the page.

Link examples: dos and don’ts
Do add a link to:
37 words describing tone of voice

Don’t link to ‘Click here’ in:
Click here for 37 words describing tone of voice

Do add a link to:
interview with Anna Pickard

Don’t link to ‘Click here’ in:
Click here for an interview with Anna Pickard

Key takeaway: Be descriptive.

Tip 2: Write unique text

Nielsen Norman Group found that when users see the same link twice on the same page they assume it goes to the same place.

Make hyperlink text unique.

Replace repetitive, vague hyperlink text such as ‘Click here’, Read more’, and ‘Continue reading’.

An example

Recently I read an email newsletter with the link text ‘Read more’ more than 5 times:

Here’s what the text in that email said (in case you have trouble loading up the image):

Tips for lodging your tax return (headline)
Find out when and how to lodge your tax return. (summary)
Read more (link text)

Claim now for JobMaker Hiring Credit payments (headline)
The third claim period for the JobMaker Hiring Credit ends on 31 October. (summary)
Read more (link text)

STP quarterly reporting due dates (headline)
Eligibility and due date information for those who report quarterly through STP. (summary)
Read more (link text)

How this could be improved

• Get rid of the ‘Read more’ hyperlink

• Hyperlink the headlines — they’re unique, specific, and meaningful

Here’s an example of a web page with clear hyperlink labels — text and screenshot included below:

Early childhood (headline)
Careers, supporting children and families, running a service (summary)

Training and scholarships (hyperlink text)
Quality assessment (hyperlink text)
Find a kinder program (hyperlink text)

Discussion

Repetitive hyperlink labels like ‘Click more’ and ‘Read more’ are common.

They don’t seem like a problem when your visitor selects a hyperlink in the context of what they’re reading.

However, your reader might want to scan all the content first then delve into the hyperlinks.

Or, your reader might be using assistive technology such as a screen reader to scan a list of hyperlinks on the page.

Imagine how unhelpful it is to get a list of hyperlinks labeled:

‘Click more’
‘Click more’
‘Click more’

This video Why Use Descriptive Links? shows how much visitors rely on hyperlink text using a screen reader.

It may give you the lightbulb moment that 99% of other writers will never get.

No matter how your visitors read your page, unique, meaningful hyperlink labels will help.

Key takeaway: Use unique hyperlink labels.

Tip 3: Frontload keywords

Usability research has found users read the first 2 words in a hyperlink.

To understand why that matters, it’s good to know how people read online.

It’s been found we read mostly in an F-pattern: from left to right and down the left side of the page. We read more at the start and less as we travel down a page.

This is shown through heatmaps below of user eye tracking studies across three websites.

Red shows the areas where users looked the most. The yellow areas indicate fewer views. Blue areas were least viewed. Gray areas weren’t fixated on at all.

Place important words at the start of hyperlinks to help your reader scan for important information.

Frontloading helps with word placement in headlines too.

That’s great for your reader. Great for design when you’re limited by space. And it’s also great for your SEO.

The cost of not doing this is wasted time and effort writing content that isn’t read. Lost registrations to events. Lost sales.

Your reader misses out. You miss out.

Key takeaway: Frontload keywords.

Place important words at the start of hyperlinks to help your reader scan for important information.

Bonus hyperlink writing tips

• It doesn’t matter how long or short a hyperlink is: focus on concise, descriptive hyperlinks while considering space restrictions in your design.

• Use underlined blue text: an obvious visual indicator for links (note that we can’t always control the color of our hyperlinks on content management systems).

• Differentiate between web page hyperlinks and documents: mention the website or media format such as PDF (these can be included in brackets or as icons and don’t have to be linked), for instance, 25 Power words (PDF, 52KB).

• Don’t hyperlink a verb phrase: such as ‘Tell me more’ — it’s as vague and unhelpful as ‘Click here’ text.

In a nutshell

Many of us have used repetitive, meaningless link phrases such as ‘Click here’ and ‘Learn more’.

When we do this, we leave our readers unsure about what to expect and risk wasting our efforts and expertise.

Today we’ve discovered how to improve our hyperlink text:

Write clear, unique descriptions with keywords in the first 2 words of link text.

Keep this in mind whenever you’re writing a hyperlink.

Your readers will silently thank you for it.