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Link text and anchor checker

Reads every link the way it is heard out of context: the click heres, the empty ones wrapped round an icon, and the same words pointing at two different pages.

This is one of the checks inside Growth Score

Growth Score runs it with the rest on your live site, scores the result and shows what to fix first.

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Why it matters

Why this is worth checking

A screen reader can list every link on a page on its own, with no sentence around it, and so can a search engine. Fourteen links all reading 'click here' is fourteen identical entries in that list.

It is also the single easiest accessibility problem to fix, because the fix is writing the words you meant.

What it reads

What it looks at

  • Click here, read more and similar
  • Links whose text is a bare address
  • Same text, different destinations
  • Links with no text, often icons

Reading a result

What a finding means

Each finding says what was seen. This is what it tells you about the page.

Click here or read moreIn a list of links, these entries say nothing about where they lead.
A bare address as textIt is hard to read aloud and says little about the page.
One text, many destinationsA reader cannot tell the links apart, because each one reads the same.

Common fixes

What to change first

The fixes that come up most, in the order they usually pay off.

Say where it goesRewrite the link text to name the page or the action it leads to.
Name icon-only linksAdd an accessible name so an icon-only link still says something.
Make repeats distinctAdd the product or topic to each repeated link, so every entry is unique.

In Growth Score

Feeds Compliance

Whether your site meets the basic legal and technical rules. It reads accessibility basics such as link text and image descriptions, and the privacy and consent signals on a page.

It reads the link text, not the destination. Whether the page at the other end is what the words promise is not something a check on markup can reach.

Glossary

Terms behind this check

Anchor textThe clickable words of a link, which describe the page it points to.Accessible nameThe text that assistive technology announces for a button, link or form field.Screen readerSoftware that reads a page's content aloud or outputs it in braille for blind and low-vision users.

Go deeper

Guides that cover it

Search for a new siteWhat moves a new domain, in what order, and what to skip so early effort is not wasted.The 5-section landing pageA five-section structure, with the copy rules that make each section convert.Compliance basicsAccessibility, privacy and consent basics, in the order that pays off fastest.

FAQ

Questions

Does link text affect search?

Yes. Search reads the words in and around a link as a hint about the page it points to.

Is this an accessibility check?

Partly. People who navigate by a list of links rely on the text making sense on its own.

Does the check change my site?

No. It only reads. Nothing is installed, edited or sent to your site by a check.

The other 11

The rest of the checks

Run it with the rest

Growth Score reads your whole site, scores it against sites like yours and ranks what to fix.

Test your whole siteAll the checks

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