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Don’t use “click here” or “read more” as link text
“Click here” or “read more” or "learn more" are not descriptive enough for both Search Engines and assistive technology like screen readers which can harm our SEO and accessibility.
Link text should always make sense when it's read out of context or as a standalone document. The link text should describe the destination, such as your website or your document title, and it should be unique for each unique destination.
Link Phone Numbers
Helps mobile visitors
Format of Phone Numbers
(518) 388-6000 - CORRECT
- 518.388.6000 - WRONG
- 518-388-6000 - WRONG
- 388-6000 - WRONG
Avoid using email addresses as link text
Use the name of the person or organization instead.
Contact Jane Doe for information about the program. - CORRECT
Contact doej@union.edu for information about the program. - WRONG
Avoid Tables
Check how they appear on a mobile device by shrinking the width of your browser window.
Avoid Center Aligning Text
It’s harder to read.
Don’t “welcome” people to your site
This trend from the early days of the web is no longer necessary.
Put a routine reminder in your calendar to review everything on your site
- Use students to go through and read everything. For large sites do a subsection at a time.
- Review accounts and clean out old users.
- Ensure social media is current or deactivated and multiple people can access it.
Put a reminder in your calendar if you create time sensitive content
If you are adding Fall 2019 content or “Coming Soon” add a reminder to remove/replace it.
Share access to social media and other online services used
Maintain a list of accounts and who has access. Consult ITS on best practices for sharing authentication credentials.
Test before posting to social media
Remove GA variables from links
If you see a ?_ga= followed by some random numbers then remove that section of the URL.
Example: https://unionathletics.com/?_ga=2.169016033.1795461011.1578932195-1039332181.1570026250
This variable is a Unique ID used for Google Analytics and should not be included when posting a link on a page, social media or in email.
Test your link before using it to make sure it still works.
The Writing for Union section covers many topics including Common Errors and Building and Place Names.
Refer to Policies section of Siteimprove Reports labeled (EVERYONE)
More information on Siteimprove.
Try to keep visitors on your site
If you link out to content that you can embed on your site you are sending your visitors away.
Example: Consider embedding a video on your site so once visitors finish watching they can use your site navigation to continue exploring.