What Are A Href Links? HTML HyperLink Explained

Here we’ll know about ‘What Are A Href Links? HTML HyperLink Explained’. User Information (UX) has become an important indicator of Google, so it is more important than ever to ensure that your website is up to date. Good navigation affects user experience, so it’s best to stay on top of the hyperlinks installed on your site.

Links allow users to “move” from page to page. You will know that these links are active when your mouse cursor switches from an arrow to a hand when you hover over a link. You can paste HTML links into various page elements, including text, images, and more.

In this guide, we will explore how links (known as “HTML links” or “href links”) work, why it is important to stay on top of your hyperlinks, and how to find and fix bad links with the Site Review tool.

Table of Contents

Why are HTML links important?

Users deliberately search the Internet; they want answers, products, guidance, and more. Thanks to your SEO efforts, Google has put you in the spotlight.

Once you have captured the visitor, you need to direct it to your website easily so that its user experience is interesting. Your HTML links are important in directing your user from one page on your website to another.

Good HTML links prolong user session time and can lead to more pages visited per session – two metrics are important in web statistics.

What does a <a> HTML tag look like?

An anchor tag (or “a href” or “link”) includes an opening marker, any tags, anchor, or object, and a closing mark. For example:

<a href=”URL”> Connect a text or object </a>.

The “href” is an important attribute of the <a> element; determines where the link goes.

What is the HREF attribute link?

The href attribute link (short for “Hypertext REFerence”) indicates the relationship between pages and search engines.

The href is part of the anchor tag and contains two parts:

URL (original link) once

Clickable text or something users will see on the page (also known as “anchor text”)

For example:

<a href=”https://www.wikipedia.com/”> Visit wikipedia! </a>

Where does the <a> HTML link open once it has been clicked?

When a user clicks on your HTML link, the link page will probably open in the same browser window or tab. Unless you specify how the link should be displayed, this is the default.

However, if you have a download or want the page to open in a separate window or tab, you can use specific attributes such as “_blank.”

The most targeted attributes are:

_self: The page / document opens in the same window

<a href=”https://www.wikipedia.com/”target=_self”> Visit Wikipedia! </a>

_blank = opens a document / page in a new window

<a href=”https://www.swikipedia.com/”target=_blank”> Visit Wikipedia! </a>

Related URLs compared to Absolute

Your URL structure can contribute to Google’s ability to target your website effectively. You will probably use one of two common types of URL structure: relative and absolute.

Related links use a URL component, and are reserved for internal links where the link is on the same site and is, therefore, part of the same root domain. They look like this:

<a href=”blog/hrefland-attribute-101/”> hreflang attribute 101 </a>.

However, the full link uses the full website link, including the site domain name:

<a href=” https://www.wikipedia.com/”> Visit Wikipedia! </a>.

When are related URLs used?

You are using related URLs when you want to link to a page on your website. You will use the “slug” of your URL in the link.

Other advantages of using related URLs include:

Quick transfer to the new domain (you will not need to update each URL)

Fast page loading times (Google-level feature

When to use Complete URLs-

When you submit your user to an external page (i.e., away from your website), you will use the full URL.

Other benefits of using complete URLs include:

The link always points to the correct URL (Google will always know where to go)

Google Site Search can easily scan these URLs (important for indexing)

<a> How do HTML Links appear live?

You will find HTML links on a web page when you move the mouse over anchor text, images, buttons, etc., and the cursor turns hand.

By default, links appear as follows:

Underlined and blue (if you have not yet visited the link)

Underlined purple (visit link)

Underlined in red (active link)

Here is an example of a copy of a website with links. Blue, highlighted words contain links:

The graphical user interface, website Description is automatically generated

Note that if the color of your website links is very similar to the background color of the site, you can change the color of your links to make them stand out.

Businesses with brand colors will likely know the color hex code. Customize your <a> HTML tag (anchor tag) with the hex code as follows:

<a href=”https://www.wikipedia.com/” style=”color:#SS000;”> Here’s a modified link! </a>

If you do not have a hex color code, there are about 140 colors to choose from. Instead of the hex code, you can add color itself, such as “blue” or “red:”

Types of links

There are a few ways you can use hyperlinks to create a simple navigation experience for your website. Think of links such as links between one app and another, whether web pages, texts, forms, etc.

Let’s take a look at the most common types of links you will find on a website:

Image links: You can link an image to another device. For example, you can link a product image to their product page.

You will probably use a link structure such as:

</a>

Email & Phone Links: You will use these links if you want the user to contact you personally. On mobile, these types of links point users to a specific action: call your phone number or email you.

With an email address, you can add mailto: within your href attribute as follows:

<a href=”mailto:hello@wikipedia.com”> Wikipedia Email </a>

With a phone number, you can add a tel: within your href attribute:

Button Links: Linked buttons are a popular feature of web design, and are useful for adding call to action (CTA) to your site. The CTAs tell your users what to do: contact us, download the brochure, read more, etc.

Another way to add a link to a button is to wrap a button part in the link:

<a href=’https://www.wikipedia.com/’> <button> Links to wikipedia.com </ton>> </a>

Hreflang Qualities

Hreflang’s features show the interaction between pages in different languages on your website and search engines. If your website is targeted at an international audience, you will need to add hreflang attributes.

Here are a few examples:

Good hyperlinking makes it easy to navigate and clear your website. No matter what your link framework is, it is important to identify and update broken links as soon as possible.

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