Website links

Maryland state websites should always maintain accurate, useful, and relevant links.

Effective link management supports transparency, enhances user experience, maintains credibility, and improves the discoverability of government information through search engines.
When you use best practices for managing links, you prevent broken or outdated links, reduce misinformation, and ensure people can reliably access the resources they need.

Good website links = Good usability and accessibility

A website link is an invitation and a promise to website visitors.

Good website links are accurate, useful, and relevant. They tell people what to expect when they click the links. Knowing where a link will lead helps people find the information they need.
Poor website links can lead people on a wild goose chase. People click on inaccurate or poorly described links only to discover that the destination page does not contain the information they are looking for.

How to write effective website links

Write accurate and descriptive link text

Use meaningful, concise words that clearly describe the link's destination. Link text should aim to describe the content of the destination page.
Tip: Match link text to the title of the destination page or file. People can be sure they've landed on the right destination page/file when the destination page/file title matches the words used in the link text they clicked on to get there.

Use plain language and action verbs

Use language that is commonly known and understood by your primary audience.
Use action verbs as link text, for example, “Explore the Archives” vs using a noun like “Archives”.
Tip: When linking to technical or complex content, add additional description to help people decide if clicking this link is right for them.

Check links regularly

Monthly: Check for broken links on high-traffic website pages.
Quarterly: Request a link report from Web Services, which shows you all the broken or redirected links on your website.
Annually: Request a link report from Web Services, which shows you all the broken or redirected links on your website.

Update or remove outdated links

If a page or file is no longer available, replace all links to that page/file with a link to an updated page/file.
If no alternative exists, remove all links to the outdated page/file.
- Tip: After removing the outdated link text, review the surrounding text to ensure the meaning is still clear.

Use links to external sites thoughtfully

Link only to reputable website sources, for example, government agencies, educational institutions, and known nonprofits.
Links to external websites should appear visually different from links to internal pages of your websites.
Links to external websites should use a visual indicator to communicate that the link goes to an external website.
- For a few links, you can use the external link icon for each link.
- For a list of many links, consider introductory text indicating that the list contains links that lead away from the site; then it is not necessary to use the external link icon with each link.
Tip: Periodically check (and repair) links to external websites.

Resources

The Department of Information Technology (DoIT) produces monthly broken link reports for DoIT-hosted and managed websites. If you need access to these reports, email the Service Desk.

Include the following in your email:

Subject: "Attention: Web Services"
Body: Request access to your agency's monthly broken link report.