Link Purpose (Link Only)
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
A mechanism is available so that the purpose of each link can be identified from the link text alone, except where the purpose would be ambiguous to everyone.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
A mechanism is available to allow the purpose of each link to be identified from link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.
Definitions used (3)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- mechanism
-
process or technique for achieving a result
Informative notes (2)
The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied upon to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.
The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.
- link purpose
-
nature of the result obtained by activating a hyperlink
- ambiguous to users in general
-
the purpose cannot be determined from the link and all information of the web page presented to the user simultaneously with the link (i.e., readers without disabilities would not know what a link would do until they activated it)
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 2.4.9, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
Visually hidden text added to make links unique can mismatch what speech-input users see and say.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Write visible link text that is descriptive on its own.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 2.4.9 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 2.4.9 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
No provision in the current draft covers link purpose.
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”