Level A · WCAG 2.0
2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)
The purpose of a link can be worked out from the link text, or from the sentence it sits in.
Partly automated Some failures are detectable, others need judgement.
How it fails in practice
A page of twelve “Read more” links, which a screen-reader user hears as a list of twelve identical entries with no way to tell them apart.
How to fix it
Write the destination into the link: “Read the BFSG guide”. If the design requires short text, extend it with visually hidden text rather than an aria-label that contradicts what is on screen.
At a glance
- Level
- Level A — the minimum. Failing one of these usually makes something impossible rather than merely hard.
- Principle
- Operable
- Guideline
- 2.4 Navigable
- Added in
- WCAG 2.0
- EN 301 549
- 9.2.4.4
- Automated check
- Partly automated
Partly automated
How far an automated check gets
A tool finds some failures here and cannot see the rest. A clean automated result means the checks that exist found nothing — not that the criterion is met. This is the gap that makes a green scan look like an accessible site, and it is where our agents and a human reviewer do the remaining work.
Related criteria
Other criteria under the same guideline.
Find out which criteria your site fails
We scan up to 100 pages against WCAG 2.2 AA, run the agent protocol on one key journey and send you the report — free, once, no strings.