Click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'

As with many early internet paradigms 'click here' has become the equivalent of the verbal overuse of 'like': an unnecessary filler before getting to the real point.

Admitting You Have a Problem

It is worth realizing that yours is not the first web site your user has seen (unless you are the operator of acoolwebsite.com). For the rest of us, telling a user what to do with a hyperlink is on par with having instructions on how to scroll and see the rest of a web page. Is it underlined? Does it react when I hover over it? Does it stand out from the rest of the text? If so, I know it's a link and I have a pretty good clue what is going to happen if I click it. The text of a link should answer a user's questions. "Where do I go to read more of this article" should translate to a 'Read more' link. "How do I get to the next page" gives us a 'Next page' link. "What is this web site's privacy policy" can turn into 'Privacy'.

Wait, What?

Obviously We Have a Problem

Search TermResults from Google
"click here"1,620,000,000
"click here to"831,000,000
"click here to go"16,800,000
"click here to go to"7,730,000
"click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'"1 unique

Solace

The overuse of 'click here' In conclusion, I believe using a 'click here' qualifier to help the user actually makes it more confusing considering how inconsistent the 'Click here' linking can be. Any argument for keeping it I would have to rebut with the actualization that you would have to put 'click here' in front of every link. Imagining a menu navigation with that much filler should clarify my point.
 

November 3, 2009