QA finding
A link's text promises something else than the page it leads to
QA Warning Severity: Medium
Part of the audit The link promises one thing and delivers another. Finding id: qa.linkLabelVsDestination.
What it costs you
The visitor clicks for one thing and gets another, then leaves or searches again. A link checker reports nothing because the target answers 200.
What to do
Point the link at the page that holds what the text promises, or change the text.
What it checks
- Link text and target share no subject
- Link lands on home page after redirect
- Link says PDF but opens a web page
- Same link text goes to different pages
How to fix it
Replace a link that ends on the home page
- Search the site for the content the link text names.
- If it exists at a new address, link there, and redirect the old address there too.
- If it is gone, remove the link.
How to check: Follow the link: it opens the page its text names.
Make the link text say what opens
- Open the link and see what it is: a page or a file.
- Change the text to match, for example 'Price list (PDF, 2 MB)', or link the thing the text names.
How to check: The link text names the kind of target the link opens.
Give one label one target
- List the targets of the label from the evidence.
- If they are meant to be one page, point every menu at it.
- If they are different pages, rename the items so each label is used for one page only.
How to check: Crawl the site again. The label leads to one page.
Repair the link or its text
- Open the link and compare what it shows with what its text promises.
- Point the link at the page that holds what the text promises, or change the text.
How to check: Crawl the site again. The link no longer appears in this rule.
Thresholds
| Name | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
max_similarity | 0 | Similarity (0 to 1) between the link text and the title plus h1 of the destination at or below which the link is returned. The default 0 means no word in common. Only link texts of three or more words are compared. |
How to verify by hand
Analytics: high exit or bounce on the destination from that link.
What this relies on
The destination was moved or redirected after the link was written.