Using the text “click here” on your hyperlinks is considered bad practice, and here’s why:
“Click Here” – It doesn’t look good
In fact, it looks even worse when printed out, at which point is has no meaning at all since nobody can click on a piece of paper.
“Click” describes the mechanics involved in visiting a link
A “click” unnecessarily describes the mechanics of an action and implies that your visitor is using a mouse. This is not always the case, since on a tablet or smart phone you would “tap” and on a screen-reader you might talk to the device to navigate.
Nobody ever wrote “tap here” on a website and likewise you shouldn’t use “click here” either.
“Here” conceals where the link goes
“Here” doesn’t describe where the link will take you, and is completely superfluous:
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We could remove the word “click” which helps to eliminate the mechanics of the action, but the word “here” still doesn’t describe where the link goes:
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Instead, it’s better to describe where the link will take the visitor:
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You could make the link even more concise by removing the verb text from the link:
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The last example makes it explicitly obvious which page the link leads to.
It’s not search engine friendly
Search engines look at the anchor text of both your internal and external links and use them in their ranking algorithms. Again, the term “click here” is a wasted opportunity and doesn’t tell the search engines what the page is about that you’re linking to.
Link specifics
Choose your anchor text wisely. The more specific you are the better, especially from a search engine point of view.
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The above is OK, but below is a more specific version:
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Link last, not first
Where you require a strong call-to-action, avoid having a link at the beginning or part way through the sentence:
Follow me on Facebook for hints, tips and special offers.
Instead, ensure the visitor can take action immediately rather than having to read backwards to find the link:
For hints, tips and special offers follow me on Facebook.
Make sure your links are visually obvious
If your links are obvious, there is no need to tell someone how to visit them by way of “clicking.”
Compare these two examples:
We offer a range of insurance policies to suit all businesses.
We offer a range of insurance policies to suit all businesses.
Notice in the second example that the link is a contrasting colour and underlined. In the first example the link is a different colour, but it’s not obvious enough.
Isn’t “click here” a useful hint?
15 years ago it might have been, but the majority of people know how to navigate a web page. Even my mother does.
What about conversions?
I’ve read some arguments that “click here” converts better than the other approaches mentioned above. Personally I’ve never measured this but it’s perhaps something to consider.