UX Design Tips for Beginners - The Hyperlinks
In web designs, links are the most constantly used elements. In fact, it's the most straightforward way to navigate between web pages without any single command. But how hyperlinks connected with user experience in the website? According to Nielsen report 2010, nearly a user visit 2,646 different pages each day; each page may contain up to 100 hyperlinks or blue links.
Based on the above stats, every month, users run across 27,000 links which are 324,000 hyperlinks a year! Still, thinking the hyperlinks are out of the party? This article is all about connections. In this article, we'll be going to look at the functionality of hyperlinks and how they impact user experience. With that, we're going to give some clues or tips to use hyperlinks inside your content to make it more user-friendly.
Links - Usage and its Types
Commonly anything that clickable is known as a link, either in the form of a textual or digital image. Apart from that, the nature of links might have different types.
- Navigation Links: Mostly known as hyperlinks, used to navigate between different sections of pages without starting off a new task.
- Command Links: Mostly known as Text Buttons, used to perform the new command. Often used for less essential commands.
- Definition Links: These are helpful links, more valuable links as compared to command links.
- Homelink: As the name suggests, Homelink allows users to go back to the homepage by clicking on the website logo or slogan.
Well, these were some link types possibly used on any website. The same links are followed by three stages:
- Normal: A standard link or you can say that it's an unvisited link.
- Hover: Hover link appears when the cursor hovers over the link.
- Visited: As the name suggests, link that someone has visited.
Importance of Links
First of all, creating internal links on the website can help you to optimize your content on search engines. How can internal linking help to do better SEO? Well, this is another topic we'll discuss later in upcoming articles. The use of links can surely help you better SEO and maximize the user experience.
The website SEO has been important for digital marketers. That's why we pricked the word SEO on this topic because UX design directly impacts your website SEO. Some critical factors that can affect your website SEO like page speed, mobile-friendly, and most importantly, link structures. It also describes how well the link structured to your website, providing benefits to the users or not.
So, in the next section, we're going to give you some tips on creating effective hyperlinks to your website. It's a significant part that you shouldn't skip.
Tips for Beginners to Make Use of Links
So far, we've discussed a brief introduction of links from a user experience perspective. However, link building is a whole different topic, but we're talking about how users can achieve a better experience from links in this article. And now we're going to give you ten profitable tips to increase your user experience.
The idea of links use in a website to make it usable by the users, but the user doesn't use those links, then what the benefit of using those links is? That's why it's also important to use links to ensure their usability.
Here are the 10 tips for beginners for creating hyperlinks or bluelinks inside the website:
1.Meaningful Text:
The thing you should take care of while creating hyperlinks on your website is to make meaningful text links. Suppose you just created a “click here” link. The user does not know what this is about. Plus, it's also harming your website's SEO. Many users are aware of malicious spam links or viruses. Let them know where the link will take them.
2.Blue Text Link:
Almost everyone knows blue color in textual content defines the link. People have made standard for blue color text as hyperlinks. A few years back, the Gmail users were divided and tested with more than 30+ different link colors: As a result, blue links got more clicks than the green ones.
This report shows there are more possible chances of hyperlinks to be clicked by users. It's inside the mind of the users that anything related to blue text suggests a hyperlink. As they know the meaning of; blue means links, green means.. don't know, maybe a highlighter or something?
3.Shading Around Hypertext:
There are many advantages of shading and decorating the hyperlinks. Well, it may impact your text style, but it doesn't matter. The major disadvantage of highlight the hyperlinks, it makes contrasts to your website design. As a UI designer, you're not a big fan of hyperlinks or bluelinks.
Apart from the design perspective, we're here to judge the user experience. In fact, we have to see the other impactful factors that can be harmful to the website. But apart from all the downsides, highlighting or shading the hyperlinks looks catchy and a higher chance of being clicked.
4.Hover to Reveal:
There's one thing you must not try on your website. It's very frustrating for the users to “cursor-over” to discover if a text is clickable? These types of links can be helpful to the minimalistic design approach.
We must say: Hover to reveal hyperlinks for good for committed minimalists but bad for the user perspective.
5.Symbols:
The UI designers also experimented with the use of symbols to elaborate the link or just line of the text. The symbols could be a pointing arrow or hand are the most common. But the use of symbols inside the design has some flaws also. Well, this technique does not provide endpoints to the links, confusing and waste of screen.
The designers who love to use SVG files inside the design can use the symbols to interact with the users. But it's bad for some users who are using low-resolution or small screen devices.
6.Obvious Links:
Try to make obvious links inside the design. The users shouldn't be interacted with the interface to find the links. But the question is how you can stand out your links inside the design? We've already mentioned above, try to highlight the link or mark them with blue color. It's the easier way to guide the user where you've put the link. You can also use symbols with links to notify users that here is the link you're looking for.
7.Change Style:
It's essential to make some variations while the cursor is hovering on a particular link. It should change the style of the text to highlight to the users that it is clickable.
8.Visited Links:
It's common to see when you search for multiple results on Google, each time you visit the different link, and it changes the color blue to purple. You should do the same on your website, let your users know which links they have visited before. It's the best way to create a better understanding with the users.
9.Which Links Should Open in New Window?
Well, it a well-debated topic, and different peoples have different views on this topic. But most websites don't open the links in a new tab.
Unless your website lies in the following cases:
- The link contains any documented files like PDF, .docx files.
- Enforcing users to open the link to the new window.
10.Start with Keyword
Well, if you are a digital marketer, you'll be going to love this part. If you're promoting or selling any product, make sure to use the exact keywords in link building. Let search engines and users know how important is the keyword that you're using in your content. It'll also help you to increase your ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Result Page).
SERP identifies the success of your business. If you're getting better on SERP, no can stop your generating leads from your business.
Well, that was all about the hyperlinks and bluelinks. If you're talking about a better user experience, you cannot take links out of the picture.
Conclusion
We have seen multiple advantages and usage of links in the content. One is suitable for users' experience perspective, and the second is for the marketing perspective. Both include priority factors, and both are the independent authority in their place. We cannot take any of them out of the picture.
Back to links, we see blue hyperlink in design stands above all as concerned with users. These links are more attractive to users. What a UX designer need? Attraction from the users, isn't it? User experience is all about user attraction, so why don't you use those links which are attractive to the users.
Well, a well-discussed topic comes to an end. We tried our best to enlighten you on everything about the links and make them usable in your content to get a better user experience. For now, that's all from our side. Cya! With the next heated topic.
