Success Criterion 2.4.4
Conformance level A
W3C reference F63

Link’s Purpose Explained Only in Unrelated Page Text

2.4.4 — Link Purpose (In Context)

Scenario

Setting

A government tax-filing portal

What’s wrong

The text explaining where a link goes is somewhere unrelated on the page — a screen reader user reading just the link (and its immediate context) can't tell its purpose.

Example

Picture a government tax-filing portal: the text explaining where a link goes is somewhere unrelated on the page — a screen reader user reading just the link (and its immediate context) can't tell its purpose.

Why it matters

People who browse by links list or voice commands and need unambiguous link purposes. In this case (a government tax-filing portal), they lose track of what belongs to what.

How to test

Pull up a screen reader's link list: if the link's purpose is explained only in unrelated text elsewhere on the page (not the link text or its immediate context), it fails.

How to fix

Put the identifying context in the link text itself or in its programmatic context (same sentence, list item, or table cell).

Outcome

Once corrected, a government tax-filing portal lets them move through the content with confidence.

Who is affected

People who browse by links list or voice commands and need unambiguous link purposes.

Learn more

Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Technique Related technique (opens in a new tab)