Success Criterion 2.4.4
Conformance level A

Link’s Explanatory Text Separated by an Unrelated Ad or Insert

2.4.4 — Link Purpose (In Context)

Scenario

Setting

A language-learning app's lesson screen

What’s wrong

Teaser links where context paragraph is *after* an unrelated ad/insert breaking programmatic association.

Example

<a href="/report.pdf">Click here</a>

Why it matters

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

How to test

Check whether the explanatory paragraph for a teaser link sits after an unrelated ad/insert in the DOM: if so, the programmatic association is broken and it fails.

How to fix

The link's purpose must be clear from its accessible name (or name plus immediate programmatic context), and unique among links going to different destinations.

<a href="/report.pdf">Download the Q3 financial report (PDF)</a>

Link text needs to describe its destination on its own, without relying on surrounding sentence context.

Outcome

On a language-learning app's lesson screen, this barrier is gone for people who browse by links list or voice commands and need unambiguous link purposes — they no longer have to work around this.

Who is affected