Operable
2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)
Each link's purpose must be clear from its text, or from its text together with the sentence or list item around it.
Who it helps
Screen reader users, who often browse a page as a list of links.
Failures we see most
- Several "Read more" links that all sound the same
- Icon links with no text alternative
How it gets tested
Our scanner runs these 2 axe-core checks for 2.4.4:
| Check | What it looks for |
|---|---|
area-alt | Active <area> elements must have alternative text |
link-name | Links must have discernible text |
Automated checks can find failures of 2.4.4, but they cannot confirm that a page passes. A specialist still reviews it by hand.
How we fix it
Our tools add accessible names to icon-only links, and for image links they fix the image's alt text instead.
Official text: W3C, Understanding 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). Checks listed from axe-core 4.14.0.
Related criteria
Does your site fail 2.4.4?
Our free scan checks up to 50 of your pages and tells you which criteria fail and where.