As with many early internet paradigms 'click here' has become the equivalent of the verbal overuse of 'like': an unnecessary filler before getting to the real point.
It is worth realizing that yours is not the first web site your user has seen (unless you are the operator of acoolwebsite.com). For the rest of us, telling a user what to do with a hyperlink is on par with having instructions on how to scroll and see the rest of a web page. Is it underlined? Does it react when I hover over it? Does it stand out from the rest of the text? If so, I know it's a link and I have a pretty good clue what is going to happen if I click it. The text of a link should answer a user's questions. "Where do I go to read more of this article" should translate to a 'Read more' link. "How do I get to the next page" gives us a 'Next page' link. "What is this web site's privacy policy" can turn into 'Privacy'.
Wait, what?
Click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'
Click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'
Click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'
Click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'
Obviously we have a problem
| Search Term | Results from Google |
|---|---|
| "click here" | 1,620,000,000 |
| "click here to" | 831,000,000 |
| "click here to go" | 16,800,000 |
| "click here to go to" | 7,730,000 |
| "click here to go to a web page about the overuse of 'click here'" | 1 |
Solace
The overuse of 'click here'In conclusion, I believe using a 'click here' qualifier to help the user actually makes it more confusing considering how inconsistent the 'Click here' linking can be.Any argument for keeping it I would have to rebut with the actualization that you would have to put 'click here' in front of every link.Imagining a menu navigation with that much filler should clarify my point.
