Links

Writing link text

When writing a link, make it descriptive and front-load it with relevant terms instead of using something generic like 'click here' or 'more'.

• Link text should be relevant and meaningful such as 'Reporting a pothole'
• Links should be descriptive so they make sense in isolation
• Check all links work and go to the correct internal or external web page
• You can add links anywhere in body text, but not in titles, summaries or subheadings
• Three to six words is often a good length for a link. Do not link whole lines or multiple lines.

Friendly URLs

A friendly URL is a website address which is easy to read, and includes helpful words which describes the content on a web page. This type of URL can:

• help visitors to remember a website address.
• help describe the page to search engines and improve search engine optimisation.
• help advertise internal web pages which appear in print. 

If you require a friendly URL please make a formal request to the Web team.

External links

We consider linking to other websites if we believe the link will help a customer complete a task. 

• For accessibility, it is important that our users know when a link is external before they click it. This is shown by adding a symbol directly after the link
• All links open in the same browser window
• Link titles should make sense when read out-of-context
• When considering whether to link to another website check our hyperlinking policy
• All links (internal/external) are managed by our Web Content Management System. Therefore, if a link breaks we are able to fix it immediately

Contact information

Reduce avoidable contact by answering questions in the content of your web pages

• Use a team or generic email address for contact information
• Do not use individual staff phone numbers or email addresses unless you have permission from a Divisional Manager. 
   

How to display links

We have three ways to display a link on our website:

• within a sentence
• within a box displayed directly under a specific paragraph
• within a box positioned at the bottom of a page

You cannot add a link to a title, heading or subheading.