Hyperlink Best Practices

Knowing how to format a link, how to link to internal and external sites and how to link to documents will help make your site easy to use.

Hyperlinks are foundational to website functionality. When linking to websites, documents, videos or an email correspondence, it’s important to format your links appropriately. When adding hyperlinks to your website, follow these best practices.

On this Page:

Effective Link Text
Linking to Internal Content
Linking Externally
Linking to Email Addresses

Effective Link Text

As a best practice, link text should be as specific as possible.

Avoid link text with the full URL text, or using the term “click here.” It makes your page difficult to scan.

Instead, hyperlink the page or document title or link a short description of the page or document.

Be clear about what a visitor can expect when they click a link. For example, a link to learn more about a specific program or initiative should not send a visitor to a contact form.

Examples of What to Do

For more information, visit Undergraduate Admissions.
TU’s top-ranked graduate programs respond to the emerging work force needs of the region and the nation — from cybersecurity to health care.

Examples of What Not to Do

To learn more about Undergraduate Admissions, click here.
TU’s top-ranked graduate programs, https://www.towson.edu/about/rankings.html, respond to the emerging work force needs of the region and the nation — from cybersecurity to health care.

Internal Linking

Dependency Tags

Whenever you create a hyperlink to a page or document on the TU website, you should use dependency tags. A dependency tag is a code identifier that associates a given hyperlink to a page or document.

Using a dependency tag:

assures your hyperlink will work even if the structure of your website changes.
helps us manage page and document deletions by creating a notification for system administrators informing them of all the links that will be impacted by the deletion

Finding a Dependency Tag Quickly

There are a few ways you can find dependency tags, but we recommend the following as it is the fastest option.

Screenshot of the insert link icon in modern campus CMS

1. Open the insert/edit link box

You can add a link to text by highlighting the text and clicking the "insert/edit link" symbol on the navigation bar. A keyboard shortcut is to press CRTL + K or CMD + K to open the insert/edit link box.

2. Copy the page URL that you want to link to

In another window or tab, open the page you would like to link to. Then copy the whole URL.

Screenshot of the insert/edit link box in Modern Campus CMS

3. Paste the URL

Paste the URL into the "URL" field in the insert/edit link box.

4.a Find the dependency tag (for a non-homepage)

Click the icon with the arrow pointing up in the box right next to where you pasted the link. Remember to switch from staging to production. The CMS will find the dependency tag for you automatically.

4.b Find the dependency tag (for a homepage)

If you are linking a homepage/index (any page with subpages) you must type index.html at the end of the URL before clicking the arrow icon. OR you can select "index" from the list of pages that appear after clicking the arrow icon. Remember to switch from staging to production.

5. Insert the dependency tag

Click "insert." You should now see the dependency tag in the URL field. Keep the link set to open in the current window. Press "save."

Linking to External Content

Open External Links in a New Tab

External websites are those websites not built within the Towson University domain (www.towson.edu).

To keep our audience on our site, set all external site links to open in a new browser tab.

External links include links to external websites, videos, PDFs and other documents. When adding an external link, make sure you set the “target” for the link in the “Insert Link” pop-up window to open in a new window.

Do Make the Link Open in a New Tab

Find out how to Preview Your Site as a Mobile Website (PDF).

Don't Make the Link Open in the Same Window

Find out how to Preview Your Site as a Mobile Website (PDF).

Label Documents and Videos

Add a description (as part of the link name) in a parenthesis after the link title. This will make it clear to your audience that they are being taken to a document (or external video link) rather than being taken to a webpage.