What to ask your agency about descriptive link text

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. If you are briefing an agency or a freelancer on descriptive link text, these questions are worth asking early.

The cost of retrofitting accessibility is several times the cost of building it in. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

Questions worth asking

• Who will actually do this work, and have they done it before?
• How will we know afterwards whether it worked?
• What happens if it needs changing in a year?
• What are you assuming that we have not confirmed?

What a good answer sounds like

Links are often read out of context. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.

Say where the link goes. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

In practice

Accessibility work almost always improves the experience for people who have no impairment at all. Three things worth confirming about descriptive link text before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• "Read more" tells nobody anything — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.