We’ve all seen it, and most of us have written it: the ubiquitous, flashing invitation to “click here”. For decades, it’s been the default way to insert a hyperlink on a webpage, email or in a document. But while it feels like a harmless, quick way to guide your readers, those two little words are secretly doing a massive disservice to your content. In fact, if you’re still using “click here” or – worse – just “here,” you’re actively frustrating your audience, ruining your search rankings, and alienating users.

Here are four critical reasons why it’s time to retire the phrase for good, along with an incredibly easy fix.  

1. It completely breaks accessibility

For users with visual impairments who rely on screen readers, navigating a document or webpage doesn’t always happen linearly from top to bottom. Instead, screen reader users frequently pull up a Links List – a shortcut menu that strips away the surrounding body text and displays only the hyperlinks on the page so they can quickly scan and hop to where they need to go.

If your links list looks like this:

• Click here
• Click here
• Here
• Read more
• More

the user will have absolutely no idea where those links lead. They are forced to guess, or back out and read the entire page line-by-line just to get the context.

2. It destroys scannability

Sighted users don’t read every word on a website; they skim. Their eyes are naturally drawn to visual anchors like headers, bullet points, and bold, colored hyperlink text.

If a user is scanning a page and sees click here, those words carry zero information. The user is forced to stop, look at the words before or after the link, and piece together what they are supposed to be clicking. Good link text should tell the user exactly what they are getting before they even hover over it.

3. It hurts your search engine optimization (SEO)

Google and other search engines use web crawlers to map out the internet. When a crawler hits a link on your site, it uses the anchor text (the clickable words) to understand what the target page is about.

• If you link the words “download our 2026 financial report,” Google associates that target page with financial reports.
• If you link the words “click here,” you are essentially telling Google that the page you are linking to is about “clicking here.” It’s a massive waste of SEO juice!

4. It’s out-dated and verbally inaccurate

The word “click” is a relic from the desktop-dominated era of twenty years ago.  Today, it is device-exclusive and ignores how the modern world actually interacts with the internet.

According to figures published by statistica in October 2025, web page views from mobile phones and tablets – which are usually mouse-less – accounted for around 62.6% of all web traffic in the United Kingdom (UK).

When nearly two-thirds of your audience is tapping, swiping, or using voice commands rather than “clicking” a mouse, using the word “click” makes you sound old-fashioned and out of touch. Modern user-focused copywriting favours device-agnostic, action-oriented verbs like View, Download, Read, or Explore.

The quick fix: shift the link

Fixing this is incredibly easy. You usually don’t even need to rewrite your copy; you just need to move which words are part of the hyperlink.

• Bad: To learn more about our upcoming summer camp schedule, [click here].
• Worse: You can view our summer camp schedule [here].
• Review your options on the [summer camp schedule].

By making the actual noun the link, you instantly fix the accessibility issue, make the page beautifully skimmable, and give search engines the exact keywords they need.