WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: external links & new windows

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Nov 8, 2010 7:36AM

On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 5:02 AM, Terrill Bennett wrote:
> Some will say Google will dock you
> points for hidden text, but Google has stated otherwise - Google
> isn't stupid, and they know the difference between padding your site
> with text to raise your score, and text that's just text (even Google
> has hidden text on it's own news site).

This specific example, however, is a case where hidden text *will*
affect your search engine optimization. It's not the fault of Google,
it's just a matter of what you are presenting to the search engine.

If your link text is "WebAIM", for example, the word "WebAIM" is used
to help determine the content of the linked page and established the
content that associates your page with the linked page. If the link
text is "WebAIM - link opens in a new window" (or similar), then all
of this text is used and the true content and relationship will be
diluted.

There are some cases where additional text is quite useful to screen
reader users, but when it comes to pop-up windows, I recommend giving
the user control over this by allowing all links to open in the same
window. Any perceived usability issues with same-page links are, in my
opinion, far outweighed by potential usability and accessibility
issues of dealing with the new and multiple windows. Another
significant argument for this is mobile browsers where new windows and
shifting between windows is quite a hassle.

Jared Smith
WebAIM