How to Create a Hyperlink: Step-by-Step Guide, Benefits, and Best Practices

A hyperlink offers readers quick access to information on another webpage or document. It can also bring readers to a specific section on the current page, helping you optimize its navigation.

This article will teach you how to create a hyperlink in WordPress and Microsoft Office. We’ll also explain the benefits of hyperlinks and five tips to enhance them in emails, web pages, and documents.

The linked text is known as anchor text. For instance, “domain checker” is a hyperlink containing the anchor text “domain checker” and the uniform resource locator (URL) to our Domain Name Search page.

Hyperlinks can navigate to:

• Web page URLs
• HTML files
• Images
• Video or audio files
• Text files and other documents, like PDFs
• Sections in the current document or webpage

The process of creating a hyperlink is generally similar in any text editor:

1. Copy the URL you want to place.
2. Highlight the anchor text.
3. Find the hyperlink icon. Usually, it looks like links in a chain or two interconnected ovals.
4. Paste the URL and press Enter.

Keep reading to see the detailed steps of making a hyperlink in WordPress, Microsoft Office, and the HTML editor.

How to Create a Hyperlink in WordPress

Follow these simple steps to add a link with anchor text in WordPress using the block editor:

1. Highlight the text you want to link.
2. Click the Link icon in the text editing bar. This will open a field where you can enter the URL you want to link to.

3. Type in the address, and press Enter or click the arrow icon to apply it.

You can apply the following settings to WordPress links:

• Open in a new tab. Lets readers keep their current tab and explore the destination link in another tab.
• Nofollow. Asks search engines not to crawl the destination link or pass link juice to them.
• Sponsored. Labels the link for paid placement, like sponsors, advertorials, or affiliates.
• UGC. Signals crawlers that the link leads to user-generated content, such as an author in a comment form.

You can edit hyperlinks by clicking the underlined text, selecting the Edit button, and entering a new address. Click the Link icon once more to remove the hyperlink.

Follow similar steps to insert a hyperlink into an image or button. Click on the element, select the Link icon, and paste the web address.

How to Create a Hyperlink in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Let’s look at how to embed a link in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. In general, Microsoft Office lets users insert a hyperlink to:

• An existing file, a webpage, or another document
• A certain section in the same document
• A new document
• An email address

How to Make a Hyperlink in Word

Creating hyperlinks in Word documents is easy:

1. Open your Microsoft Word document
2. Select the text you want to format as a hyperlink.
3. Click the Insert tab → Link to open a dialog box. Alternatively, right-click on the highlighted text → Link.

4. Select where you want to direct your readers. Or, paste a URL in the Address field to link to online content.

5. Click OK.

To change the address, right-click the underlined text and select Edit Hyperlink. You can also click Remove Hyperlink to delete it from the document.

How to Make a Hyperlink in Excel

Inserting hyperlinks in an Excel worksheet only requires several steps:

1. Click on a cell reference you want to link to.
2. Open Insert → Link to open a pop-up window.
3. Choose an option that’s suitable for your needs.

Another way to hyperlink in Excel is using the HYPERLINK formula. The syntax is HYPERLINK(link_location, [friendly_name]). Replace link_location with a website address or a path in the worksheet and friendly_name to your anchor text.

How to Make a Hyperlink in PowerPoint

Insert a link in PowerPoint by following these steps:

1. Highlight the element you want to convert into a hyperlink.
2. Go to the Insert tab → Link. Alternatively, right-click on the element → Hyperlink. The Insert Hyperlink window will appear.

3. Enter a URL in the Address field or link to one of the slides in the PowerPoint presentation by clicking Place in This Document.

How to Create a Hyperlink Using HTML

Surround the web address and link text with the <a> and </a> elements to create links in HTML. Then, add the href attribute to indicate that the link will direct users to another location.

Copy and paste the following code into your HTML editor:

<a href=“enter the web address here”>insert the anchor text here</a>

Specify the web address and anchor text with your own. Here’s how the code would look in the WordPress code editor.

Benefits of Having Hyperlinks on Your Site

Creating hyperlinks offers various benefits to site owners and readers, which we’ll explain below.

Optimize Navigation

Hyperlinks improve your website navigation by linking references or related web pages on a blog post or page.

For example, connect important pages such as Contact and About on your homepage so visitors can easily access them.

Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A good linking strategy is important for SEO.

Internal links can optimize navigation and user experience – an important factor of good SEO. Meanwhile, inbound links from other websites act as votes of trust. They indicate to search engines that your site is credible, improving rankings and driving more traffic.

Provide Additional Value

Link content to offer more value to your visitors, such as downloadable PDFs from Google Drive or an important fact from another website.

For example, Thomas Frank, a personal development YouTuber, offers a free budgeting template to his audience via a link in his blog.

Best Practices for Hyperlinks

This section lists the five best tips to maximize hyperlinks in your website and documents.

Differentiate Absolute and Relative URLs

An URL contains the complete web address that points to a webpage or online document, such as https://www.example.com/abc.html. It includes the protocol, subdomain, domain name, and path.

A relative link or shortened URL only contains the path, for instance, /abc.html. Use relative links in your internal linking strategy for faster coding and load times.

Use a Shortcut to Create a Hyperlink

Text editors generally provide a dedicated hyperlink button on the menu. Some software lets you press Ctrl + K for a faster workflow to open the hyperlink editor instantly. These text editors include Microsoft Office, WordPress, and Google Workspace.

Include an Email in a Hyperlink

Email is one of the most common communication methods in business.

Use a mailto: link to connect to an email address on any platform, including a Word document and website page. An email client will automatically launch once someone clicks on the link.

Follow these steps to insert an email link:

1. Highlight the text where you wish to add an email link.
2. Click the Link icon.
3. Enter “mailto:” in the link field, followed by the email address. An example is “mailto:johndoe@gmail.com”.
4. Hit Enter or the OK button.

Create Hyperlinks in Emails

Add hyperlinks to websites, online portfolios, and social media accounts in your email signature. This offers more ways for your contacts to interact with you.

If you’re a Gmail user, follow these steps:

1. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner of the inbox → See all settings.

2. Scroll to the Gmail signature editor under Signature → Create new.

3. Write your name and list your social media accounts. Select each social channel text and link it to your profile using the Hyperlink tool.

Make the signature more appealing with social media icons from Flaticon. Simply upload them to the editor and link them to your social profiles. The signature will be set up automatically when you open a new message.

Target a Particular Section

Targeting a section in a document or web page lets readers skip to a specific part instead of scrolling through the entire site or document.

Microsoft Office lets users jump to a document’s heading or bookmark with the Place in This Document option.

WordPress users can follow these steps to add a hyperlink to a specific element in their page or post, like a heading or quote block:

1. Select the anchor text and click the Link button.

2. Type “#” followed by the target element’s keywords, then add dashes between the words. For example, “#what-is-wordpress”.

3. Copy the anchor on the clipboard without the hashtag.
4. Hit Enter, and the text will be highlighted.
5. Click on the target element and the Block tab on the right panel.

6. Select the Advanced menu and paste the keyword you included in the second step.
7. Click Update or Preview to check if the link works.

Conclusion

Hyperlinks are clickable elements that navigate to another document, web content, or a specific location in the current one. They can be in text, image, or button form. Hyperlinks help optimize your site or document navigation, boost SEO, and offer additional information to the audience.

In most text editors, add a hyperlink by highlighting an element and clicking the Link icon. Some editors let you use Ctrl + K to quickly access the hyperlink option. To add an HTML hyperlink, use the <a> and </a> elements and href attribute.

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand how to create a hyperlink in various text editors, from WordPress to Microsoft Office and HTML.