Empty links
Silktide finds links that contain no text at all - nothing visible and no text alternative. A person using a screen reader hears only "link", with no way to know where it goes.
<!-- Empty: an icon link with no text alternative -->
<a href="/search"><svg>...</svg></a>
<!-- Fixed: the image's alt text names the destination -->
<a href="/"><img src="logo.png" alt="Example Corp home"></a>
<!-- Fixed: an aria-label names the destination -->
<a href="/search" aria-label="Search"><svg>...</svg></a>
Why this matters
Links are how people move through your website, and not everyone can see them. A announces each link by its text; when there is none, the user hears just "link" and must guess or skip it. Many blind users also navigate by pulling up a list of every link on the page - a list of unnamed entries is useless.
Empty links usually happen by accident: an icon replaces text, an image loses
its , or a stray <a> tag is left behind
by an editor. Search engines are equally unable to determine what an empty link
points to.
How to fix it
- If the link should have visible text, add it.
- If the link is an image, give the image alt text that names the destination,
such as
alt="Example Corp home"for a logo linking to your home page - not a description of the image. - If the link is an icon, add an naming the destination, or include text hidden visually but available to screen readers.
- If the link is a leftover with no content and no purpose, remove it.
How Silktide tests this
- Find every link on each page, including image-map areas.
- Skip elements that lack a working link destination.
- Read the link's text, including alt text and text alternatives such as
aria-labelandtitleon the link and anything inside it. - Report the link if no text is found at all.
Troubleshooting
The link looks fine on the page
A link can look fine while being empty, because its appearance comes from an icon or a background image - neither of which gives it a name. Check the underlying for a text alternative.
The icon's meaning is obvious
Only to people who can see it. A magnifying glass says "search" visually, but a screen reader cannot describe images that have no text alternative - the label must be in the markup.