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<a>

Navigate to another page, but also download, send an email, anchor

— 1 min read

  • HTML
  • accessibility
  • semantics
  • interactions

<a> — The hyperlink

The <a> element creates a hyperlink. It can point to another page, a downloadable file (download), an email address (mailto:), a phone number (tel:), or an anchor on the same page (#section).

When to use it

You want to navigate to another page, offer a download, open the user's email client, or let them jump to a section on the current page.

What you gain

Accessibility: screen readers list all links on the page. An explicit label ("Download the 2026 report PDF") is understandable out of context, unlike "click here".

SEO: Google uses the link label to understand the target page (SEO Starter Guide). "Download the report" says more than "click here", for search engines and humans alike.

Code example

<nav>
  <a href="/blog">Blog</a>
  <a href="/about">About us</a>
</nav>
 
<a href="/report-2026.pdf" download>Download 2026 report (PDF, 2.4 MB)</a>
 
<a href="mailto:contact@example.com">Contact us by email</a>
 
<a href="#pricing">Jump to pricing</a>

Further reading