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Influencing web-browsing behavior with intriguing and informative hyperlink wording

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, cwei{at}u.washington.edu

Mary B. Evans

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Matthew Eliot

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Jennifer Barrick

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Brandon Maust

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Jan H. Spyridakis

Department of Technical Communication, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

Textual hyperlinks are important mainstays of the navigation systems of websites. The study presented here examines how the wording of hyperlinks in a navigation menu and embedded within the body text of a web page can influence users’ browsing behavior, perceptions, and comprehension. Five experimental conditions were tested that varied hyper-link wording (generic, intriguing, and informative) in a navigation menu and in embedded links. Significant differences were found between the experimental conditions concerning number of links clicked, number of pages viewed, and inferential comprehension, with higher scores for study participants in conditions that had a navigation menu with generic hyperlink wording and embedded hyperlinks with intriguing or informative wording.

Key Words: information design • hyperlinks • internet-based research

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