Turn any word into a clickable link by selecting the text, adding a URL, and saving—either in your editor or with a simple HTML anchor tag.
A text link is one of those small website details that changes how people move through a page. Done well, it feels invisible: readers tap a few words, land where they expected, and keep going.
This walkthrough covers the two setups most people hit: adding links inside an editor like WordPress, and writing links directly in HTML. You’ll see how to choose link text, set new-tab behavior, handle internal jump links, and fix the common mistakes that make links look broken.
How To Put A Link In Text In WordPress Editor
If you’re using the WordPress block editor, you can make a clean text link in seconds. Start with the words you want clicked, not the URL.
Make A Basic Text Link
- Select the words you want to turn into a link.
- Click the link icon in the block toolbar (it looks like a chain).
- Paste the full URL (include https://).
- Press Enter or click the apply button to save the link.
WordPress has a clear step-by-step page that matches this flow. See How to Add Links if you want the exact UI labels for your editor version.
Edit Or Remove A Link Without Rewriting The Sentence
Click the linked text once. A small link panel shows the destination. Use the pencil/edit option to swap the URL, or use the unlink option to remove it while keeping the words.
If the link keeps “sticking” to extra words, reselect the exact text range and reapply the link. Editors sometimes expand selections when you double-click.
Link A Button Or A Heading
Buttons and headings can carry links too. The steps stay the same: click the block, find the link control in the toolbar or sidebar, then paste the URL.
If you’re linking a heading, check the front-end spacing after publishing. Linked headings can look like regular headings with a color change, so the link may be easy to miss unless your theme styles it well.
Put A Link In Text With Plain HTML
If you can edit HTML, text links are controlled by the tag. The words between the opening and closing tag are the clickable part. The href attribute holds the destination.
The Smallest Working Link
Read the documentationThat’s it. If you see the words but can’t click them, the issue is usually one of these: a missing quote, a missing closing tag, or an empty href.
Make Links Open In A New Tab
Use target="_blank" when you want a new tab. Pair it with rel="noopener" to prevent the new page from getting access to your page through window.opener.
Open in a new tabMDN documents the anchor element and its attributes in one place: : The Anchor element.
Use Relative Vs Absolute URLs The Right Way
Relative URLs work inside the same site:
About usAbsolute URLs are for other sites:
Visit the partner pageChoose Link Text That Feels Natural And Gets Clicks
The fastest way to make a link feel spammy is to drop a bare URL into the middle of a paragraph. The fastest way to make it feel helpful is to link a short phrase that tells the reader what they’ll get.
Use Descriptive Anchor Text
- Good: “Download the driver for Windows 11”
- Weak: “Click here”
- Confusing: “https://site.com/download?id=4837”
When the anchor text describes the destination, readers know what will happen before they click. Screen readers also handle descriptive text better than “here” links.
Keep It Short, Yet Specific
A link can be one word, a short phrase, or a full sentence. In most articles, a short phrase reads cleanest. If you link a full sentence, the whole line becomes clickable, which can feel odd on mobile.
Don’t Overlink The Same Paragraph
Two links in a single short paragraph can look like a link farm. Spread links out and connect each one to a clear next step. If you need to reference many sources, use fewer links and choose the ones readers will act on.
Common Ways To Add A Link In Text Across Apps
Most tools follow the same pattern: select text, add link, paste URL, save.
| Where You’re Adding The Link | Fast Steps | Notes That Save Time |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress Block Editor | Select text → Link icon → Paste URL → Apply | Use the edit pencil to change URL without retyping |
| WordPress Classic Editor | Select text → Link button → Paste URL → Add Link | Check “Open link in a new tab” only for off-site links |
| Google Docs | Select text → Insert Link → Paste URL → Apply | Docs can auto-link when you paste, then you can rename the text |
| Microsoft Word | Select text → Ctrl+K → Paste URL → OK | Right-click the link to edit or remove it |
| Gmail | Select text → Link icon → Paste URL → OK | Test the link in a draft before sending |
| Markdown Editors | Write [text](url) |
Use full URL, include https:// for external destinations |
| Slack Or Teams | Paste URL → Add text label (if supported) | Some workspaces restrict custom labels for security reasons |
| Raw HTML | Write text |
Use target and rel only when you want a new tab |
Use Internal Links And Jump Links The Right Way
Internal links keep readers moving inside your site. Jump links move them inside the same page. Both are built on the same idea: your link points to a URL or an on-page target.
Standard Internal Link
If you want to point to another page on the same site, link a short phrase that matches the reader’s next step.
Setup stepsJump Link To A Section On The Same Page
First, give the destination element an id. Then link to that id with a #.
Troubleshooting
Skip to troubleshootingKeep ids short and predictable. Use hyphens, not spaces. If you copy/paste headings, confirm the ids stay unique.
Jump Link To A Section On Another Page
You can combine a page URL with a hash target:
Driver sectionIf the link lands at the top of the page instead of the section, the id likely changed or was never added.
Special Link Types People Forget About
Not every link points to a web page. A few formats are built into browsers and can be handy in tech content.
Email Links
Email links use mailto:. Keep the address visible in the text when the audience may want to copy it.
Email supportPhone Links
Phone links use tel:. They work well for mobile visitors.
Call +1 (514) 555-1234File Links
Linking a PDF or installer file uses the same href idea. Make the destination obvious so people know they’re downloading something.
Download driver v2.4 (EXE)If your browser blocks the download, the server may be sending the wrong content type, or the site may be forcing a scan step. That’s not a link bug; it’s server behavior.
Make New Tabs A Choice, Not A Default
New tabs can help when you send someone off-site and you want your page to stay open. They can also annoy readers who prefer the back button.
A simple rule works well: keep internal links in the same tab, open off-site links in a new tab. If you do open a new tab in HTML, pair target="_blank" with rel="noopener".
Fix The Usual Link Problems Fast
If a link looks wrong, it’s almost always one of a few small issues. Scan this list and you’ll often spot it in seconds.
| What You See | Likely Cause | Fast Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Link text shows, but it won’t click | Missing href or broken tag |
Check quotes, closing href is not empty |
| Clicking does nothing in WordPress | Link not applied or block not saved | Reapply link, then click Save/Update for the page |
| Link goes to the wrong page | Copied URL includes extra characters | Paste into a plain text field, trim spaces, then paste again |
| Link opens a blank page | Missing https:// or blocked mixed content | Add https:// and confirm the destination loads in a browser |
| Jump link lands at top, not section | Target id missing or changed | Confirm the element has the exact matching id |
| Link styling looks odd | Theme CSS overriding link styles | Check hover/visited styles in your theme, then test on mobile |
| Only part of the phrase is clickable | Selection split by formatting | Remove bold/italic in the middle, reselect, then relink |
| Whole paragraph becomes clickable | Unclosed anchor tag | Find the missing |
Keep Links Clean After You Publish
Links can break over time. Pages move, products get renamed, and file paths change. A quick check now and then keeps your content from turning into a trail of 404s.
Test Links Like A Reader
After publishing, open the page on mobile and desktop. Tap each link once. Confirm it lands on the page you meant, and that the link text still reads naturally in the sentence.
Skip Messy Tracking Strings
If a URL is packed with tracking bits, strip it down to the clean destination when you can.
Fast Checklist Before You Hit Update
- The linked words describe the destination.
- External links use a full URL with https://.
- Off-site links open in a new tab only when that fits the reader’s flow.
- HTML links that open a new tab include
rel="noopener". - Jump links use ids that match the hash exactly.
- No raw URLs are dumped mid-sentence unless the URL itself is the point.
References & Sources
- WordPress.com Support.“How to Add Links.”Shows how to create, edit, and set new-tab behavior for links in the WordPress editor.
- MDN Web Docs (Mozilla).“: The Anchor element.”Explains the HTML anchor tag, href, target, and rel attributes used to build text links.