HTML Href Attribute Guide for Beginners

The HTML href attribute is a powerful tool that helps you create links to other web pages. It’s one of the most important elements of web development, and it’s used to create links between web pages. It’s easy to learn and can be used to create simple or complex links. In this article, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide to using the href attribute for beginners. Keep reading to learn more about how to use the HTML href attribute.

What is the HTML href attribute?

The HTML a href attribute is an important part of HTML coding and web development. It stands for Hypertext Reference, and it’s used to create a link between two web pages. 

It’s contained within the tag and is used to define the source of the link. The a href attribute can be used to link to a page on the same site, an external page, or a specific section of a page. Also, it’s used to link to specific documents, such as PDFs or images.

The a href attribute is used to define the destination of a link. It’s made up of two parts: the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), which is the address of the page, and the link text, or the words that will be displayed on the page to create the link.

The link text can be anything from a single word to a phrase or even a full sentence. The URL can also be used to link to a specific part of a webpage, such as an anchor tag.

Why is the href attribute important?

The href attribute is an essential part of creating a website, as it helps link all the different pages of a website together, a process known as internal linking. Without this attribute, a user cannot navigate from one page to another. It’s also used to create links that open in a new window or link to specific documents or images. 

By using the HTML a href attribute, web developers can ensure that their web pages are properly linked together, making it easier for users to find their way around the website.

4 Tags for a href Attributes

The href attribute also uses four tags, which are important for creating HTML links. The four tags are the <a> tag, <area> tag, <base> tag, and <link> tag.

• <a>: The <a> tag is the most basic tag for links. It’s used to create links within a document or to other documents. The <a> tag has two required attributes that include the href attribute and the title attribute. The href attribute is used to specify the link’s destination, and the title attribute is used to specify the text that is displayed when the mouse pointer is placed over the link.

• <area>: The <area> tag is used to create links to specific parts of a document. The <area> tag has two required attributes that include the href attribute and the shape attribute. The href attribute is used to specify the link’s destination, and the shape attribute is used to specify the shape of the area.

• <base>: The <base> tag is used to specify the base URL for a document. The base tag has one required attribute, which is the href attribute. The href attribute is used to specify the base URL for the document.

• <link>: The <link> tag is used to create links between documents. This tag also has two required attributes, which are the href attribute and the rel attribute. The href attribute is used to specify the link’s destination, and the rel attribute is used to specify the relationship between the two documents.

Altogether, these tags are important because they’re the foundation of hyperlinks on websites. Hyperlinks are what make the internet a linked network of information. Without hyperlinks, the internet would just be a series of isolated pages.

Why does the Site Auditor flag missing href attributes?

If you are auditing your web pages using the Search Atlas site auditor, your web pages will be flagged if they include links with an empty href attribute. The issues message will look like this:

This issue is flagged because it creates both an issue for search engine crawlers and users. Without an href attribute, crawlers will not be able to use the link on the page to discover the linked-to page. 

Also, users will be unhappy when they click on a link that does not take them anywhere. To resolve the empty href attribute, you will need to add the missing href attribute to the link.

Conclusion

By understanding how to use the href tag, web developers can create rich and engaging web experiences for their users. Leveraging the power of hyperlinks, developers can create web pages that link to other web pages, images, videos, and downloadable files. As such, the href tag is an important part of any HTML document and should be used by developers to create engaging and useful web pages.