Hyperlink Color

[bigdoug]

The color Blue has been the foremost standard of link color since the beginning of Internet. However, there seems to be a SEO trend of using other colors for links since 2002. What is your opinion on hyperlink color? Dose it have a profound effect on usability?



I still find blue the easiest –



What’s your opinion?



D

[clasione]

Blue definetly is or was the standard for the web... I'd bet blue would generate more clicks than any other color.....

[jdk]

I still think you should blend your links to match your site.

[andy]

Because its a standard color people who are new to computers look for the blue text links and its also nice and easy on the eyes.
It does vary page to page and your background colour ect but for the important links yep blue is my favourite color.

[clasione]

Because its a standard color people who are new to computers look for the blue text links.

Definetly agree with that.....

[bigdoug]

Thats a good point Andy - new people. I think allot of SEO's have forgone the basics. The people with the money are still just learning about the internet - the 45 - 65 somethings.


PS. I need a (smilie) -old man walking with a cane slowly...hehehe


D

[clasione]

:old: :hyper:

[bigdoug]

thats great...lol:old: ;)

[bigdoug]

:old: I am finding that Blue links have really come into play when it comes to a smooth transition from body text and links to Adsence ads.



D

[kservik]

I dont link links that only show as links when holding your mouse pointer over...hint...hint :P

[Martin]

I am finding that Blue links have really come into play when it comes to a smooth transition from body text and links to Adsence ads.

D

I found the opposite on a predominary blue/white site - red on white links are making wonders with AdSense CTR :goodvibes and affiliate links. Maybe the first thing that catches the visitor's eye. Well red and blue is an agressive combination but sometimes agressive is the right choise if you're trying to sell something. :ipep:

BTW blue is the color of television. Everything new is well forgoten one. :teacher:

Very interisting topic, this is what makes me come back to this forum. :lie:

Hmm looking at this post cross your eyes a litle an tell me what is the most noticeble thing here.

[kservik]

URL to your site, would like to take a look...

[Martin]

Well it's in my profile.
And you dint share wnat is noticleble when you have your eyes crossed?

[clasione]

I think the green and purple was most noticable to me...

I recently added Google text link ads to the bottom of most of my pages on one of my main sites.... Adsence revenue is up...

Most of the links on my site are a soft light bluevia my css setup... When I set up the ad links they were standard blue..... Kind of a lucky accident... It is working nice...

[bigdoug]

I see the green smile when I cross my eyes. Eyes will naturally go center.

D

[andy]

I dont link links that only show as links when holding your mouse pointer over...hint...hint :P

I dont know..lol... was ment at me or not , if not its been on my mind for a while and ive just started to change all my table cells to hyperlinks using this sorta code..

<td onclick="window.open('folder/page.htm', '_self');">link stuff</td>

Does that work for you?, ive just started to update all my pages and ive still got a lot to go i know - should have done a long time ago really so thanks for the inspiration and reminder and that will keep me occupied for a while lol.

Would the robots pick up the double links?

Im gonna look into those red text google ads and try it out thanks for the idea

[clasione]

He must be talking about this forum..... Maybe it is time to edit the css .....

[andy]

ahh ok , well cool anyway it gave me some inspiration
:cool:forum

[clasione]

I dont link links that only show as links when holding your mouse pointer over...hint...hint :P

You'll notice that this has been taken care of.... :jiggy:

[megri]

Hyper link color has nothing to do with search engine ranking. Well blue may have more click as universal color on Internet

[localhost]

i change link-color to blend in with the overall style. however i givethem a unique color on the site and i leave some sort of undeline (usually dotted).

keeping blue links on a reddish colored site looks a little cheap doesn't it?

[MrBob]

The color Blue has been the foremost standard of link color since the beginning of Internet. However, there seems to be a SEO trend of using other colors for links since 2002. What is your opinion on hyperlink color? Dose it have a profound effect on usability?



I still find blue the easiest –



What’s your opinion?



D

I think you need to judge this by who your target visitor is. As was said in another post. If your target is the older crowd who are internet newbies the jack up the font size first. Make sure your links are blue and bolded.

On the other hand if your running a gamers site those are usually pretty dark themed and links can be anything you like as long as you can tell it is a link.

[bigdoug]

Old people (mature) love big blue links!



Got this email today,





Dear Branson Critic,


My name is Bella, and I would like to thank you for making it easy for us old bags to find information on your site. I hate bobbing around looking for where I am supposed to click. Using blue clickers helps so much. I do wish they were bigger, but that’s my bad eye I guess. I will turn 83 tomorrow and love this new net life. You can get a good date online you know. Well, tell whoever is charge of making your site to keep up the good work

Love,

Bella

[kservik]

Thats a nice one. I have also been noticing that I often use way too small text on my websites and adjusted this recently.

[lowster11]

Old people (mature) love big blue links!



Got this email today,

Dear Branson Critic,


My name is Bella, and I would like to thank you for making it easy for us old bags to find information on your site. I hate bobbing around looking for where I am supposed to click. Using blue clickers helps so much. I do wish they were bigger, but that’s my bad eye I guess. I will turn 83 tomorrow and love this new net life. You can get a good date online you know. Well, tell whoever is charge of making your site to keep up the good work
Love,
Bella

Good job Doug!!

Old people (mature), Not bad, I found 2 quotes of the day in the forum today.

[obiztek]

Depending upon the website aeasthatics link color may vary .

Considering all levels of visitors blue hyper link will be most comfortable with all.

Hyperlink color does affect search engine ranking in any way.

[bigdoug]

Hyperlink color does affect search engine ranking in any way.

Welcome to the board Obiztek:wave:


Does or dosen't?

[Web Gazelle]

White hyperlink color on white background is a bad idea. Kinda like landing that plane on isla sorna in JP III.:scared07:

[bigdoug]

I think Rand Fishkin points this out well in his new beginners guide at SEOmoz.com



D

[marly]

I try not to have blue links, its just so....well the norm. I don't think it matters as long as the colour catches attention. If you have a blue background or alot of blue in your design, you would need something to stand out.

Its just some designs just don't go with blue. You have to colour co-ordinate it. It depends on the site colours as a whole.

Although a cool shade of blue works great (#0066CC) or (#5297DC)

CHEERS

[Websmarts]

I think blue is the "natural color" or the first color , but now with so many new and colorfull sites people just are click on anything ,

But I believe it depends on the site as well , Like on one of my sites , its a directory for Pizza , so no matter what color the links are if you see let's say "suffolk" and you want pizza in suffolk chances are youll click

VS

On a blog or alot of content it may be confusing from what I have seen .

Just my thoughts , I could be wrong

I think blue is the known link color but ,

I love Colors!

Joe

[seansullivan]

I feel that more important than the color of the link is to make sure that you set your CSS so that it is underlined. Don't make it not underlined and underlined upon hover, do the reverse. Have the links displayed as underlined. That is more universal as representative of a link than any color. (blue is king though). you can use earth tone blues to make it look more artistic, don't have to stick with the bright standard blue. But when focusing on a wide audience, I feel that blue, underlined hyperlinks are the way to go!

[bigdoug]

Excellent points by all made here. :lie:


D

[Websmarts]

wow , lots of good points here ,

and I agree , blue is the "universal " for at least now

[Lazarus]

Not only is blue the universal, but it has become the standard for links. The computer industry has realized for years now the need for standards. And that's good. I remember when you couldn't even buy a mouse for your computer unless it was for the model of computer you owned. Standards changed that. When people visit a web site they immediatelysee a blue underlined link and know what it is. Different colored links may not be so noticeable to a visitor. Different colors may be good just for the sake of being different, but I think blue underlined links make the visit more enjoyable.:wave:

[bigdoug]

Not only is blue the universal, but it has become the standard for links. The computer industry has realized for years now the need for standards. And that's good. I remember when you couldn't even buy a mouse for your computer unless it was for the model of computer you owned. Standards changed that. When people visit a web site they immediatelysee a blue underlined link and know what it is. Different colored links may not be so noticeable to a visitor. Different colors may be good just for the sake of being different, but I think blue underlined links make the visit more enjoyable







Very well said Lazarus

[freetraff]

Have one question.


Can anyone post the sample of hmtl code when every letter of the link is of different color.

Like this LINK (this is not a real link in the example)