Links with underline or no underline?

[econwriter5]

Hello all,

There is a debate going on between underline links and no underline for links, and I'm trying to figure from both a useability standpoint and from an SE standpoint the best route to take.

The information I've read so far puts me in the middle. SE's read code so whether or not it is underlined is irrelevant. Underlines tend to draw the eye but that runs the risk of readers skipping over information, however no underline runs the risk of readers not evening noticing a word or phrase is a link.

The words or phrases that are links with no underline are a different color, however.

Does anyone have an idea? Or should I test it on different parts of the website to see what works best?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!

[Marcia]

Always test for yourself, because YMMV. But the consensus is, among those who specialize in conversion to sales, is that users can more easily recognize underlined links, especially those in the default blue. That gives a lot of points in favor of using them.

Also, links imbedded within page copy can serve as very effective calls to action.

[Cameron Olthuis]

For SEO sake it doesn't matter which one you use, it absolutely makes no difference either way.

From a usability/design standpoint it all depends on a number of things...

your design
your audenience
your content
etc etc

On some designs no underline looks and fits better, on others it doesn't. There is no right or wrong answer for this, it's all subjective. Sometimes small links work better sometimes big ones do, sometimes blue links better and sometimes green ones do...I think you get my point.

You're probably better hiring the eyes of a designer or usability expert to help you with this if you can't make the decision.

[econwriter5]

I've been experimenting with our new design, and have found that in some instances underlined links work best. On a Careers page, for example, where the links are anchor text to job descriptions further below.

Underlined links look sloppy in sections filled with content. They look hideious. I've talked to our designers and the idea beind the linknoline style was so links didn't look so ugly throughout the website.

This has posed a few style guide questions as well, so some adjustments and new rules are going to need to be made.

Certainly curious about eye-tracking studies people have suggested about underlined vs. no underline links.

Thanks for the help, as always!

[Marcia]

Inline links placed within the text on the page are practically unrecognizable as links without being underlined, even when they're a different color. There's no telling the difference, in that case, between a word or phrase being a link or just being a different color for emphasis.

Those underlined links can be done in a creative way so they look better. For instance, if the primary color used in the headers and/or logo is navy, the inline links can be underlined and done in navy, which actually looks pretty nice.

Is this for a strictly informational site, or is it a site that's intended to sell things? A lot can depend on the goal of the site. Is it to educate and inform people, or to get them to take out their credit cards and buy something?

Point to ponder: Whether or not the search engines can detect it, from the user's point of view, if the link can't be seen it isn't there.

[ProPokerMedia]

i'd say underlines always when the links are inside bodies of text. it's "what we're all use to." you might apply a different color or right-aligned background image of a little "opens in a new window" icon with padding-right to links that are outbound, a call to action (download something) or otherwise not your "typical" link to another page on your site.

furthermore, keep your bodies of text justified and in small easy-to-digest paragraphs with a little more white space between lines using line-height, especially if the text is set to a small size by default

imo that will take care of the rest. we all know what typical "main" navigation looks like and don't need to have underlines to distinguish it from body links.

hope this helps.

[Robert_Charlton]

Underlined links look sloppy in sections filled with content. They look hideious.

I think it's important for usability to have the underlines, but there are ways of making underlined links in content sections look better. I tend toward the traditional blue, but I gray the blue down enough that it doesn't pop out.

Also, keep links and visited links in text the same color. Otherwise, they really can start looking hideous.

And never underline text that's not a link.