Back Issues of Historic England Research | Historic England

Contact our Press Office | Historic England

Privacy Policy: About Us | Historic England

Education | Historic England

Search the List: Map Search | Historic England

Careers and Roles at Historic England | Historic England

Inclusive Heritage Advice Hub | Historic England

Better Places Partnership | Historic England

The Historic England Commission | Historic England

Designating and Managing a Conservation Area | Historic England

Two adjacent links should not point to the same destination. You almost always want to combine the 
two links.

For example, it is quite common to link an image and text together like this:

```html
<a href="news.html">
    <img src="photo.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
<a href="news.html">
    News
</a>
``` 

These adjacent links should be combined like so:

```html
<a href="news.html">
    <img src="photo.jpg" alt="" />
    News
</a>
``` 

Links to `#` are ignored, as these are nearly always placeholders for JavaScript, e.g.:

```html
<a href="#" onclick="approve()">
    OK
</a>
<a href="#" onclick="reject()">
    Cancel
</a>
```

# Justification

Many users of assistive technology are only able to experience content sequentially - that is, they must
step through each part of the page, one part at a time. Often this is a slow process, potentially 
hampered by a physical impediment.

Stepping through redundant links is time consuming; for example users of a screen reader must 
hear each link read aloud in turn. 

This also simplifies your code. 

# Methodology

1. Find all links (`<a>` tags) on the page.
2. Ignore links pointing to `#`, as these are usually placeholders for JavaScript.
3. Flag links which are (a) separated only by whitespace and (b) which point to the 
   same absolute URL.  

# Learn more

Read about [Technique H2](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H2) on how to combine
an adjacent image and texts links.

duplicate-adjacent-link

July 2025

June 2025

Historic England

Title / URL	Issues
Back Issues of Historic England Research \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/whats-new/research/back-issues/	1
Contact our Press Office \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/about/contact-us/press/	1
Privacy Policy: About Us \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/terms/privacy/about-us/	1
Education \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/education/	1
Search the List: Map Search \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/map-search/	1
Careers and Roles at Historic England \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/about/jobs/opportunities/	1
Inclusive Heritage Advice Hub \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/advice/inclusion/	1
Better Places Partnership \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/advice/better-places-partnership/	1
The Historic England Commission \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/about/who-we-are/commission/	1
Designating and Managing a Conservation Area \| Historic Englandhistoricengland.org.uk/advice/planning/conservation-areas/	1

Combine adjacent links with the same destination

Historic England

Where this issue has occurred