Quick answer
Every link needs an understandable accessible name and useful context. NOTABIS reports empty-link-text when an anchor has no trimmed visible text and no aria-label in the measured HTML. It is a medium-severity accessibility and navigation review; the current check does not calculate names from image alt text, aria-labelledby, or other attributes.
What the issue means
A text link is usually the clearest option:
<a href="/pricing">See pricing</a>
An icon-only link can have an explicit name:
<a href="/search" aria-label="Search"><svg aria-hidden="true">…</svg></a>
Whitespace, an empty element, or an icon with no accessible name leaves users and crawlers without a clear description of the destination. An image-only anchor may be accessible through its image alt, but NOTABIS’s current heuristic does not inspect that alt text and may still flag it.
Why it matters for SEO
Descriptive link text helps people understand where a link leads and helps search systems interpret relationships between pages. It is not a keyword insertion opportunity, and a link-label finding does not prove a ranking loss. Fix links that are genuinely ambiguous, especially navigation and calls to action, while preserving concise labels.
How NOTABIS detects it
For each <a> element in the measured HTML, NOTABIS checks trimmed text content and the aria-label attribute. It records empty-link-text when both are empty. The check is page-scoped and does not resolve accessible names from aria-labelledby, title, image alt, SVG metadata, or CSS-generated content. It also does not judge whether the wording is descriptive.
How to check it yourself
Find the affected anchors in the DOM and accessibility tree. Activate them with a keyboard, check their spoken name, and inspect image and SVG alternatives. Search the source template for empty <a> elements, icon components, and conditional labels that disappear at one breakpoint.
How to fix it
Add concise visible text when the link is part of normal content. For an icon-only control, add an accurate aria-label and hide decorative SVG paths from assistive technology. Use image alt text for meaningful linked images, then recheck the page with an accessibility inspector because NOTABIS may still report an image-only anchor under this heuristic.
<a href="/account" aria-label="Open your account">
<svg aria-hidden="true" viewBox="0 0 24 24">…</svg>
</a>
Do not fill every link with repeated keywords or generic “click here” text. Keep the label accurate when the destination changes.
When this is intentional or does not need fixing
An anchor used only as a script hook is usually better replaced with a button, not given a fake URL or label. A decorative image that is not a link needs no link name. Third-party widgets can require vendor changes; confirm the control’s actual accessible name before changing application code.
Related issues
Compare broken internal links, weak internal linking, and missing image alt text. Google’s developer guidance recommends that referring links include relevant text or an appropriate image alternative.
Run a NOTABIS audit
NOTABIS identifies anchors that match its empty-text-and-label heuristic so you can inspect their rendered names and navigation purpose.