Link Purpose (In Context)
The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined context, except where the link's purpose would be ambiguous to users in general.
In plain language
Someone should be able to tell what a link does just from its text, or from its text plus the sentence or paragraph around it — not from color or position alone.
Why it matters
Screen reader users often browse a list of all links on a page, sometimes without the surrounding text. A vague link like "click here" gives them no clue where it leads, forcing them to hunt around for context that may not even be available to them.
In practice
Fails this criterion
A page has several "Click here" links scattered around with no distinguishing text, and screen reader users pulling up a list of links just hear "click here, click here, click here."
Meets this criterion
A news article ends with a "Read more" link, and because it's inside the same paragraph as the article's topic, a screen reader can announce the surrounding text together with the link, making its destination clear.
Test it yourself
Pull up a list of all links on a page (many screen readers and browser tools can do this) and read just the link text. Can you tell where each one goes? If several links say the same vague thing with no distinguishing context, this criterion is failing.