Skip links point to nothing
Automated check skip-link, run with axe-core
- WCAG
- Best practice: a recommendation, not a WCAG success criterion
- Severity
- Moderate: a degraded experience
- Typical effort
- Quick win, under 1 hour
- Category
- Keyboard
Who this affects
Keyboard-only users.
Why it matters
A "Skip to content" link whose target does not exist, or cannot receive focus, leaves the user exactly where they started.
How to fix it
Point the skip link at the id of your <main> element, and make sure that element exists on every page.
Check your own website
The free scan tests 3 pages against WCAG 2.2 A and AA in about 30 seconds. No sign-up.
Related checks: Keyboard
- Duplicate access keys
- Hidden elements can still receive keyboard focus
- Elements with role="text" contain focusable content
- No way to skip repeated navigation
- Focusable elements have no suitable role
- Frames with interactive content cannot be reached by keyboard
- Scrollable areas cannot be reached by keyboard
- Positive tabindex values disrupt focus order