How to fix link name on WooCommerce

Steps for WooCommerce

1. In the WordPress admin, go to Appearance → Theme File Editor (or use a child theme via FTP/SSH).
2. Open the template file containing the problematic link — common locations: header.php or inc/navigation.php for nav icons; woocommerce/loop/loop-start.php or archive-product.php for product card links; footer.php for social icons.
3. Add aria-label or a visually-hidden <span> to each unnamed link as shown in the code example above.
4. For the WooCommerce cart icon in the nav, many themes render it via a widget or shortcode — check Appearance → Widgets or Appearance → Customize → Header and look for a 'Cart Icon' option that may expose an alt/label field.
5. Install the free 'WP Accessibility' plugin (Accessibility → Settings) for automatic fixes to common unlabeled links (e.g. adding skip links and labelling icon-font navigation items).
6. Test with the axe DevTools browser extension after saving.

<a href="/collections/shoes" aria-label="Shop Women's Running Shoes">
  <!-- icon or image with no visible text -->
  <img src="shoes-banner.jpg" alt="">
</a>

<!-- OR: visually-hidden text technique -->
<a href="/pages/returns">
  <svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">…</svg>
  <span class="visually-hidden">View our return policy</span>
</a>

/* Visually-hidden utility class */
.visually-hidden {
  position: absolute;
  width: 1px;
  height: 1px;
  padding: 0;
  margin: -1px;
  overflow: hidden;
  clip: rect(0, 0, 0, 0);
  white-space: nowrap;
  border: 0;
}

What is link name?

Every hyperlink on a webpage must have a meaningful text label that screen readers can announce to blind or low-vision users. A link's accessible name can come from the visible text inside it, an image's alt text, an `aria-label` attribute, or an `aria-labelledby` reference. When a link contains only an icon, an image with no alt text, or an empty `<a>` tag, screen readers have nothing meaningful to say — they may just announce "link" or skip it entirely. WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.4 ("Link Purpose – In Context") requires that every link's purpose can be determined from its label alone or from its surrounding context.

Links without accessible names fail WCAG 2.4.4 (Level AA), which is the legal accessibility standard referenced in the ADA, Section 508 (US), EN 301 549 (EU), and similar laws worldwide — exposing your store to demand letters, complaints, and lawsuits that are increasingly common in ecommerce. Beyond legal risk, screen-reader users (estimated at 7–8 million in the US alone) simply cannot navigate your store's menus, product cards, or checkout links, costing you real customers and revenue. Search engines also use link anchor text as a ranking signal; unnamed links are dead weight that dilutes your internal linking strategy and can suppress category and product page rankings. Fixing this issue improves accessibility, SEO, and conversion simultaneously.

See the complete Link name guide for every platform and the full background.