• Write descriptive link text — 'read the full guide' is more useful to readers than 'click here'.
• Use reference-style links when the same URL appears multiple times, or when a long URL would clutter the prose.

Link Titles

An optional title can be added in double quotes after the URL. It appears as a tooltip on hover in most browsers:

[About us](https://example.com/about "Learn more about the team")

Reference-Style Links

A reference-style link separates the URL into a labelled definition, placed anywhere in the document (typically at the bottom). This serves two distinct purposes.

Making a URL reusable — define one URL under a label and point to it from multiple places in the document, each with its own display text:

The [guesthouse][bruges-stay] was wonderful, and I have already recommended it to [a friend][bruges-stay].

[bruges-stay]: https://example.com/guesthouse "The Old Lace House, Bruges"

Only the URL definition needs updating if the link ever changes — all references update automatically.

Making a label reusable as link text — when the display text matches the label exactly, you can use the implicit shortcut form [Label][] or simply [Label]. The label becomes both the display text and the reference:

For baking advice I rely on [Lemon Drizzle Kitchen][] — their guides are clear and well-tested.

I have recommended [Lemon Drizzle Kitchen][] to everyone I know.

[Lemon Drizzle Kitchen]: https://example.com/lemon-drizzle-kitchen

The definition can appear anywhere in the document — typically collected at the bottom.

URI Schemes

Markdown passes the URL portion of a link through to the output unchanged, so any valid URI scheme works — not just https://. Common schemes authors use:

The important caveat is that the browser or operating system — not Markdown — decides what to do with a scheme. mailto: is well supported across all platforms. tel: and sms: work reliably on phones and tablets but typically do nothing useful on a desktop browser, so they are most appropriate for pages aimed at mobile readers.

Anchor Links

A link whose URL begins with # scrolls to a specific point on the same page rather than navigating away. The target is a heading or other element with a matching id attribute.

Most Markdown renderers automatically generate an id for every heading by lowercasing the text and replacing spaces with hyphens:

## Getting Started

Becomes an anchor with the id getting-started, which you can link to from anywhere on the same page:

[Jump to Getting Started](#getting-started)

For headings with punctuation, the generated id typically strips the punctuation. The exact rules vary slightly by renderer, so check the output in your target platform if a link does not scroll as expected.

Anchor links can also point to a heading on a different page by combining a relative path with the anchor:

[See the notes on emphasis](../02.emphasis/doc.md#combining-with-strong)

Autolinks

For bare URLs that should become clickable links without separate link text, see the Autolink page.