Compelling copy and careful labelling of links play a vital role in directing users towards performing the right action.  There are also times when, particularly on marketing sites, encouraging users to perform a particular action out weights the understandability of the links.  However, even in these cases there is no reason the call to action could not be both descriptive and actionable e.g. ‘click to buy’ rather than ‘click here’. 

In the article he highlights a study by Marketing Sherpa he felt supported his point of view.  However, this study compared click through rates for three terms (‘click to continue’, ‘continue to article’ and ‘read more’) none of which describe the content the link goes to.  Also just because the user clicked on a link doesn’t mean that they were taken where they expected to be or didn’t immediately select the back button.  This highlights why it is so important to be careful of any user research, questioning whether it applies in your particular case, looking at the method used and whether other interpretations for the findings apply.

The article also addresses the arguement that ‘click here’ wastes anchor text that could contain terms designed to boost search engine ranking.  Quite rightly Brian  rejects search engine optimization over the experience on the page.  However, when search engine optimization will lead to more understandable links that describe what they link to the arguement can’t be easily dismissed.

In answer to the question posed by the article ‘does telling some one to click here actually matter’.  The answer has to be yes.  Actionable links may encourage users to select that link but it doesn’t mean they will go where they want to.  Labelling something ‘click here’ tells the user nothing about the result of their action because ultimately any link could be labelled click here.  However, this does not mean actionable phrases can not be included in descriptive links or that the label affects link performance. 

One of the advantages of usecases is that they detail the exceptions to the normal flow.  this is something that sometimes is missed when creating wireframes and results in the developer having to decide what to do as they come across issues.

The only issue I can see with this suggestion is that some times use cases can use multiple screens.  In these instances I would suggest integrating the use case with a flow diagram and linking from the diagram to the appropriate pages.