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To make your emails stand out from the 306 billion emails people send and receive every day, you should ensure they look neat and clean. 

But then, how do I include the URL I want the recipients to visit? Using hyperlinks. 

Hyperlinks let you avoid the messy look of a URL. Instead of https://www.hubspot.com/, the email recipients see HubSpot.

A hyperlink is basically anchor text that leads users to another location when clicked or tapped. This location could be a document or webpage.  

Here’s how to make a hyperlink in Gmail. 

1. Sign in to Gmail on your preferred web browser and click Compose. 
2. Start composing your email. 
3. Locate the URL you want to hyperlink and copy it.
4. Highlight the portion of text in your email body you wish to add a hyperlink to.
5. Click Insert link.
6. Paste your URL in the field to the right of Web address and click OK. 

That’s it. You’ve added a hyperlink to your email. But, if that’s unclear, read on. 

Table of contents

How to hyperlink in Gmail on your desktop or laptop (all steps with pictures)


  1. Open Gmail on your web browser (Windows, Mac, or another operating system) and click Compose. 

    How to hyperlink in Gmail — Screenshot showing an arrow pointing to the “Compose” button.
  2. Start drafting your email. 

    Screenshot of an email draft.
  3. Locate the URL you want to hyperlink to and select it. After right-clicking your mouse while hovering over the selected text, click Copy. The keyboard shortcut for copying is Ctrl + C on a Windows machine and ⌘ + C on a Mac.

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to “Copy.”
  4. Return to your email draft and highlight the text you want to attach a hyperlink to. This text is called the anchor text. 

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to highlighted anchor text.
  5. Click the Insert link icon. It’s located between the paperclip (“Attach files”) icon and the emoji icon. You can also use the Ctrl + K on Windows or ⌘ + K on Mac to insert link.

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to the “Insert link” icon.
  6. Paste your link in the box to the right of Web address and click OK.

 

How to hyperlink in Gmail — Screenshot with arrows pointing to the “Web address” field and “OK” icon.

And it’s all done — the blue underlined anchor text shows that the hyperlink is good to go. 

Screenshot with an arrow pointing to anchor text.

How to add a hyperlink in Gmail on an iPhone or Android phone 

You might be surprised to learn that the Gmail app for iPhone and Android has no hyperlink button. 

But there’s a fairly straightforward workaround that’ll have you hyperlinking on your phone in no time. 

  1. Open the Gmail app on your phone and start composing your email. Now, instead of typing your anchor text (i.e., “website” in this example), type or paste the URL (www.hubspot.com) you want to hyperlink to. Place this URL where you want the hyperlink to appear.

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to a URL for hyperlinking.

    You’ll notice that this link isn’t live. Don’t worry. We’ll get to that.
  2. Save your email as a draft. In the Gmail app, you can do this by tapping ←, closing your composed email, or exiting the Gmail app. Whatever you do, Gmail will automatically save the email you are composing in your Draft folder.  

    Go to the main screen of your Gmail app and tap ☰ in the top-left corner.

    Screenshot showing an arrow pointing to an icon with three horizontal lines.
  3. Navigate to Drafts.

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to “Drafts.”
  4. Find your draft email and tap it to open.

    Screenshot showing a “Draft” folder with an arrow pointing to a draft email.
  5. Once you’ve opened your draft email, you’ll see that the link is now live (blue and underlined). You can tap the link to make sure it works.

    Screenshot of an email draft with an arrow pointing to a live link.

  6. Type the anchor text (“website” in this example) for your hyperlink anywhere inside the live link text.

    Screenshot with an arrow pointing to the word “website.”

  7. Delete all the blue underlined characters except for the anchor text you want.

How to add hyperlink in Gmail on iPhone — Screenshot with an arrow pointing to anchor text after unnecessary characters are deleted.

Success — you’ve now added a hyperlink in the Gmail app for Android or iPhone. If you’re using Apple’s proprietary Mail app on your iPhone, this nifty trick for hyperlinking works there, too.

 

Final thoughts: How to hyperlink in Gmail

You’ve learned how to make a hyperlink in Gmail on your web browser and a workaround for creating a hyperlink within the Gmail app. 

With the links in your email now looking clean and professional, you can get to work on sprucing up the rest of your email.
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Do you have a bare-bones email signature or none at all? Consider using HubSpot’s email signature generator to quickly create an elegant email signature and stand out from the crowd.