methodology / Email & Communications / #84
Mailto: direct contact link present
#84 · Recommended · Web Quality · weighted · Email & Communications · weight 0.3% · impl implemented · method v1.2.0
Web Quality factor
This factor is part of Web Quality — the weighted 0..100 score that sits above Web Standards. Its weight depends on what kind of site is being measured. Web Standards items take priority; this factor only enters the score once Web Standards passes.
- Base weight
- 0.5 applied to every site type unless overridden below
- Why this weight
- mailto: link — most direct contact channel; civic-style for institutions.
Per-site-type overrides
| Site type | Weight | Δ vs base |
|---|---|---|
| Personal site | 0.4 | -0.1 |
| Education | 0.7 | +0.2 |
| Government | 0.8 | +0.3 |
| Nonprofit | 0.7 | +0.2 |
Site types not listed inherit the base weight.
What this means for your business
On a phone, tapping an email address should open the mail app with everything pre-filled. When it's just text someone has to copy and paste, half of them give up.
Plain title: A clickable email link on your site
What we measure
A clickable email link makes it instant for prospects to reach out. Even with a contact form, a mailto: link captures the visitor who'd rather hop straight to their email client.
How to improve your score
Add a `<a href="mailto:hello@yourdomain.com">` somewhere visible — footer is fine.
Facts
Implementation notes
Detect mailto: anchors, classify destination domain (own vs free).
Scoring
Scoring formulas are versioned with the methodology. The current method (v1.2.0) maps raw measurements to pass, warn, fail. Factor weights determine how much each contributes to the composite — see the methodology index for the full table.
Version history
| Version | Change | Date |
|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | Factor introduced. Status: live. Scoring impl: implemented. | 2026-04-25 |