Mailto Links

## Why it matters

Mailto links don't pass link equity or affect crawl discovery. Don't waste time optimising them for SEO; focus instead on making them work across devices. A well-formed mailto link lets your visitor launch their email client directly, which beats asking them to manually type an address. On mobile, it's a quick win for user experience.

The one technical trap is over-encoding or malformed syntax; a broken mailto won't open anything on some clients, leaving the user stuck.

## How it works

A mailto link follows the syntax defined in RFC 6068. The href begins with mailto: followed by the email address. Additional parameters like subject and body can be added with query string syntax:

<a href="mailto:contact@example.com">Send us an email</a>

<!-- With subject and body -->
<a href="mailto:contact@example.com?subject=Hello&body=I%20have%20a%20question">Contact us</a>
Copy

The browser and operating system determine which email client opens. Spaces and special characters must be URL-encoded. Most mailto parameters work on desktop but may be ignored on mobile depending on the email client.

## What does not matter

Mailto links carry zero ranking weight; Google doesn't crawl or follow them. If you need search engines to discover your contact address, use Organization schema with contactPoint instead. The email address in a meta tag will actually be machine-readable.

The quantity doesn't matter either. One mailto link or fifty, your SEO score doesn't move.

## Code example

A properly formatted contact link with encoded special characters:

<a href="mailto:support@example.com?subject=Website%20Support&body=Please%20describe%20your%20issue%20here">
  Contact Support
</a>
Copy

A common mistake is forgetting to URL-encode the subject or body:

<!-- Poor: spaces and ampersands not encoded -->
<a href="mailto:test@example.com?subject=Hello World&body=Test & Demo">
  Email us
</a>

<!-- Better: spaces as %20, ampersands as %26 -->
<a href="mailto:test@example.com?subject=Hello%20World&body=Test%20%26%20Demo">
  Email us
</a>
Copy

## How Scalpel shows it

Scalpel SEO counts mailto links as a separate category in the Links panel, distinguishing them from crawlable page-to-page links. It validates mailto syntax and flags malformed addresses that could break on mobile clients.

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## Accessibility note

For maximum accessibility, ensure the visible link text makes clear that clicking opens an email client. A hidden or unclear link text confuses screen reader users who may not have an email client configured. Pairing the mailto link with a contact form as a fallback improves user experience for all visitors.