:link CSS pseudo-class

Try it

p {
  font-weight: bold;
}

a:link {
  color: forestgreen;
  text-decoration-color: hotpink;
}

<p>Pages that you might have visited:</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="../../../../../../index.html">MDN Web Docs</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a>
  </li>
</ul>
<p>Pages unlikely to be in your history:</p>
<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="../../../../../../missing-2.html">Random MDN page</a>
  </li>
  <li>
    <a href="https://example.com/missing-2">Random Example page</a>
  </li>
</ul>

Styles defined by the :link and :visited pseudo-classes can be overridden by any subsequent user-action pseudo-classes (:hover or :active) that have at least equal specificity. To style links appropriately, put the :link rule before all other link-related rules, as defined by the LVHA-order: :link — :visited — :hover — :active. The :visited pseudo-class and :link pseudo-class are mutually exclusive.

Syntax

:link {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

By default, most browsers apply a special color value to visited links. Thus, the links in this example will probably have special font colors only before you visit them. (After that, you'll need to clear your browser history to see them again.) However, the background-color values are likely to remain, as most browsers do not set that property on visited links by default.

HTML

<a href="#ordinary-target">This is an ordinary link.</a><br />
<a href="">You've already visited this link.</a><br />
<a>Placeholder link (won't get styled)</a>

CSS

a:link {
  background-color: gold;
  color: green;
}

Result

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Link-related pseudo-classes: :visited, :hover, :active