Q:

Is there a preferred way to format links?

I was wondering if there is a preferred way to include links in posts.
Sometimes you see something like 'See this link here' and other times you'll see something like 'See this link http://stackoverflow.com'.
Personally, I prefer the second case. You can see immediately where the link will take you. I realise, of course, that some links can be very long and would not add much to the readability of the post. Perhaps in such cases a link should be shown like this: 'See this link at StackOverflow'

A:

"Click here" as link text has been frowned upon for as long as the web has existed.
The optimal hyperlink label, of course, is one that actually describes its destination, or at least consists of its name/title. Again, this is industry best practices and is not limited to Stack Overflow.
The one thing I have to note, for editors, is that when you see a link in a post that's just a bare URL, especially if that URL has a descriptive slug (for example, is-there-a-preferred-way-to-format-links), if you want to give that bare URL a label please give it a descriptive one. Don't just change it to "here". A descriptive bare URL is better than a nondescriptive link label.

