The problem is the sentence is out of context. What is the focus of the sentence? Is the preceding paragraph about obtaining the recording, or simply about how wonderful the recording is. Is it introducing a reader to something they might not have been familiar with in the first place? Why could there not be two separate links within the same sentence? The first linking to say wikipedia about Coltrane and the recording and the second to the sale, ie, John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' is on sale at iTunes for just $7.99. Likewise, in context, "just $7.99" might be the relevant part of the sentence and be the purpose of linking. If the context was regarding normal retail prices, and the reader was assumed to be familiar with the recording.

Certainly I didn't read through the comments, I only saw the initial post, but my aforementioned questions were why I didn't respond, and couldn't vote in this poll either.

The golden rule for linking is that it should make sense out of context. The reason being that many screen reader users will often choose to only list links on a page. This is why the much derided "click here" is so bad.

So the question is; what are you linking to? My assumption here would be that we are linking to a page on iTunes where you can buy a copy of "love Supreme". My other assumption is that the site I am on is not dedicated to John Coltrane but a more general topic. In that case I would say that the only text in that sentence that is not essential to give context would be "for just $7.99" so would link as:

John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' is on sale at iTunes for just $7.99.

Yet another option for you.

The golden rule for linking is that the golden rule for linking is not that the link should make sense out of context. This oft-repeated lie isn’t going to come true just because it is repeated often.

A link is an inline element found within a context. A link cannot simultaneously function with a context and devoid of it.

"A link cannot simultaneously function with a context and devoid of it."

I'd beg to differ, take a look at http://www.nhs.uk which is by no means perfect but you'll find that the vast majority of links do exactly that.

The thing to remember when linking is that your anchored text will wind up adding linkjuice for those combinations on the landing page. Do you want the price to be that, or the focus of page?

I would go with "John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme'" as it would be more appropriate.

I agree with Rexibit. It's the very subject matter that the article is talking about and so makes the most sense to link it. Google will love you for doing it too.

I read his original post as well and initiall voted D. However, after reading some of the responses I guess it's what result you are looking to get. For example, if it's SEO then A is the best option.

I read the post and voted D too. But everything depends of the purpose of linking. If it is for SEO - and probably it is - I would make a keyword research first and I will decide after that which one is the best. I chose D, because I suppose "on sale" brings a lot of searches.

The question should be what type of link would produce more clicks/sales? While everyone has their own opinion on what would be better I think the right answer is with the numbers.

I know that's not what you're asking but this would be a cool study if it was done in some objective way to learn how to link.
- G

"The question should be what type of link would produce more clicks/sales?"

Ahaa interesting. There was me looking at it from an accessibility/usability point of view.

I don't think the numbers "$7.99" would bring in as many google hits as "John Coltrane", or "A Love Supreme", as I assume people would be googling for the artist or album, not a price for anything. So I don't think the $7.99 is the best possible link. "For Sale" would be much better I would think for pure SEO, though I`m still inclined to go with "John Coltrane's A Love Supreme' as the link as it would be SEO-happy and also be indicative of the purpose of the link (to find out more about John Coltrane's album). Being available at whatever price from iTunes is important, but not as important as the source of the subject matter.