Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

A hyperlink is an electronic link that provides direct access from one location to another. This can be within the same document or between documents. 

A permalink is a hyperlink that can be expected to remain unchanged overtime, as long as the document remains available. 

Hyperlinks often read as series of letters, numbers and symbols, which makes them unintelligible to the reader. For a hyperlink or permalink to be accessible, it is best to use clear descriptive text to replace the original series of letters, numbers and symbols, so that the hyperlink becomes intelligible to human-beings.