Create a Glow Effect on Hover for a Link Using CSS

Adding a glow effect to a link on hover using CSS can make it more visually appealing and interactive. This effect is commonly used for navigation menus, call-to-action buttons, and special links.

To get glow effect to a link on hover using CSS, you can use the text-shadow or box-shadow properties.

Below is a basic example using text-shadow to create a glowing text effect when hovering over a link:

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/* Apply a glow effect on hover */
a.glow-text {
  text-decoration: none;
  color: white;
  font-size: 20px;
  transition: text-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
}

a.glow-text:hover {
  text-shadow: 0 0 10px #ff00ff, 0 0 20px #ff00ff;
}

Examples

Example 1. Glowing Text Effect on Hover

In this example, the link glows in a purple color when hovered using the text-shadow property.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <style>
    a.glow-text {
      text-decoration: none;
      color: white;
      font-size: 20px;
      background-color: black;
      padding: 10px;
      display: inline-block;
      transition: text-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
    }

    a.glow-text:hover {
      text-shadow: 0 0 10px #ff00ff, 0 0 20px #ff00ff;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <p><a href="https://www.example.com" class="glow-text">Hover Over Me</a></p>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Example 2. Neon Glow Effect with Box Shadow

In this example, we apply a neon glow effect using box-shadow instead of text-shadow. This makes the entire link appear to glow like a button.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <style>
    a.glow-box {
      text-decoration: none;
      color: white;
      font-size: 18px;
      background-color: #222;
      padding: 10px 20px;
      display: inline-block;
      border-radius: 5px;
      transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
    }

    a.glow-box:hover {
      box-shadow: 0 0 15px #00ffcc, 0 0 30px #00ffcc;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <p><a href="https://www.example.com" class="glow-box">Neon Glow Link</a></p>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Example 3. Multi-Color Glow Animation

In this example, we create a glowing animation that cycles through different colors when hovering over the link.

index.html

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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <style>
    @keyframes glow {
      0% { text-shadow: 0 0 10px red, 0 0 20px red; }
      50% { text-shadow: 0 0 10px yellow, 0 0 20px yellow; }
      100% { text-shadow: 0 0 10px cyan, 0 0 20px cyan; }
    }

    a.glow-animate {
      text-decoration: none;
      color: white;
      font-size: 20px;
      background-color: black;
      padding: 10px;
      display: inline-block;
      transition: text-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
    }

    a.glow-animate:hover {
      animation: glow 1s infinite alternate;
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <p><a href="https://www.example.com" class="glow-animate">Animated Glow Link</a></p>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Conclusion

Adding a glow effect on hover using CSS makes links more interactive and visually appealing. You can use text-shadow for text glow, box-shadow for a button-like effect, or even animations for a dynamic glow.