"on the link," "in the link," or "at the link"?

Which is the correct usage:

  1. Follow the instructions on the link mentioned above.
  2. Follow the instructions in the link mentioned above.
  3. Follow the instructions at the link mentioned above.

Solution 1:

Ok, prepare to be dazzled: When there's a single link, it's better to use "at the link above" because, exactly there, you'll find what you are looking for.

When there are multiple links and some might contain what you are looking for, maybe using "(with)in the links above" is a better choice. It's less specific than the previous case.

However, if you can find what you are looking for at any of the links, I'd use AT again since "you can find what you are looking for at (any of) these links."

TL;DR: I think it's all about how specific you want to be: you can't actually find anything within the link itself (OK, maybe some code, but we're abstracting some things here). You can find it at the link (at the address, as a pointer to something) or within the bunch of links (within those addresses, those pointers)...

At least my 5 cents.

Solution 2:

From the software point of view, a link is a program within which there are algorithmic routines to process entries made by the user. The instructions to the user about how to make the entries are not visible on the link, which is normally appears as something like this example: Which is the better usage of the following phrase? The instructions are revealed by the internal routines when the link is activated (or "opened" to reveal the instructions).

From this perspective I prefer "Follow the instructions in the link mentioned above."