diff --git a/src/validate/html/a11y.ts b/src/validate/html/a11y.ts
index 70beea0ac3..359b575670 100644
--- a/src/validate/html/a11y.ts
+++ b/src/validate/html/a11y.ts
@@ -21,10 +21,18 @@ export default function a11y(
 	});
 
 	if (node.name === 'a') {
-		if (!attributeMap.has('href')) {
+		// anchor-is-valid
+		const href = attributeMap.get('href');
+		if (href) {
+			const value = getValue(href);
+			if (value === '' || value === '#') {
+				validator.warn(`A11y: '${value}' is not a valid href attribute`, href.start);
+			}
+		} else {
 			validator.warn(`A11y: <a> element should have an href attribute`, node.start);
 		}
 
+		// anchor-has-content
 		if (!node.children.length) {
 			validator.warn(`A11y: <a> element should have child content`, node.start);
 		}
@@ -47,4 +55,11 @@ export default function a11y(
 			}
 		}
 	}
+}
+
+function getValue(attribute: Node) {
+	if (attribute.value.length === 0) return '';
+	if (attribute.value.length === 1 && attribute.value[0].type === 'Text') return attribute.value[0].data;
+
+	return null;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/input.html b/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/input.html
deleted file mode 100644
index f7ebe13def..0000000000
--- a/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/input.html
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-<a>not actually a link</a>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/warnings.json b/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/warnings.json
deleted file mode 100644
index bf5f650ba5..0000000000
--- a/test/validator/samples/a11y-a-without-href/warnings.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-[{
-	"message": "A11y: <a> element should have an href attribute",
-	"loc": {
-		"line": 1,
-		"column": 0
-	},
-	"pos": 0
-}]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/input.html b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/input.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7b14a80c9f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/input.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<a>not actually a link</a>
+<a href=''>invalid</a>
+<a href='#'>invalid</a>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/warnings.json b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/warnings.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c63418f1bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validator/samples/a11y-anchor-is-valid/warnings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+[
+	{
+		"message": "A11y: <a> element should have an href attribute",
+		"loc": {
+			"line": 1,
+			"column": 0
+		},
+		"pos": 0
+	},
+	{
+		"message": "A11y: '' is not a valid href attribute",
+		"loc": {
+			"line": 2,
+			"column": 3
+		},
+		"pos": 30
+	},
+	{
+		"message": "A11y: '#' is not a valid href attribute",
+		"loc": {
+			"line": 3,
+			"column": 3
+		},
+		"pos": 53
+	}
+]