Yes you can. But in typical Illustrator fashion, the interface for the whole thing is utterly ridiculous.

The resulting PDF is here. Open it and you'll find that the URL is just text (not an image) and is a functioning hyperlink.

1. Select a text object that contains a URL.
2. Object>Slice>Make.
3. Object>Slice>SliceOptions.
4. Slice Type: HTML Text. Turn on the Text is HTML checkbox. Note that the "Text Displayed in Cell" is not, in fact, the text displayed in the cell, but HTML code. Note that you can't edit the code.

If you must do this kind of thing in Illustrator, look up Slices in the online Help for more info.

If, as you say, you're not a web-head, but you want to see how easy building a perfectly sensible simple web page in a drawing program can be, download a demo of Xara Xtreme 5 Pro and try it out for a few days.

JET

Actually, I just found a slightly easier way.

Write out the URL, and highlight it. Then, in the Attributes panel choose <Image Map: Rectangle>. In the <URL> field retype your URL. When you save the document as a PDF, the written URL will then be clickable.

I'm guessing this is too late for you, but maybe it will come up for the next person.

This is a bit late, but I have found another way to attach urls to items in Illustrator (CS5).

1. Open the 'Attributes' tool panel CTRL+F11 or Windows >  Attributes
2. Select the item you want to add a url to
3. Select either polygon or rectangle from the 'image map' drop down
4. Type a url in the box below

You can test the link by clicking on the 'browser' button

I love how, in true Illustrator fashion, there are 12 different ways to accomplish the same end effect.

(note: this is obviously an exaggeration, there actaully 300+ ways to do the same thing in Illustrator)

And yet, it does not work for me with hyperlinked images on a Mac. The resulting PDF, when opened with Adobe Reader or Acrobat, contains no hyperlinks; however, if I open the PDF with Illustrator, the links are still there. So, the resulting PDF file contains the hyperlink information, but does not make it accessible to Reader or Acrobat.

How can Adobe possibly create software with such a flawed, incompatible feature?

JETAlmage - great info thanks, helped alot. If you want to hyperlink a logo or an image,which illustrator doesnt allow you to do, you can do this: Place the image where you want it, lock it down. Write the URL to the page you want in a font just large enough to cover the image, if its too wide and not tall enough, make a couple lines of the same URL. Then, do what JETalmage says to do (below), then make the font 0-1% opaqe over the image (it wasnt working for me on 0% opageness.

1. Select a text object that contains a URL.
2. Object>Slice>Make.
3. Object>Slice>SliceOptions.
4. Slice Type: HTML Text. Turn on the Text is HTML checkbox. Note that the "Text Displayed in Cell" is not, in fact, the text displayed in the cell, but HTML code. Note that you can't edit the code.

I have a PDF that I created and hyperlinked in Illustrator CS6 that is online HERE.

You DO NOT have to to anything special to create hyperlinks in a PDF made in Illustrator. Simply type out the URL the way you would in an internet browser (www.site.com) and when you save as a PDF a hyperlink will automatically be generated in the file.

Try it, type a random URL in an Illustrator file and save as a PDF (I always use the [Smallest File Size] preset), when you view that PDF in a browser, the URL will be clickable.

If you want to link icons/images/random words, simply make a text layer containing the desired URL, resize it to fit overtop of the area you want to be clickable, make it transparent so you can't see it, and save as a PDF. One thing you need to be cautious of when doing this is to make sure your URL is all on one line. If you make a text box, random hyphens- will appear in the address wherever the URL broke to wrap.

Example:

www.thisisaverylongURL.com

Illustrator text box:

www.thisisaver-

ylongURL.com

Renders this link in the PDF:

www.thisisaver-ylongURL.com

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I know this post is forever old, but it took me a while to discover how stupid easy this task really is, so I thought I'd share.