diff --git a/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/edit.js b/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/edit.js
index d0551ca331a06e..3c567d2fe2ce75 100644
--- a/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/edit.js
+++ b/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/edit.js
@@ -14,11 +14,10 @@ import {
 	TextControl,
 	TextareaControl,
 	ToolbarButton,
-	Tooltip,
 	ToolbarGroup,
 } from '@wordpress/components';
 import { displayShortcut, isKeyboardEvent } from '@wordpress/keycodes';
-import { __ } from '@wordpress/i18n';
+import { __, sprintf } from '@wordpress/i18n';
 import {
 	BlockControls,
 	InspectorControls,
@@ -490,10 +489,6 @@ export default function NavigationLinkEdit( {
 	const placeholderText = `(${
 		isInvalid ? __( 'Invalid' ) : __( 'Draft' )
 	})`;
-	const tooltipText =
-		isInvalid || isDraft
-			? __( 'This item has been deleted, or is a draft' )
-			: __( 'This item is missing a link' );
 
 	return (
 		<>
@@ -579,27 +574,38 @@ export default function NavigationLinkEdit( {
 							{ ( isInvalid ||
 								isDraft ||
 								isLabelFieldFocused ) && (
-								<div className="wp-block-navigation-link__placeholder-text wp-block-navigation-link__label">
-									<Tooltip text={ tooltipText }>
-										<span
-											aria-label={ __(
-												'Navigation link text'
-											) }
-										>
-											{
-												// Some attributes are stored in an escaped form. It's a legacy issue.
-												// Ideally they would be stored in a raw, unescaped form.
-												// Unescape is used here to "recover" the escaped characters
-												// so they display without encoding.
-												// See `updateAttributes` for more details.
-												`${ decodeEntities( label ) } ${
-													isInvalid || isDraft
-														? placeholderText
-														: ''
-												}`.trim()
-											}
-										</span>
-									</Tooltip>
+								<div
+									className={ clsx(
+										'wp-block-navigation-link__placeholder-text',
+										'wp-block-navigation-link__label',
+										{
+											'is-invalid': isInvalid,
+											'is-draft': isDraft,
+										}
+									) }
+								>
+									<span
+										aria-label={ sprintf(
+											/* translators: %s: link status (Invalid or Draft) */
+											__( 'Navigation link text - %s' ),
+											isInvalid
+												? __( 'Invalid' )
+												: __( 'Draft' )
+										) }
+									>
+										{
+											// Some attributes are stored in an escaped form. It's a legacy issue.
+											// Ideally they would be stored in a raw, unescaped form.
+											// Unescape is used here to "recover" the escaped characters
+											// so they display without encoding.
+											// See `updateAttributes` for more details.
+											`${ decodeEntities( label ) } ${
+												isInvalid || isDraft
+													? placeholderText
+													: ''
+											}`.trim()
+										}
+									</span>
 								</div>
 							) }
 						</>
diff --git a/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/editor.scss b/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/editor.scss
index 4fa94eeaaa80f5..761f04a9e77ba0 100644
--- a/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/editor.scss
+++ b/packages/block-library/src/navigation-link/editor.scss
@@ -61,6 +61,16 @@
 		margin-bottom: $grid-unit-20;
 		margin-left: $grid-unit-20;
 	}
+
+	.wp-block-navigation-link__placeholder-text {
+		&.is-invalid {
+			--wp-underline-color: var(--wp--preset--color--vivid-red);
+		}
+
+		&.is-draft {
+			--wp-underline-color: var(--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber);
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 .wp-block-navigation-link__invalid-item {