diff --git a/src/doc/src/reference/specifying-dependencies.md b/src/doc/src/reference/specifying-dependencies.md
index 1adfa6846..1bc246c8f 100644
--- a/src/doc/src/reference/specifying-dependencies.md
+++ b/src/doc/src/reference/specifying-dependencies.md
@@ -307,13 +307,11 @@ When cloning a `git` dependency,
 Cargo automatically fetches its submodules recursively
 so that all required code is available for the build.
 
-To skip updates for a specific submodule,
-Cargo respects the [`submodule.<name>.update`] setting in `.gitmodules`.
-Setting it to `none` disables updates for that submodule if it isn't needed for the build.
-This is usually set in the repository itself,
-so changes require access to the dependency's repo.
+To skip fetching submodules unrelated to the build,
+you can set [`submodule.<name>.update = none`][submodule-update] in the dependency repo's `.gitmodules`.
+This requires write access to the repo and will disable submodule updates more generally.
 
-[`submodule.<name>.update`]: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitmodules#Documentation/gitmodules.txt-submodulenameupdate
+[submodule-update]: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitmodules#Documentation/gitmodules.txt-submodulenameupdate
 
 ### Accessing private Git repositories