What are links?

The term links stemmed from the word, hyperlink. Links are references to other documents or resources in a hypertext document.

There are two ends of a link, the source and the target.

The most common type of targets are URLs. These URLs are most often web pages, either on the same site, or on a different site. Other targets can include other resources such as a file, an image or a position on a web page.

How is a link created?

To create a link on a web page, we use HTML code that contains some or all of the following five main characteristics:

• a link destination (”href” pointing to a URL)
• a link label (the anchor text)
• a link title (the title of a link to specify more information about the link)
• a link target (where the link will open)
• a link class or link id (for CSS styles)

The link destination of a link is most often another web page, either on the same site or on a different site.

The link label, also known as the anchor text, is the visible part of a link on a web page. The link label can be a string of text or even an image.

The link title is an attribute of a link. It is a string of text that describes the link or more accurately, the link destination, in more detail.

The link target specifies which browser window the link will open in. Typical link targets are:

• target="_blank" to open a link in a new, blank window.
• target="_top" to open a link in the full body of a window. Most often used to break out of a deep frame nesting.
• target="_self" to open a link in the same window the link was in. Most often used to override a globally assigned base target.
• target="_parent" to open a link in the immediate frameset parent of a document.

The link class or id is used to identify the link. By specifying a link class or id, the style or look of a link can be altered using Cascading StyleSheets.

Links are created using the HTML anchor tag (<a>) with all or some of the above link characteristics.

Examples of links

An example of a generic link.

An example of a link to Link Tutorial’s homepage.

Which results in:

When you mouseover the the link label above, “Link Tutorial”, you will notice your browser’s status bar will display the link destination, “http://www.linktutorial.com”. Additionally, when the you hover the mouse cursor over the link labe, you will notice the link title pop up. In this case, the link title is “Link Tutorial homepage”. With a target of “_blank”, the above link will open and load the link destination a new browser window when clicked. The class and id of the link can be used to define the style or look of the link using Cascading StyleSheets

Why are links important?

Put simply: Links are the internet’s currency.

It started when Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a system of ranking web pages based on the number of incoming links and outgoing links on a web page. This system of ranking web pages was the basis of the Google search engine. The system proved to return search results that were far more useful and relevant to users. This basic system of ranking web pages was so successful that it’s now employed, in some way or another, in the other major search engines such as MSN and Yahoo! Search.

When “black-hat” search engine optimizers discovered that having more links to your web page increases the rankings in Google’s search results, they started to use spammy link techniques. Due to the large amount of spammy, artificially created links, the system has now developed into a far more complex system.

Further reading

For more detailed information about links and their history, see Wikipedia’s definition of a hyperlink.

Links are a way to “vote” for another web site and therefore increasing that web site’s popularity, often referred to as link popularity. Link popularity is a measure of the quality of a web site.

Links from other web sites to your web site will increase your link popularity. The more links to your web site, the better your link popularity and consequently search engine rankings.

Put simply, the more links to your web site => the more “votes” your web sites has => the more popular your web site => the higher your search engine rankings.

Link popularity is the basis of many search engine algorithms. The search engine Google was the first to use link popularity as a major factor to judge a web site’s quality and worth. It is now used by other major search engines such as Yahoo! and MSN.

Themed links, that is a link from the same theme or category as your own web site, is much more worthwhile than a link from an unrelated web site. For example, if you have a web site about shoes, a link from a web site about weight loss would not be as effective in increasing your link popularity as a link from another web site about shoes.

If you think of links as votes, it’s better to have a vote from within the same industry than a vote from another industry. Although it’s thought to be not completely worthless to have a link from an unrelated web site, it does less for your web site’s link popularity.

Themed links are important when you engage in link exchanges or when you buy text link ads. To get the maximum benefit from a link exchange or text link ad, it’s definitely better to look for web sites that are in the same themed as yours than unrelated sites.

Text links can increase link popularity more than image or banner links. This is because the text of the link, typically called the “anchor text”, influences the ranking and popularity of a web site.

For example, if the anchor text of a text link to your web site is “fun web site”, then your web site will be known as a “fun web site” and your ranking and link popularity for the search term “fun web site” would be increased.

Text links also have a higher click through rate (CTR). Click through rate is the average number of clicks per one hundred impressions, and is usually expressed as a percentage (%). For example, when a text link or banner is displayed 100 times to visitors of a web site, and 1 visitor clicks the text link or banner, the click through rate (CTR) would be 1% for that text link or banner.

Text links are said to have a higher click through rate because of the “banner blindness” of visitors. “Banner blindness” is a term used when a visitor skimming a web page does not see or notice banners. “Banner blindness” most likely occurred due to the overuse of banner ads.

Static HTML links are links that do not use redirection or javascript, just plain HTML. An example of a static HTML link is:

It’s important to be linked to by a static HTML links. This is because static HTML links are easily spidered by search engine robots.

The accessibility of your web site by search engine robots is important as it provides two main benefits;

1. It allows your web site to be indexed and updated frequently by search engines.
2. Your web site ranks better for your top keywords (or keyphrase) when you use them as the anchor text in a static HTML link.

Reciprocal links are links where you link to your partner’s web site and your partner links to your web site. Reciprocal links are also known as bilateral links. Reciprocal links are a very cost effective way to get links and visitors to your web site. Many webmasters engage in link exchanges for reciprocal links.

Reciprocal links are thought to be de-valued by search engines. It is much better to have non-reciprocal, or one way links, which can be achieved quickly with text link ads. Having said that, link exchanges for reciprocal links are still an important aspect in building your web site’s link popularity.

Reciprocal links between thematically similar sites can bring more targeted traffic to your sites. In addition, both websites’ weight with regards to search engine results can be increased as search engine algorithms are believed to give greater value to links from the topic-related sites rather than irrelevant backlinks.

One way links means that a web site links to your web site, but you don’t link back to that web site. One way links are also known as non-reciprocal links.

One way links are thought to be more valuable than reciprocal links in terms of boosting your web site’s link popularity, therefore the more one way links your web site has, the higher your web site’s link popularity.

One way links are thought to be more valuable as they appear to be a more “natural” way of linking between web sites. If you imagine that you find a great resource for you web site, you link to that resource, however, that resource web site doesn’t link back to you, most likely because they don’t know you’re linking to them.

Acquiring one way links are much more difficult than reciprocal links. It is possible to get one way links using “triangular” link exchanges, however this is often difficult and you would require at least 2 web sites to do so. “Triangular” link exchanges are when your web site A links to your partner’s web site, and your partner’s web site links to your web site B.

You can get free text links by having great content on your web site, and because of your great content, other webmasters would link to your web site for free as it is seen to be a great resource.

Text link exchanges are a great, cost effective way to get links to your web site. Links, in particular text links, to your web site will increase your web site’s link popularity, and consequently search engine rankings. Link exchanges are when you request from another webmaster a link to your web site, and in return, you link to their web site.

Link exchanges usually result in bilateral or reciprocal links, however, it is possible to get a one way link to your web site by a link exchange. This is often very difficult and you would need at least 2 web sites to participate in non-reciprocal or one way link exchange.

Buying text links is a common practice in internet businesses to get links to a web sites. Buying text links involves the exchange of money for a text link on a web site. It’s can be viewed as an advertisement for your web site in text form, making it a text link advertisement, or text link ad.

Buying text links is the quickest way to get relevant links to your web site. It’s possible to boost your web site’s business, link popularity and search engine rankings in 3 months or less when buying text links.

There are several ways to purchase text links. Each method of text links purchasing has its advantages and disadvantages. You can buy text links:

1. from brokerages
2. from text link auction sites
3. directly from the web site hosting the text link ads