We constantly encounter the link on the Internet, as it can be used to refer to further content. At the same time, it was also one of the elements that enabled the Internet to become so established.
What is a link?
The term “link” is an abbreviation of the word “hyperlink”. It can be used to link websites or documents such as a PDF. However, the link is often also used as a cross-reference, for example to link to a source.
What does the link mean for the Internet?
Hyperlinks are extremely important for the Internet. If there were no links, the web pages would be isolated and there would be no way to refer to a further document, for example. The user would have to enter the URL manually in the browser search bar. Links are therefore an element that is indispensable on the Internet and for which there will probably never be an alternative. Especially as all processes are based on a link: Google’s algorithm, for example, uses backlinks to assess how popular or recommendable a website is. Before there were search engines, link lists were used. These were web catalogs in which websites were listed alphabetically by topic. These web catalogs (also known as link directories) still exist today, but are hardly used anymore. Search engines have prevailed.
How is a link structured?
A link always has the same structure, as they are all written using the HTML markup language. This usually looks like this: <a href=”https://seo-galaxy.com/>SEO Galaxy</a>, this would automatically be a so-called DoFollow link. The website in the quotation marks can be changed as desired and then the link text can be changed. If the HTML code is now set, this results in the frontend: SEO Galaxy. However, it would also be possible to link an image in this way. If a visitor clicks on the image (also as an advertising banner), they would be forwarded to the link in this case. However, a link cannot only be marked as DoFollow, as this is merely the automatically set attribute for this. It is possible for “nofollow” or “sponsored” to be used, which is done via the rel=”nofollow” addition.
Webmaster: Outgoing links
In the SEO industry, outbound links are referred to as links. These are used to refer to a referring page. This is an important signal for Google, as a link is to be understood as a recommendation. The outbound links (which can be displayed using SEO tools) also indicate whether a website is dubious. If it is increasingly linking to Wikipedia or dubious sites, then it is more likely to be a dubious operator.
There are rules regarding links
There are also rules for linking so that certain systems and principles continue to work. These rules are based on the previous approach, which means in plain language:
- Only link if the link offers the user added value or provides a reference.
- Use the NoFollow link attribute if the link should not be “counted”, for example for forum entries, blog comments and similar.
- Keep the ratio between content and links in a natural range.
Webmaster: Backlinks
In the SEO industry, backlinks are all links that refer to a website to be optimized, whereby the total number of backlinks is also important. However, it is no longer the case that the quantity is decisive. It’s all about the quality of the backlinks, which then have an effect on the ranking. Spam links can lead either to a loss of ranking or even to a manual action whereby the website is removed from the search index. Among dubious competitors, it has also become a measure to attack each other with link spam. For these cases, Google offers the Disavow Tool.
