Make Me Think About Links as an Encomium
“Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause…” Brutus in Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.
Links are something used by people all over the world. The term link stems from the term hyperlink, which was coined by Ted Nelson in, or around, 1965. Links, and linking, are something that are now taken for granted by people online. Links are so easily copied and shared that we sometimes forget that’s what we’re doing.
And links were created to make things simple online. A link is the exact spot a specific page or site will be, like a GPS location but online.
Even Google realized how important links were. They changed the way they ranked sites by how many times a page is linked to by others. They realized that this was the best way to keep things relevant. But adding in random links to promote your friends on your own blog post or site isn’t how Google factors in a relevant link for their search engine. So it’s best to link to things you actually are talking about.
Making Links Available to Readers
There are pros and there are cons to linking or having links available to people online. In my opinion, there are more pros to having links available then there are cons. But there are things to consider when linking.
Hot Text says this about links:
“The ideal link is one that users can get real information from — enough so that some folks realize they don’t need any more.”
I have to say that this is too narrow when talking about links. They’re everywhere, not just in text where you are talking to readers who may or may not know the content of which you speak. Links are things embedded in photos. They are copied and sent to friends so you can share something you have found online. Links are something that are made to be followed if they have been shared, unless the reader does not want to.
Things To Consider When Linking
There are different things to consider with linking brought up in Hot Text as well, that I do think deserve some recognition.
- A pop up description can be good to use if you’re trying to minimize the text or have a photo that has a linked text alert for anyone who scrolls over it. That way a reader will know what it is and where it goes.
- Beware click-bait online; and by that I mean that there are mislabeled links that are spamming people. For example, a link might be on a site to a music video but then it actually leads to a discussion about a music video or an ad to buy the song online.
- Don’t just throw in links anywhere you please, either. Hot Text says to put them in the start or end of a paragraph, and I think that’s a generally good rule to follow.
- A relevance rating is unnecessary for the links shared on a site. Google and other search engines now do that for anyone who using them. If it is explained what the link leads to, the reader can choose if it’s a good link or bad one for themselves.
- Hot Text says on page 148:
“If you have a sophisticated audience, internal links won’t be a problem. But if you have relative newbies, you can be sure they will be confused by links down to anchors within the page, even if you include are the usual apparatus, such as arrows pointing up, and buttons marked Go to Top.”
To continue from that, it’s impossible to be 100% sure who the audience is for a blog or other site. A site creator or blog poster will know their target audience and who comments. It also depends on what site the reader is on, what the site is talking about, and many other things.
All of those factors factor into what/where to link.
Benefits of Sharing Links
People share links to things when they proud of something, whether that’s in an email or an a social media site is up to them because they have that option.
Using Facebook has become something you do out of habit, but it’s also a great tool for link sharing. In my job, being able to share links on a Facebook group page to co-workers to let them know about something is very handy. It’s also come on handy for my Web Content class this semester.
Sharing links on a site can be a benefit to the link’s site owner. If a bunch of links are shared in a post, the writer is navigating the reader further on to find out more information. This is a major benefit to the reader who might come across something they read and want more.
Why We Need Links
Links are a helpful tool for people on the web to navigate through all the information available for them at their fingertips. Linking is a network and that’s what the web is. It’s like citing a source; if you have information to share you should share where you got that information.
