Today more than ever we are talking about links, about networking and sharing, which is the basis of every website: that is web links. There are real link building strategies aimed at improving the authoritativeness of a website, but it is important to clear the field of some misunderstandings and to know in detail the importance of these links.

Link: the heart of the internet

Today we take it for granted that it is sufficient to open a browser , from your PC or phone, and type one or more words on the search bar to see a series of results appear. In the past this was not the case and to access a site you had to correctly write the entire address, including “www”, the name of the site and the domain. Today this is no longer the case, the web has changed rapidly and the links have also undergone some changes . Without losing their crucial importance.

The links are in fact the heart of the web; without them the internet would not be as we are used to knowing and using it today. Among the main features of the web, in fact, there is precisely that of having an easily accessible and reachable network through the nodes that distinguish it .

Like a huge text document full of hyperlinks, web links are bridges that connect different sites, allowing everyone not only to access and consult them, but also to add their own content.

Technical characteristics of the links

As we have seen for the history of the links, it is useful and interesting to know also the technical aspects that characterize them. Today we recognize if one or more words of a text contain a link because they are formatted in a certain way: highlighted, underlined or bold. In addition, by hovering over it with the mouse, the indicator indicates that it is possible to click on it and access another resource . Today links are not just textual; even the images can in fact host a link that leads the user to another destination.

Technically, therefore, links are HTML objects that have the ability and purpose to transfer the user from one location on the web to another . Today links are the most common and fastest way to navigate, being able to move from one part of the web to another in a few moments, without having to type words or execute particular commands.

Link as a ranking factor

Today the web is not just an orderly container, inside which there are many sites, as if it were an archive containing many folders. In fact, we are talking about a reality that is not only very rich, but also alive, which changes over time. A change that is not only quantitative, with a constantly increasing number of sites, but also qualitative. So much so that we talk about SEO NYC, optimization and ranking factors . Today Google, the main search engine (and not only) gives an order to websites, based on both the research carried out by users and the characteristics of the site. Among the elements that Google takes into consideration to evaluate a site there are also web links. Both internal and external.

Internal links

The links on a site are apparently all the same, but they differ according to the destination to which they lead. Internal links are defined as those which, as the name suggests, lead to a page on the same site on which you are located. These links are used to help the reader to deepen a certain topic , referring it to a page where it is dealt with in a more exhaustive way. It is also a way of putting together the various pages of a site, avoiding fragmenting everything, but also giving value to older content.

External links

Unlike what has been said for internal links, external ones target another website . In terms of ranking and authority, external links are those that have a greater specific weight. If an article on a site considered by Google to be very authoritative has a link to another site, it is clear that the latter is considered by Google to be equally authoritative and worthy of attention . Which is why it improves its ranking. From these principles all link building strategies , link juice , etc. are developed, aimed at optimizing a site or a web page.

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All links, both internal and external, have, like the other elements of the web, attributes. In the specific case they are: the title , the target and the destination . The title is that attribute that is visually shown when you move the mouse pointer, without clicking on it, on that element. The target is an attribute that explains to the site how to behave when clicking on that link : whether to open the link on the same page of the browser or on a new one. Finally, the destination, which contains the link, or the link to a resource, present or on the same site or, as we have seen, on another.

Edward Bertrand