Link: what it is, what it means and why it is crucial on the Web
They are the element that makes navigation between Web pages possible, and without them, the Internet as we know it today would not exist. This is enough to understand what a link is and why it is important: these hyperlinks make it possible to connect information, resources and content in a fluid and intuitive way, creating precisely the interconnected Web of knowledge and data.
What is a link
A link, also known as a hyperlink, is an element that allows you to connect one Web resource to another.
In computer science and the digital sphere, it is therefore an element of a web page that, when clicked, allows the user to navigate to another page or online resource. This link can be represented by text, an image, or another type of content that, when clicked, takes the user to a new destination, which in turn can be another web page, a document, an image, or even a video.
The main function of a link is to facilitate navigation between different web pages, allowing users to move easily from one piece of content to another. Links are created using HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and are an essential component of web structure.
Hyperlink meaning and explanation
Let us, however, delve deeper into the definition of link and also another frequently occurring term, namely hyperlink.
It is a cross-reference contained within a hypertext, usually defined through HTML code, that through a click enables a transition from one resource to another, such as between two documents or Web pages.
The meaning of link is thus contained in the word itself, which in English means as mentioned link, bond, connection, nexus to a point “beyond.”
This is where the concept of hypertext (in English, “hypertext”) comes in, which is a system of organizing information in which data are linked together in a nonlinear way, and which allows users to navigate between different sections of text or documents through direct links, rather than following a linear sequence.
At the heart of this concept is the prefix “hyper,” which means “beyond” or “beyond,” and in this context indicates that the links go precisely beyond traditional linear text, allowing for more dynamic and interactive navigation.
This is why we speak of “links” or, often interchangeably, “hyperlinks,” a term coined precisely to describe these hyperlinks that allow one to jump from one point to another in a document or between different documents with a simple click.
In this view, then, the hyperlink is the hyperlink that helps the user move from point A (representing the resource on which the user is currently on, the page on which the link resides) to point B (the arrival or destination page of the link).
In the course of our daily routine as users of the Net we encounter and use links virtually all the time, to delve into a topic in another content (internal or external to the site we are browsing), to change sections of the site by clicking on menus, to download a file, or to activate particular functions.
In practice, therefore, we could not navigate without links and we could not discover web pages without links.
Meaning of links in computer science
In computer science, the words link and hyperlink thus take on specific and technical meanings.
A link is a reference that points to another resource, such as a web page, document, or file. This reference is represented by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), which specifies the address of the destination resource. Links are used to create a network of connections between different resources, facilitating access and sharing of information.
And, even more specifically, as a hyperlink the link not only points to another resource, but does so in a hypertext context: this means that the action is part of an interconnected network of information, where each node (or page) can be reached by multiple paths.
The idea of hypertext was first proposed by Ted Nelson in the 1960s, but it was Tim Berners-Lee who implemented it in the context of the World Wide Web, making hyperlinks a practical, everyday reality. Berners-Lee used the term “hyperlinks” to describe these hyperlinks, which allow users to navigate between different Web pages in a simple and intuitive way. Links have become a fundamental element of the Web, allowing users to quickly access a wide range of information and resources.
In this context, the element is also called a “transmissive link,” which precisely identifies a hyperlink whose main function is to transfer the user from one web page to another. This type of link can be used in different forms and contexts – in websites, blogs, social media and emails – and has as its distinguishing feature the ability to act as a bridge between different content, making the browsing experience more fluid and interactive.
What are links, the nodes of the Web
Returning to our topic, the Wikipedia page devoted to the WWW also states that the “main feature of the Web network is that its component nodes are connected by so-called links (hyperlinks), forming a huge hypertext, and its services can be made available by Internet users themselves.”
Links are thus a key element in making the Web project possible because they are the connecting link that enables the use of this global hypertext composed of all the world’s sites that can be accessed by everyone.
Thanks to hyperlinks, it is possible to non-sequentially connect Web pages, even if they belong to different sites, download particular content, access specific functionality and, in short, use every junction of the Web.
Thus, links are the backbone of the Web, or better yet its central nervous system, and they can serve as the main means of navigation, a tool for citing information, a symbol of trust, a method of promotion, and so on, and we have talked a lot about them in the topics on link building, link juice, and ranking factors.
What links are for
Link is more than just a technical word: hyperlinks are one of the key elements that make the Internet an interconnected and dynamic network. Thanks to links, millions of people can quickly access a wide range of information and resources every day.
They represent one of the key elements of Web pages and play a crucial role in users’ browsing experience, facilitating access to information and improving the enjoyment of online content, and they also serve search engines, as we shall see.
The main purpose of a hyperlink is to facilitate access to information. In practice, a link allows a user to click on a word, phrase, or image and be immediately redirected to another web page, document, or multimedia resource. This mechanism has transformed the way we enjoy online content, making navigation more intuitive and interactive. For example, on a news site, an article may contain links to related articles or external sources to further explore the topic at hand, enhancing the user experience and keeping the visitor on the site longer. They also allow sources to be cited and provide additional references without weighing down the main text of the article or web page.
Links are also essential for creating an efficient navigation structure within websites. Site menus are composed of links that allow users to move easily between the various sections of the site itself, including through a feature called breadcrumbs that help visitors “not get lost.” In addition, links are critical for cross-referencing within articles and blog posts, thereby enhancing understanding and insight into the topics being discussed; this is especially useful in academia and journalism, where claims need to be supported with documented evidence.
Another crucial aspect of hyperlinks is their role in SEO. Search engines such as Google use links to discover new pages, to index web pages, to understand the structure and hierarchy of a website, and to determine the authority and relevance of a piece of content.
Links, both internal and external, create relationships between documents: good use of internal linking allows us, for example, to create “thematic sets,” grouping all pages that deal with a related topic in such a way as to comprehensively explore its aspects and users’ needs in that regard, basically going so far as to create a kind of internal mini-site on a single topic. This helps not only the reader, but can also improve the visibility of the site in search results, strengthening the search engine’s “perception” of our site as an authority in that area. More well-known issue, backlinks increase the authority and credibility of the site in the eyes of search engines, and, simplifying a lot, a site that receives a lot of links from other authoritative sources will be considered more relevant and may rank better in search results.
And this is why link building-which is the building of a network of backlinks to fortify a site’s perception in the web landscape, particularly for search engine algorithms-is still a very useful and used technique today. Moreover, if well executed, a link building strategy not only improves SEO, but can also increase brand visibility, attract new visitors and build relationships in the industry.
Hyperlinks are also powerful tools to foster interconnection and knowledge sharing: through social media, for example, users can share links to news, scientific articles, videos, and other educational or entertainment resources. This facilitates the real-time dissemination of information on a global scale.
Links are also essential to the operation of modern web applications. Many online services use them to guide users through complex processes such as registrations, purchases, or reservations. Without these clear and functional links, site usability would suffer severely. In addition, links can be used for commercial purposes, as in the case of companies that employ them in digital marketing campaigns to direct traffic to their specific product pages or services or affiliate marketing, which uses links to track sales generated by recommendations and thus estimate commission-based fees.
Although they are powerful tools, links must be used with care. Corrupt or broken links can frustrate users and damage the site’s reputation. In addition, the abuse of so-called “link-spam,” or the artificial creation of numerous links just to manipulate search engine results, is penalized by the engines’ own algorithms. The risks associated with links also include exposure to malicious or phishing sites, so it is crucial to check the safety of links before clicking on them, especially those received through suspicious e-mails or messages.
What a link looks like
Looking at the technical aspects, a link is an HTML object that allows you to move to a new location when the user clicks or touches the portion on touch displays. These links are found on almost every Web page and are, as mentioned, the easiest means of navigating between pages on the Web.
It is essentially an element that allows transferring from one Web page to another or accessing specific resources on the Web, such as documents, images or videos.
Its basic structure is composed of HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code, the standard language used to create Web pages.
Links can be inserted into or applied to text, images, entire areas or sections of the web page, or even other HTML elements, and are usually distinguished graphically from other characters on the page, either by permanent display or as a result of a mouse over (hover). In most cases, links are colored blue (as in Google SERPs), which is the standard hue of Web browsers, but you can customize this using HTML or CSS styles-for example, here on the blog we use SEOZoom Blue!
In the early stages of the Web, links were underlined by default, while today this choice is less common. Images can also contain a link, themselves becoming a clickable object and a link to another resource.
Another element that characterizes links is the so-called anchor text (anchor), i.e., the string of content that the user views on the page and that accompanies him to reach the destination; in some cases, however, we can have links on images (with the alt tag acting as an anchor for Google) or on dynamic elements.
Structure of a link: a look at composition
To understand how a link works, it is useful to analyze its structure.
A link is primarily composed of a URL, which specifies the address of the target resource, placed within an HTML element, usually an <a> tag , which defines the hyperlink and is essential for link building.
The <a> tag may contain attributes such as href, which stands for Hypertext REFerence and indicates the URL of the destination, and title, which provides additional information when the user hovers over the link. The text between the opening and closing tags is what will be displayed by the user as the clickable part of the link.
There are also other attributes that can be added to the <a> tag to change the behavior and style of the link, such as
- target=”_blank,” which opens the link in a new tab or browser window
- title=”Description,” which provides additional information about the link by appearing as a tooltip when the user hovers over the link.
- rel=, to set attributes that specify the relationship between the current page and the page it links to. For example, rel=”noopener noreferrer” improves security when using links that open new windows or tabs, while rel=”nofollow” tells search engines not to follow that particular link.
Links can be textual or visual: text links are simply hypertext words or phrases, while visual links can be images or clickable buttons.
For example, a basic HTML link might look like this:
<a href=”https://www.seozoom.it” title=”Visit SEOZoom”>Visit SEOZoom</a>.
In this example, the href attribute contains the URL of the landing page, while the text “Visit SEOZoom” is the anchor text, which is the clickable text that appears to users. The title attribute provides a visual hint when the user hovers over the link, enhancing the user experience.
Understanding links with a simple example
To better and more easily illustrate how a link works, let’s consider a practical example.
Suppose we have a blog about SEO and we want to place a link to a specific article on SEOZoom. The link could be structured as follows:
<a href=”https://www.seozoom.it/blog/guida-seo” title=”Read our full SEO guide”>Full SEO guide</a>.
In this case, the anchor text “Complete SEO Guide” is what users will see and click on. When they click on this text, they will be redirected to the page specified by the URL https://www.seozoom.it/blog/guida-seo. The title attribute provides an additional description, which can be useful for search engines and for improving the accessibility of the site.
Links are not limited only to text, as we said, and can also be applied to images, buttons, and other interactive elements. For example, a clickable image could be created as follows:
<a href=”https://www.seozoom.it”>
<img src=”https://www.seozoom.it/logo.png” alt=”SEOZoom Logo”>
</a>
In this example, the SEOZoom logo image becomes a link leading to the homepage of the site. The alt attribute provides a textual description of the image, which is useful for search engines and users with visual impairments.
What does a href mean and what are the link attributes
Speaking of what was mentioned earlier, we can at this point delve into some technical details concerning links and, in particular, HTML attributes that we can add to give the correct instructions on how links work to the browser and offer some signals to search engines.
In HTML, every link is introduced by an <ahref> tag, an expression that has a very specific meaning and history: the “a” is the initial of “anchor” (anchor in English), since the first hypertext documents linked to anchors (or markers) within the same page, rather than to other pages; “href” is short for hypertext reference. Even today, therefore, the <a> identifies and defines the presence of a hyperlink between documents, while the href attribute indicates the address to which the link points, that is, its precise destination.
The other attributes that we can use on links serve as mentioned to define some of its characteristics and influence its behavior: with title we set the textual description of the link, which is displayed when the mouse hovers over the link; with target we clarify where to open the link (target=”_blank,” for example, is the classic command to set the link to open in a new empty tab and not within the same page); img is used to use an image as a link; mailto: allows us to create a link that automatically opens the user’s e-mail program.
What are the types of links
The main function of links is to create a network of connections between different information on the Internet, thus facilitating quick and direct access to related content or content of interest to the user.
Basically, hyperlinks can be represented in a variety of ways: they often appear as underlined and colored (usually blue) text, but they can also be embedded in images or buttons, as in the classic example of the “click here” linking to a new web page with more information.
Delving deeper, however, we discover that there are different types of links, which can be categorized according to the characteristics they possess, the functions they perform, and the way they are used. Specifically, the main types of links include:
- Internal links, which link to pages within the same domain.
- External links, which link to pages on different domains.
- Dofollow links, which pass SEO value to the target page.
- Nofollow links, which do not pass SEO value to the landing page.
- Deep links, which are directed to specific pages on a site and not to the home page.
- Anchored links, which allow you to jump to a specific section of the same page.
- Absolute links, which specify the entire URL of the target resource.
- Relative links, which specify the path relative to the current location of the document.
- Permanent opermalinklinks , which are the unmodifiable addresses of web pages.
The differences between the various types of hyperlinks
Let us, however, give a little more information about these categories of links.
We should be familiar with internal links, which as the adjective implies are links that lead users to continue exploring pages within the same Web site. As we know, they are useful to improve the internal navigation of the site and to help visitors easily find the information they need; moreover, when well contextualized, links to relevant topics let the search engine know that our information doesn’t stop at just the document they are analyzing, but that we also host different insights and focuses on the same site that are useful to readers.
Even more popular (and often misinterpreted) are external links, which we usually call backlinks: these are simply links leading to pages on other websites, ideally serving to provide additional sources and external resources or to cite authoritative sources with which to reinforce the information and opinions expressed in a piece of content. Citing authoritative sources with a link when we talk about a topic is an important practice, both to create context and to offer the user the opportunity to explore related aspects that we do not want or can cover directly in our content. In short, we should not be afraid to link!
Another important distinction between link types concerns the type of attribute they possess, which allows us to distinguish between dofollow and nofollow links. Dofollow links are those that pass SEO value to the landing page: when a search engine such as Google scans a web page and finds a dofollow link, it considers this link as a vote of confidence toward the landing page, which can help improve the page’s ranking in search results. Dofollow links are the default link type and do not require special attributes to be recognized as such.
Nofollow links, on the other hand, do not pass SEO value to the landing page. These links include a rel=”nofollow” attribute in the <a> tag, which tells search engines not to follow the link and not to pass SEO value. Nofollow links are often used for links to content to sites to which we do not want to transfer authority or which we are not “sure” about, or to sponsored content and user comments (in these cases, we should appropriately use the other link attributes, “sponsored” and “UGC,” respectively). Rel nofollow is considered useful to prevent spam and to maintain control over the distribution of link juice on one’s site.
On the technical side, however, we can choose to set absolute links or relative links or direct users with a deep link, anchor link or permalink.
Permalinks – short for “permanent links” – are URLs that point to a specific page or web resource and are intended to remain unchanged over time. Permalinks are commonly used in blogs, news sites and other content platforms to ensure that each article, post or page has a unique and stable web address that will not change, regardless of any changes to the content or structure of the site.
Anchor links, also known as anchor links or anchors, are hyperlinks that point to a specific section or point within the same or another web page: they use a unique identifier, called an “anchor” or “ID,” to take the user directly to a precise part of the content, improving site navigation and usability.
Deep link refers to hyperlinks that point to a specific page or content within a website, rather than to the homepage or a generic page. In other words, a deep link takes the user directly to an internal section of the site, bypassing traditional navigation through the homepage or other top-level pages.
Absolute links are those that include the entire URL of the target resource, including the protocol (http or https), domain, and full path. For example, an absolute link might be written as <a href=”https://www.seozoom.it/blog/guida-seo”>Full SEO Guide</a>. This type of link is particularly useful for external links, as it ensures that the link works properly regardless of the location of the document containing it. The advantages of absolute links also include universal accessibility and clarity, since they specify exactly where the target resource is located; however, they also have some disadvantages, such as the need for manual updates if the domain or site structure changes, and the length of URLs, which can make HTML code more difficult to read and manage.
Relative links, on the other hand, specify the relative path to the current location of the document, without including the domain and protocol. For example, if the current document is located at https://www.seozoom.it/blog/ and we want to link to a page in the same directory, the relative link might be written as <a href=”guide-seo”>Full SEO Guide</a>. Relative links are particularly useful for internal links within the same domain, as they make it easier to move entire sections of a site without having to update internal links; they are also generally shorter, making HTML code more readable and manageable. However, relative links depend on the location of the current document and may not work if the document is moved, and in complex directory structures they may be less clear about the destination.
Examples of links: what a link looks like in HTML code
More specifically, this is an example of a link, and specifically a string that identifies an internal text-type link: <a href=”/blog/events”>Events</a>, which links to the Events section of our blog. This is precisely a relative link, because it does not include the domain name, and since the link starts with a slash it links back to the main directory (otherwise it would be relative to the current URL).
A link such as <a href=”https://www.seozoom.it”> <img src=”https://www.seozoom.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/test-google.jpg” alt=”Google search, how the new feature works”> on the other hand, is an absolute link (on image) because it includes the domain name, which is necessary for external links, which point to another Web site.
Putting up a link: what it means and how to do it
After much theory, let’s take a practical step and try to understand what “putting a link” means, an expression that refers directly to the action of creating a hyperlink within a digital content, such as a Web page, document or email. In fact, in recent years “putting up a link” has also acquired an even more specific meaning, especially in the digital marketing sphere, where it refers to the practice of asking for a backlink to be included-for example, a digital marketing professional might contact an influential blogger and ask them to include a link to their site in a relevant article, offering valuable content or other forms of collaboration in return.
Returning to the original meaning, however, by placing a link we allow users to click on a text, image, or other media element to be redirected to another resource, which may be a web page, document, file, or other online destination.
In practical terms, the operation that accomplishes this bridging may vary slightly depending on the context and platform used, although the basic principles remain the same.
In HTML, the markup language used to create Web pages, putting a link is simple and straightforward. You use the <a> (anchor) tag with the href (Hypertext Reference) attribute to specify the destination URL. In the example <a href=”https://www.esempio.com”>Visit Our Site</a>, the text “Visit Our Site” is the anchor text, which is the clickable text that appears to users. When they click on this text, they will be redirected to the specified URL.
In WordPress, one of the most popular CMSs, putting a link is just as simple: when editing a post or page, you can select the text or image you want to turn into a link and click on the link icon in the editor toolbar. This opens a dialog box where you can enter the destination URL and, if necessary, set other options such as opening the link in a new tab.
Putting in a link is also a common practice in e-mail: most e-mail clients, such as Gmail or Outlook, offer a special option for insertion. Usually, you just select the desired text or image, click on the link icon, and enter the destination URL.
The same process also works for insertinga link into a Word Processor text document, and then when using word processing programs such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The first step is to select and highlight the text to be turned into a link, then right-click on the selected text and choose the “Insert Link” option, or alternatively use keyboard shortcuts to open the dialog box (Ctrl+K on PC, Cmd+K on Mac). Now it is time to add the URL of the desired destination and confirm to complete the operation.
SEO best practices for links
Again to stay in the practical realm, we can take a look at Google’s official guide to best practices for links, which focuses on techniques for making our links crawlable so that Google can find other pages on the site via links on the page and for improving anchor text so that it is easier for people and Google to make sense of our content.
The guide opens by pointing out that “Google uses links as a signal to determine page relevance and to find new pages to crawl,” a useful memo for us as well.
It first tells us that “in general, Google can only crawl your links if they are an HTML <a> element (also known as an anchor element) with an href attribute,” because “most links in other formats will not be analyzed and extracted by Google’s crawlers.” The reason is that Google cannot “reliably” extract URLs from <a> elements that do not have an href attribute or other tags that act as links due to script events. However, links can be crawled even when we use JavaScript to dynamically insert them into a page, as long as we use the specified HTML markup.
This image shows some examples of links that Google can and cannot scan and follow:
It is then important to verify that the URL linked by the <a> tag is a real Web address-a resolvable URL that looks like a URI-to which Googlebot can send requests, as in these examples:
Tips for using internal and external links.
The final part of the paper focuses on managing internal and external links on the site, premising that “there is no ideal magic number of links a given page should contain,” but also that “if you think there are too many links, there probably are.”
Although we usually think of links purely in terms of pointing to external Web sites, it is critical to pay more attention to the anchor text used for internal links, which can help both people and Google make sense of the site more easily and find other pages on the site. Basically, every page that is relevant and of interest to us should have a link from at least one other page on our site, and the suggestion is to think about what other resources on the site might help our readers understand a particular page on the site by linking to those pages in context.
We should not be afraid to link to other sites, Google clarifies, because using external links “can help establish trustworthiness (e.g., citing sources used for information).” The basic advice is to link to external sites when it makes sense and always provide context to readers about what they can expect.
In the example in the image we see a good practice of citing sources:
Google asks to use rel=nofollow only when we do not trust the source and not for every external link on the site. For example, a good time to use nofollow is when “you are a cheese enthusiast and someone has published a story badmouthing your favorite cheese, to which you want to respond with a rebuttal article; however, you don’t want to give the site part of your reputation from your link.”
If, on the other hand, we have received some kind of payment to post the link, we should qualify these links with sponsored or nofollow; if users are allowed to post links on the site (for example, in a forum section or a Q&A site), these links should be marked as ugc or nofollow.
History of links: who and when invented them
In conclusion, let us open a “popular” parenthesis to review the history of links.
As mentioned, this element is closely related to the concept of hyperlinks, a term coined by Ted Nelson in 1965 that refers to a nonlinear structure of information, where data can be linked together in various ways. The turning point came about 30 years later, however, with the work of Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, which then quickly became the main service of the Internet.
In the 1990s, while working at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), Berners-Lee was looking for a way to share information among researchers more efficiently: his revolutionary idea was to create a system that would allow documents to be linked together through hyperlinks, making it possible to navigate from one document to another with the click of a button. As early as 1989 Tim Berners-Lee first described the link as a large area of hypermedia information offering universal access to documents.
According to reports from various sources, this idea was born at CERN in Geneva thanks to a dash of Italy: the British researcher noticed some Italian colleagues transmitting information via telephone line from one floor of the prestigious Swiss laboratory to another by displaying video information. From this cue, Berners-Lee and his colleague Robert Cailliau hypothesized software to share scientific documentation in electronic format regardless of the computing platform used, useful for improving communication and collaboration among researchers at the institute.
To make the idea concrete, he also initiated the definition of standards and protocols for exchanging documents over computer networks, which would later generate the HTML language and the first HTTP network protocol. It all found a first realization on August 6, 1991, when Tim Berners-Lee published the first website, which waited a full 17 days for the first visit from a user outside the research center, with a click coming precisely on the following August 23.
Since their introduction, links have evolved considerably: in the early years of the Web, links were simple text links that allowed users to navigate between static pages. Over time, link technology became more sophisticated, allowing images, videos and other multimedia elements to be included as hyperlinks.
With the advent of social media and sharing platforms, links have become even more central to content distribution and are now an essential component of any digital marketing strategy. They are used to improve site navigation, optimize SEO, increase traffic, and build relationships with other websites. Their importance continues to grow, and understanding how to use them effectively is critical to online success.
