Website Linking Terminology

The concept of website linking has evolved into more of a science as the practice of search engine optimization uncovered that we can increase our site relevancy and authority through the manipulation of link anchor text. Since the increase of site relevancy and authority boils down to more traffic, and more traffic equates to more sales, our linking patterns can contribute to the success or failure of a web site. As the science of website linking evolves, so has the link terminology that we use to describe link patterns.

Here some generally accepted definitions for terms related to web site linking:

• Alt text - “Alternative text” that is placed in the code for an image in an HTML page.
• Anchor Text - Anchor text is the text on a page that is linked to another web page or a different place on the current page. When you click on anchor text, you will be taken to the page or place on the page to which it is linked.
• Authority Pages - Web page with many unique domains linking in to it.
• Backlinks - The number of links pointing back to your website. This can be found by conducting this search on the major search engines: Link: http://www.YourWebsite.com
• Citation - A citation is a reference to an entity. Citation: quote, mention, reference. Citation in the context of the web usually means a HREF link to a location. A Citation count is the count of references to a page on the internet.
• Deep Link - Linking to a webpage buried within a website. These pages are referred to as “deep” because they are often two or more directories deep within a website.
• FFA Link Farm - A link farm ffa or (Free For All) are farms where anyone can add a link. Many of these ffa/link Farms have been banned.
• Link Popularity - The measure of quantity and/or quality of sites that link back to your web page.
• Off Page Criteria - When a search engine ranks pages by using data that is not present on the web page itself. This could be the presence of a directory listing, or the number and quality of inbound links to a page.
• On-Page Factors - Ranking criteria that can be found on a web page. These factors include: text on the page, meta-tags, keyword density, keyword proximity, etc.
• One Way Links - Links that are not reciprocated by your website. Incoming links to your site that are not returned. These are the best links to have from a search engine optimization point of view.
• Outbound Links - A link that points away from your website.
• PageRank - A method developed and patented by Stanford University and Larry Page (cofounder of Google) to rank search engine results. PageRank gives a unique ranking to every page on the internet. The ranking number is based on the number and quality of inbound links pointing at a page.
• Reciprocal Link Exchanges - When two websites swap links to point at each other. Trading links with another website.
• Site Wide Links - Your link on the homepage and all sub pages of a website. Also known as ROS (Run of Site).