Difference between revisions of "LinkingGuide"

Revision as of 22:32, 30 March 2007

Internal Linking Guide

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Internal Linking

By nature, Wikis support rich internal linking, also known as Automagical Linking or WikiLinking.

The Related Domains area of each domain page uses this internal linking idea to create a system that allows users to discover related sites within the AboutUs.org database. Ideally, each domain page will have somewhere between a few and no more than 30 related links.

If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related links from other site pages to your page. Please don't over do it, however. If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links on very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like spam to us. In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.

To link internally:

While editing a wiki page, place double square brackets around the AboutUs page name and the description text you wish to become a link. Bes sure to separate them with a vertical bar. This: [[Special:Recentchanges|recent changes]] will appear as recent changes.

External linking

External linking refers to linking to a website outside of the AboutUs.org database. These links can be found in the External Links section of an AboutUs page.

If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related external links from other websites to your page. Please don't over do it, however. If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links to very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like spam to us. In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.

To link externally:

While editing a wiki page, place square brackets around the URL and the description text you wish to become a link, such as [http://www.mozilla.org Mozilla Website]. This will appear as Mozilla Website.

Complex http links seem to behave better if you do not have any space between the opening bracket and http://...

Please note that repeated external linking on pages looks like spam to us.

Linking to the actual website

Currently, each wiki page at AboutUs links to the referenced website twice- the page title at the top is a link, as well as the site thumbnail on the right. If you feel you need to link to the website more, please place a link in the External Links section. If placed elsewhere, it will be subject to reverting.

Link Spam

When a page is loaded with links to outside pages that have no correlation or links that still have html tags around them, we view this as link spam. These are subject to deletion.

Misleading Naming

Please do not add links (internal or external) with titles that purport to be something else.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 :The [[Related Domains]] area of each domain page uses this internal linking idea to create a system that allows users to discover related sites within the [[AboutUs.org]] database.  Ideally, each domain page will have somewhere between a few and '''no more than 30 related links'''.
-:If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related links from other site pages to your page.  Please don't over do it, however.  If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links on very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like spam to us.  In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.
+:If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related links from other site pages to your page.  Please don't over do it, however.  If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links on very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like [[spam]] to us.  In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.
 :<b>To link internally:</b>
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 :External linking refers to linking to a website outside of the [[AboutUs.org]] database.  These links can be found in the [[External Links]] section of an [[AboutUs]] page.
-:If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related external links from other websites to your page.  Please don't over do it, however.  If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links to very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like spam to us.  In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.
+:If you have a site that is related to a given topic, feel free to add some related external links from other websites to your page.  Please don't over do it, however.  If you're adding more than 30 such links or are putting up links to very popular and unrelated sites, then it will look like [[spam]] to us.  In addition, linking from a high profile site is questionable.
 :<b>To link externally:</b>
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 == Categories ==
-:Instead of mass linking (internal or external), categories are a constructive way to gather and categorize sites that are related. You can help us build categories, but please keep in mind that the purpose of categories is to help users locate useful information and to link wiki pages to related sites.  Categories are '''not''' designed to be an SEO tool. For example, it is not a category if there are only 1 or 2 webpages linked, or if you are advertising your website. On the other hand, hyper categorization makes information harder to locate, not easier.
+:Instead of mass linking (internal or external), categories are a constructive way to gather and categorize sites that are related. You can help us build categories, but please keep in mind that the purpose of categories is to help users locate useful information and to link wiki pages to related sites.  Categories are '''not''' designed to be an SEO tool and can be viewed as [[spam]] when overused.  Hyper categorization makes information harder to locate, not easier.  On the other hand, it is not a category if there are only 1 or 2 webpages linked, or if you are advertising your website.
 :<b>For example:</b>
 :[[:Category:Culture Jamming]]
@@ Line 42: / Line 41: @@
 ==Link Spam==
-:When a page is loaded with links to outside pages that have no correlation or links that still have html tags around them, we view this as link spam.  These are subject to deletion.
+:When a page is loaded with links to outside pages that have no correlation or links that still have html tags around them, we view this as link [[spam]].  These are subject to deletion.
 == Misleading Naming ==