June 23, 2009 72 Comments

Links Are Good Manners

pins as links Here’s a short, simple piece of etiquette: links are good manners.

If I write about Brian Clark, I should be sure to link his name, so that you can visit him and discover him. It also tells Google that I must have an opinion on Brian, and so I’m sharing a connection there. (Conversly, if I add the code “rel=”nofollow”, that tells Google that I’m providing a link, but that I’m not saying I necessarily trust what comes next. It’s how advertisements should be framed, or so I learned from Matt Cutts a few months ago.

If I write about the best WordPress theme ever, (which is an affiliate link for Chris Pearson‘s THESIS theme, then by making the linked text say “best wordpress theme,” I’m telling Google that perhaps people searching for a WordPress theme using the terms “best wordpress theme” might be served well by these links.

Links are good manners. They signal intent. They connote sharing. They help your audience connect better. Link, even if it takes a bit more time. Fair?

photo credit sidelong

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  • http://jshueywa.blogspot.com/ Jeff Shuey

    Absolutely fair. I spend almost as much time writing blog posts as I do insuring my links are correct. By the time I find the right pictures I spend as much time writing as I do with the aesthetics. Not a complaint – just a fact of trying to create useful blog posts.

  • http://www.deceptionsecrets.com/ Jef Nance

    The psychology of the internet has changed the psychology of man.

    Websites, even web businesses, are built on sharing, mutual access, and even giving away free stuff.

    Big change from the old mentality, “I want mine and I'm not letting go”.

    Well said, Chris.

    -jef

  • http://www.b--different.com/ Dr.Mani

    Yep, fair.

    Dr.Mani

  • http://www.bluehippotravel.com/ laura

    Love it and totally agree. Not to mention all the good karma that goes around.

  • http://twitter.com/natashalai Natasha Lai

    yup. fair. :)

  • http://www.kherize5.com Suzanne Vara/ Lvadgal

    Completely fair. I think of links as sort of a footnote or citation. If you speak of someone or something that they said or referred to, then readers need to have an opportunity to be able to easily go to their site and read the full article.

    Funny, as parents of small children we teach (or at least try to) our children to share with others but when it comes to “our content,” sharing is off limits.???

    Sharing links, I believe, builds your own credibility.

    Great post and reminder to those that do not play well.

    Lvadgal/Suzanne Vara

  • http://www.booksellersblog.com/ Ann Kingman

    Not only is it fair, but it's common courtesy. Beyond that, it serves the reader as well as the person or blog that is being cited. Nothing frustrates me more than having to Google a reference that could have been linked.

    But may I complicate things? Let's come up with a stylebook. Because I am often confused about how much to link. Let's say that I am writing about this post, as such:
    “Chris Brogan has a short but powerful post on his excellent blog that is mandatory reading: Links are good manners.”

    How much do I link? Conceivably, I could link your name to the bio on your site, I could link “his excellent blog” to chrisbrogan.com, and I could link the title of the article to the permalink for this post. Is that too much? Overkill? Confusing for the reader? I'm never quite sure. What are your thoughts on this (as someone that I link to *all the time*)?

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny

    I would say go for the best link love description, Ann. Instead of “his excellent blog” with a link, why not say “his excellent social media blog” and link the words “social media blog”. It's perfect organic SEO for the term “social media blog” and tied Chris's blog (or anyone else's using the same method) into the term “social media blog”. The more a link is used this way, the more authority Chris would gain for “social media blog” searches.

    One quick point I'd say is that too many external do-follow links can dilute your page or post's effectiveness. Definitely give the link love but maybe just temper it with how many links you're using.

  • http://outsidethebeltway.com/ James Joyner

    There should be a plugin that hides giant Thesis ads for those of us who have already bought it :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Amver-Maritime-Relations/1220194211 Amver Maritime Relations

    I try to link as often as possible. Be cause our blog is a bit niche we like to link because it exposes our audience to new companies, experiences, products, or other Coast Guard offices. It's a big world out there, link to it!

  • http://maximumcustomerexperience.com/ Kelly

    Chris,

    YES, definitely, links are good manners! If you have a source or an inspiration, links are your gentle footnotes, as Suzanne said.

    Am I the only one who's noticed that once upon a time linking out was done constantly even by the bigger bloggers, to make posts richer, and let other bloggers add nuance to what you're saying—and to let readers know that you have wow and aha! moments, too—but of late (last six months or maybe year) blogs are becoming more insular? Plenty of internal links, of course, to reinforce authority, but less and less trying to gather everybody around the campfire to talk and broaden the discussion.

    Note: I don't mean you, Chris. It always feels like a campfire discussion here.

    It seems like there's a trend toward preaching, rather than external links and embracing the wide variety of ideas that brought every writer to the point when they've got something to preach about. I've been watching it for a while, and it's really bugging me. Just thinking out loud on it.

    Regards,

    Kelly

  • http://www.twistimage.com/blog mitchjoel

    I remember when hyperlinks were first introduced online. Text went from boring and flat to three-dimensional and spatial. Links make every page online (written from different people) become a part of the same amazing publication. I would go further and say that linking is not just a common courtesy, it's what makes your content live and breathe online. We don't pay enough attention to links (and we should).

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

    So, the way I understand it, Google looks at the words you've linked to as the most likely thing someone's going to search for in Google. It turns out, I rank very highly for my name, so linking my name is courteous, but not advantageous. If you linked “mandatory reading,” that might be sexy. Or you could link the title, thus reinforcing my claim to the concept, if that makes sense.

    Great question, Ann. I didn't explain that well above.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

    That's a great pointer, James. Let me ask Chris if there's a way to “opt out” of seeing it.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

    Well, now that you mention it, I'm writing this because a big blogger I know hardly ever links off his blog. : )

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

    I had the first ever mac in 1984. We had a program on there called hypercard, which was quite the precursor to hyperlinks. There was a sample fiction book in it. I used to make my own versions of linkable text, never understanding what to really do with it. Years later, the web has made it oh so obvious.

  • http://thelostjacket.com Stuartfoster

    I need to get better links in my blog posts. I currently suck horribly at linking out on a consistent basis. Probably need to go back and add a bunch…

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  • http://deneilmerritt.com/ Deneil Merritt

    Yeah, I had to learn to link out to others more. Maybe that's why I didn't get that many backlinks for my last blog.

  • http://www.squeezeoflime.limecubemarketing.co.uk simoncmason

    Agreed links are a common courtesy plus a blog with links out to “further reading” is much the richer for it.

    Do no follows matter at all anymore though? I understand that google is now completely ignoring the no follow instruction – or is that just on internal links to combat “site sculpting”?

  • http://www.socialnerdia.com socialnerdia

    Who?

  • http://www.socialnerdia.com socialnerdia

    Some thoughts on Thesis. You (Chris) always make Thesis seem very attractive to me. You might be the best at promoting it because you seem authentic. But I have to say that Thesis blogs are too easy to identify. Every time I see a Thesis blog, I immediately notice it and think to myself “I don't want my blog to look like these”, even though some aspects of it do look pretty good (and yes, I know about the easy back-end setup). Yours seems more unique than most, but you got help from Chris Pearson himself so that makes me consider the $80 price tag even more.

    I would love to see a list of some of the best Thesis blogs out there. That might be worth much more for them than a link to a site I've visted before. So the question is, when do you simply link, and when do you write a whole blog post about it?

  • http://www.evolutionofwealth.com/ CJ Bowker

    This is a great tip to some of us that are fairly new at blogging. I have done my best to link never really knowing why. Mostly because some one told me to. Thank you for the explanation

  • http://www.poetrystruck.com/ Suzylnn

    Sharing links is the flame that keeps the fire burning!

  • http://twitter.com/e_edition Reporter News

    At the risk of being redundant… Hear, hear. I just started blogging about two months ago, and my “outside reading” has been a huge help in getting started. Linking is the least I can do to show my newbie gratitude.

  • http://www.thejimgaudet.com/blog/ thejimgaudet

    Beautifully simple, Chris..

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny

    Right, it's giving strength to that search term every time it's used and people land on your post/page because of it. I guess it's Google's way of keeping the robots at bay and using real human brains. :)

  • http://twitter.com/AmyShropshire Amy Shropshire

    Oh goodness! I had that Mac…and hypercard too! The memories… =)

    Thanks for the “rel=”nofollow” tip too!

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny

    It's not Scoble, is it? ;-)

  • http://www.adampieniazek.com/ AdamPieniazek

    Noticed you nofollowed the Thesis link. Now I wouldn't consider that an advertisement (unless Pearson is paying you to do so). Should all affiliate links be nofollowed by default, even if it's a genuine recommendation?

    If you weren't using Thesis and were recommending it, then it'd for sure need a nofollow, but since you are using it, is it ethical to make it dofollow?

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  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    Fair. Very fair. Also webby, sticky. Gluey.

  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    Chris. You are a big traffic blogger. I am a small traffic blogger. I need you to link to a few of my blog posts.

  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    I say the more the merrier. Links are what the web is all about.

  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    I add a ton of links to each of my blog posts. Thank you Zemanta.

  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    Hey You!

  • http://technbiz.blogspot.com paramendra

    True. Ride on.

  • http://www.thejimgaudet.com/blog/ thejimgaudet

    That's an interesting point. I guess if I am linking to someone and I am approving of that link, I shouldn't nofollow it. So, why should I put any links on my site with a nofollow (that are not login pages and commenters with less than a certain number of approved posts)?

  • http://abinesh.com/ abi

    Totally agree with you! Its manners and the origins deserve the credit! :)

  • http://garybloomer.tumblr.com/ Gary Bloomer

    Chris,

    Have you ever heard “The Hippopotamus Song”?

    The first part of the chorus goes like this:

    “Mud, mud, glorious mud
    Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
    So follow me follow, down to the hollow
    And there let me wallow in glorious mud!”

    For any bloggers, writers, or marketers reading this, in fact, for anyone with any kind of presence on the Internet, the same consideration needs to be applied to both inbound and outward links.

    “Link, link, glorious link, nothing quite like ‘em for getting in sync!”

    But let's clarify something here: when it comes to links we're talking quality links,
    not quantity. Likes to boost your believability, your likeability, and your credibility.

    Which is all part and parcel of building your brand, of engineering the right kinds of perceived attributions and qualities. Links are not only good manners, they're also vital elements to include in any website (blog-based or static page).

    Why?

    Because they tell search engine spiders “Looky here! New stuff to rank!”,
    which in turn, helps to improve any site's search engine rankings: making one,
    (as the site owner or administrator) way more visible.

    This in turn cranks up credibility, which increases trust, and so on, round in a cycle. As a new arrival to the world of blogging and linking, I'm lucky in that I can begin from scratch. My modest blog is only a week old and true, there are two or three entires that need links. But what many bloggers and website owners or contributors fail to understand is just how well the quality of their links can serve them.

    Both now, and later. Just my humble two cents’ worth.

    Gary Bloomer

    P.S. Good heavens! Where did the links below come from?
    It must have been the Link Fairy, “Linkerbelle”!

    http://twitter.com/GaryBloomer
    http://garybloomer.tumblr.com/

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  • http://www.gosmallbizblog.com/ Stephanie Valentine

    Links are good manners. I did not know the meaning, in terms of trust, of the code rel=”nofollow”. Thanks for the insight. It's interesting how trust economies are expressed in chunks of code and links back. Always insightful to read you.

  • http://www.wordtrotter.com/ chillzjamie

    very well said. Yup links are really good manners because you are not only providing a useful information but the intention is to help .

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  • http://twitter.com/bigrobby Big Robby

    I think that's a great way to put it. If 'nofollow's were removed and there was no penalty to the site owner sending out a reasonable amount of outbound links, then a wave of quality blogs would bubble to the surface. Thankfully this is becoming more and more common. I removed nofollow from my blog a long time ago.

  • huangqin
  • http://blog.uprinting.com/ UPrinting

    Yeah, links are good. Except when they lead you to some suspicious sites, especially those that involve malwares, worms, and… uhm, porn. Honestly, they're just too many out there and a lot of people have fallen victim to it. :(

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