Internal and external links: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:17, 1 November 2022

Revision as of 13:19, 9 December 2022

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An '''internal link''' is a type of [[hyperlink]] on a [[web page]] to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same [[website]] or [[___domain name|___domain]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283204|title=The Difference Between External and Internal Links|date=11 October 2016|publisher=[[Entrepreneur (magazine)|Entrepreneur]]|access-date=8 March 2022|author=Eric Siu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://whatisdiff.com/difference-between-internal-and-external|title=Internal vs External – Difference Between Internal and External|website=whatisdiff.com| date=23 October 2019 |access-date=8 March 2022}}</ref>

Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination.<ref>{{cite news |title=guest post service |url=https://searchengineways.com/}}</ref> Generally, a link to a page outside the same ___domain or website is considered external, whereas one that points at another section of the same web page or to another page of the same website or ___domain is considered internal.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Riley|first1=Julie|title=Microsoft Expression Web 3 : illustrated introductory|date=2011|publisher=Course Technology Cengage Learning|___location=Australia|isbn=978-0538750417|page=53|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erqbaY-QQDwC&q=%22Internal+Link%22+is+a+link&pg=PA54 |access-date=4 December 2014}}</ref> These definitions become clouded, however, when the same organization operates multiple domains functioning as a single web experience, e.g. when a secure commerce website is used for purchasing things displayed on a [[Secure website|non-secure website]]. In these cases, links that are "external" by the above definition can conceivably be classified as "internal" for some purposes. Ultimately, an internal link points to a web page or resource in the same [[root directory]].

Similarly, seemingly "internal" links are in fact "external" for many purposes, for example in the case of linking among [[subdomain]]s of a main ___domain, which are not operated by the same person(s). For example, a [[blog]]ging platform, such as [[WordPress]], [[Blogger (service)|Blogger]] or [[Tumblr]] host thousands of different blogs on subdomains, which are entirely unrelated and the authors of which are generally unknown to each other. In these contexts one might view a link as "internal" only if it linked within the same blog, not to other blogs within the same ___domain.