Hyperlink

Hyperlinks are clickable references that lead users and crawlers to internal pages or external destinations. Internally, they structure navigation, externally, backlinks act as recommendations and can influence the SEO ranking.

In German, a hyperlink is understood as an electronic reference that leads from one digital document to another. In short: it is a link. This can involve internal links on a website or backlinks to another site on the internet. A hyperlink is usually visually distinguished from the rest of the text—either by color or an underline (there are many design alternatives). By clicking on the link, the connected document is opened. This can occur between two web pages, within a directory, or for downloading documents or content (e.g., images or PDF files).

Hyperlinks represent the fundamental building blocks of the internet, as they provide a non-linear connection between different websites. In essence, links on the World Wide Web correspond to cross-references in literature, continuously opening up new fields of topics and allowing the reader to gather further information or deepen their knowledge. Hyperlinks function similarly, ideally referring to topic-relevant content that is interesting to the user. If a hyperlink refers to a page within the same website, it is called internal linking. Through internal links, the webmaster dictates the path the user should take through the website or directs them to specific documents. Thus, they give a page structure. An example would be a call-to-action at the end of website content prompting contact, where the hyperlink points to a contact form. A hyperlink originating from an external site is referred to as a backlink.

This is how a hyperlink is structured

For the user of a website, only the link text (anchor text) of a hyperlink is visible. This is a text—a word or a combination of words—that ideally describes the expected content behind the link as accurately as possible. The optimization of link texts through the use of appropriate keywords is part of the search engine optimization of websites and is important to draw attention to relevant content. The invisible component of the hyperlink serves the web browser, which recognizes the target of the web link from it and guides through the link to the corresponding content. Typically, the electronic references are represented in the HTML markup language in the source code of a website or document. According to the corresponding syntax rules of the HTML language, a visible and invisible part is defined in the hyperlink. Specifically, a link can look like this:

In the document, the user would read the "link text" and after clicking on the hyperlink, be redirected to the website http://www.beispielseite.de. If the linked document is changed or deleted, the link is defective. In this case, it is referred to as a "dead link," which does not automatically adapt to the change but must be manually changed. Links can generally be inserted into web content via Content Management Systems using a button (similar to word processing programs like Word). Alternatively, links are specified using HTML in the source code of a page as described above.

Hyperlinks are SEO-relevant

Links are significant on the internet and are important for search engine optimization in two ways. If it is an internal link, a hyperlink directs the crawler. A proper link structure guides web crawlers like the Googlebot through a website, allowing the bot to read the page much faster and add it to the index via the links. Backlinks, on the other hand, act as recommendations for search engines like Google. If a webpage receives many links, this is an indication to the search engine that the web content is relevant to the user. This can contribute to an improvement in rankings in the SERPs. In summary, the hyperlink is a valuable SEO tool.