| Author: | Alasdair Taylor |
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| Updated: | 29 August 2020 |
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| Length: | 2 pages |
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| Notes: | 3 pages |
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| Format: | MS Word (.DOCX) |
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The aim of this linking policy is to help website owners regulate hyperlinking. The provisions of this document cover both links to a website and links from a website. Linking can affect the popularity of a website, both negatively and positively, so it is important that website owners take steps to regulate this activity.
Linking from other sites can be problematic: links can come from disreputable sources, and can affect the ranking of a website in the SERPs (the search engine results pages). In addition, links that are misleading can affect the perceived integrity of a website and associated brand. Legal problems arise when linking uses company logos or other intellectual property without permission.
The employment of a linking policy can help external linkers, providing guidance on how to link and what to link to and generally assisting with responsible linking.
A sensitive subject online is the removal of links. Changes in the search engine ranking algorithms over the last few years have led to a rise in link removal requests. This document addresses the issue, covering both the removal of links by the website owner and requests to remove links from others' websites.
The template also covers, briefly, the relationship between the website owner and any third party websites that the owner may choose to link to. Linking to external third parties can sometimes be perceived as an endorsement; the suggested text disclaims any such endorsements.
The template incorporates a set of drafting notes. These notes assist with the customisation of the document and highlight specific questions that should be asked during the editing process.
