Deep Linking

Deep linking is the term for linking to an interior page of another site, instead of to its home page. For instance, when you link readers to a story in the international section of the New York Times instead of to the Times’ front page, you’re deep linking.

There's no question that readers prefer the convenience of deep linking, but some sites make it technically difficult or block it entirely. The Times, for instance, requires readers to register before they can access anything but the home page.

Ethically (or even legally, though there are no firm U.S. court decisions on this yet), you don't want to break someone's terms of use if they say you can't deep link. You should abide by their rules.

Moreover, deep linking isn't such a good idea if the page you link to has no identifying characteristics, such as a brand or a recognizable URL. To minimize confusion, link to a higher page and include instructions on how to click into the appropriate resource.

Otherwise, do your best to link to the specific page — and even the specific part of the page — when referring to another Web site. Don't confuse your users by dropping them at the home page of another site when the information you’ve referenced is several clicks away.

Linking directly to non-textual media

At times, you may want to link to a video clip, an audio file, or a PDF document. In these cases, you should consider a couple things:

• Give your readers some options to choose the size, format or download speed of the file. For example: Find a Video clip of something, (Quicktime, Windows Media File or Real Player)
• Label your links so they describe the kind of file they will be accessing. You don’t want your users to think they’re clicking on an HTML page when up comes a 25 MB video clip. Here’s an example:

The space shuttle launch (Quicktime, 1.2MB) went off as planned.

This lets the user know to expect a Quicktime video to launch.

• Identify the source of the non-textual content so your readers will not assume it’s yours.
• Don’t hijack someone else’s content and place it on your Web page. It’s inappropriate and even illegal. Moreover, it deprives the sources of the content of visitors who see their Web site’s ads or other offerings that help them stay in business. Link to supporting media, don’t steal it.