Links

On the world wide web, we click on highlighted bits of text or images—called hyperlinks or just links—and then our web browser automatically redirects to that link's URL. Text Links are usually highlighted in a different color and underlined. You can tell when your mouse scrolls over a Hyperlink because the cursor changes into a hand.

Links are used to make Hypertext—text with links and cross-references to other text—which is now a defining feature of the Internet. Hyperlinks simplify cross-referencing text. Links can easily take you to suggested websites, send emails through an email composing program (such as Netscape Messenger or Outlook Express), find information, and navigate the world wide web.

Every link has an anchor. An anchor is the highlighted text that you click on to be redirected to somewhere else. An anchor can be a keyword, a phrase, a sentence, a domain name, or a webpage's complete URL.

The destination target (or just "target") of the link is the URL you arrive at after you've clicked on the link. The anchor points to the destination target, which can be a different paragraph on the same webpage, a different page within the same website, or to an entirely different website. If the destination target takes you to a different website, the link is an Outbound Link. When an anchor from a different website points website traffic to a page on your website, it is known as an Inbound Link for your website.

Links have an invisible "hot area" surrounding them. If the mouse clicks anywhere within this hot area, the link is activated.

The majority of links point to a URL, which is most commonly a website's homepage or a landing page. Destination Targets can also point a specific section or position on a webpage by designating it in the HTML document; these links are known as Targeted links.