Wikipedia:External links
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This page is part of the Manual of Style, and is considered a guideline for Wikipedia. The consensus of many editors formed the conventions described here, and Wikipedia articles should heed these guidelines. Before making any major changes to these guidelines, please use the discussion page to ensure that your changes reflect consensus. |
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This page in a nutshell: Adding external links can be a service to our readers, but they should be kept to a minimum of those that are meritable, accessible and appropriate to the article. |
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Notice on linking to YouTube, Google Video, and other similar sites:
There is no ban on linking to these sites as long as the links abide by these guidelines. From Wikipedia:Copyright: If you know that an external Web site is carrying a work in violation of the creator's copyright, do not link to that copy of the work. |
Wikipedia articles can include links to Web pages outside Wikipedia. Such pages could contain further research that is accurate and on-topic; information that could not be added to the article for reasons such as copyright or amount of detail (such as professional athlete statistics, movie or television credits, interview transcripts, or online textbooks); or other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article (such as reviews and interviews).
Some external links are welcome (see "What should be linked", below), but it is not Wikipedia's purpose to include a comprehensive list of external links related to each topic. No page should be linked from a Wikipedia article unless its inclusion is justified. Note that since Wikipedia uses nofollow tags, external links may not alter search engine rankings.
If the site or page to which you want to link includes information that is not yet a part of the article, consider using it as a source first. Refer to the citation guideline for instructions on citing sources.
The guideline of this article refers to external links other than citations. Citation links belong in the Notes or References section of a Wikipedia article. Care must be taken not to delete inline links and external links if it looks like they are being used as references. This guideline only concerns external links that provide additional info beyond that provided by citation/reference links. Err on the side of caution if a citation/reference link has not yet been moved to a reference section. Some articles need a reference section added. Use this wiki code:
- ==References==
- <references/>
Contents |
[edit] Important points to remember
- Links should be kept to a minimum. A lack of external links, or a small number of external links is not a reason to add external links.
- Rather than creating a long list of external links, editors should consider linking to a related category in the Open Directory Project (also known as DMOZ) that is devoted to creating relevant directories of links pertaining to various topics. (See {{Dmoz}}.) If there is no relevant category, you can request help finding or creating a category by placing {{Directory request}} on the article's talk page.
- Try to avoid linking to multiple pages from the same website; instead, try to find an appropriate linking page within the site.
[edit] Restrictions on linking
For policy or technical reasons, editors are restricted from linking to the following, without exception.
- Sites that violate the copyrights of others per contributors' rights and obligations should not be linked. Linking to websites that display copyrighted works is acceptable as long as the website has licensed the work. Knowingly directing others to a site that violates copyright may be considered contributory infringement. If you know that an external Web site is carrying a work in violation of the creator's copyright, do not link to that copy of the work. Linking to a page that illegally distributes someone else's work sheds a bad light on Wikipedia and its editors. This is particularly relevant when linking to sites such as YouTube, where due care should be taken to avoid linking to material that violates its creator's copyright.
- Sites that match the spam blacklist without being whitelisted. Pages that contain such links cannot be saved.
[edit] What to link
There are several things that should be considered when adding an external link.
- Is it accessible to the reader?
- Is it proper in the context of the article (useful, tasteful, informative, factual, etc.)?
- Is it a functional link, and likely to continue being a functional link?
Each link should be considered on its merits, using the following guidelines. As the number of external links in an article grows longer, assessment should become stricter.
[edit] What should be linked
- Articles about any organization, person, web site, or other entity should link to the official site if any.
- An article about a book, a musical score, or some other media should link to a site hosting a copy of the work if none of the "Links normally to be avoided" criteria apply.
- Sites that contain neutral and accurate material that cannot be integrated into the Wikipedia article due to copyright issues, amount of detail (such as professional athlete statistics, movie or television credits, interview transcripts, or online textbooks) or other reasons.
- Sites with other meaningful, relevant content that is not suitable for inclusion in an article, such as reviews and interviews.
[edit] Links to be considered
- For albums, movies, books, and other creative works, links to professional reviews.
- A web directory category, when deemed appropriate by those contributing to the article, with preference to open directories.
- Very large pages should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Worldwide, many use Wikipedia with a low-speed connection. Unusually large pages should be annotated as such.
[edit] Links normally to be avoided
Except for a link to a page that is the subject of the article or an official page of the article subject—and not prohibited by restrictions on linking—one should avoid:
- Any site that does not provide a unique resource beyond what the article would contain if it became a Featured article.
- Any site that misleads the reader by use of factually inaccurate material or unverifiable research. See Wikipedia:Attribution#Reliable sources.
- Links mainly intended to promote a website.
- Links to sites that primarily exist to sell products or services. For example, instead of linking to a commercial bookstore site, use the "ISBN" linking format, giving readers an opportunity to search a wide variety of free and non-free book sources.
- Links to sites with objectionable amounts of advertising.
- Links to sites that require payment or registration to view the relevant content.
- Sites that are inaccessible to a substantial number of users, such as sites that only work with a specific browser.
- Direct links to documents that require external applications (such as Flash or Java) to view the relevant content, unless the article is about such rich media. If you do link to such material make a note of what application is required.
- Links to search engine and aggregated results pages.
- Links to social networking sites (such as MySpace), discussion forums or USENET.
- Links to blogs and personal web pages, except those written by a recognized authority.
- Links to open wikis, except those with a substantial history of stability and a substantial number of editors.
- Sites that are only indirectly related to the article's subject: the link should be directly related to the subject of the article. A general site that has information about a variety of subjects should usually not be linked to from an article on a more specific subject. Similarly, a website on a specific subject should usually not be linked to an article about a general subject. If a section of a general website is devoted to the subject of the article, and meets the other criteria for linking, then that part of the site could be deep-linked.
[edit] Advertising and conflicts of interest
Due to the rising profile of Wikipedia and the amount of extra traffic it can bring a site, there is a great temptation to use Wikipedia to advertise or promote links. This includes both commercial and non-commercial sites. You should avoid linking to a website that you own, maintain or represent, even if the guidelines otherwise imply that it should be linked. If the link is to a relevant and informative site that should otherwise be included, please consider mentioning it on the talk page and let neutral and independent Wikipedia editors decide whether to add it. This is in line with the conflict of interest guidelines.
A few parties now appear to have a spambot capable of spamming wikis from several different wiki engines, analogous to the submitter scripts for guestbooks and blogs. If you see a bot inserting external links, please consider checking the other language wikis to see if the attack is widespread. If it is, please contact a sysop on the meta-wiki; they can put in a Wikimedia-wide text filter. Sysops should block unauthorised bots on sight.
[edit] Sites requiring registration
Sites that require registration or a paid subscription should be avoided because they are of limited use to most readers. Many online newspapers require registration to access some or all of their content, while some require a subscription. Online magazines frequently require subscriptions to access their sites or for premium content. If old newspaper and magazines articles are archived, there is usually a fee for accessing them.
A site that requires registration or a subscription should not be linked unless:
- The web site itself is the topic of the article.
[edit] Foreign-language links
English language links are strongly preferred in the English-language Wikipedia. It may be appropriate to have a link to a foreign-language site, such as when an official site is unavailable in English, when the link is to the subject's text in its original language or they contain visual aids such as maps, diagrams, or tables, per the guideline on foreign-language sites.
When linking to a site in a foreign language under the exceptions above, label the link with a language icon, available for most languages, using two-letter language codes: for example, {{es icon}}, {{fr icon}}, etc.
[edit] Redirection sites
Do not use URL redirection sites in external links. Such sites include tinyurl.com and makeashorterlink.com. Most of these sites are listed in the m:Spam blacklist because they are frequently abused by link spammers, which means that it is not possible to save a page that contains such a link. Since URL redirection sites are added to the blacklist whenever abuse occurs, you may create problems for future editors by using them.
Permanent URL sites, like purl.org, may be a different case, as sometimes the PURL version is considered by the site owner to be a more official URL than the direct URL—in that case, the PURL should be used.
It is generally preferred to link to the exact destination of a link. For instance, if example.com is an automatic redirect to tripod.com/example, it is better to link to the exact page, even if the webmaster considers the redirect address to be more official.
[edit] Rich media
It is acceptable to link to pages rendered in normal HTML or plain text. Check that the content type of the linked page is "text/html", "text/plain", or "application/xhtml+xml" as some pages may instead be rendered solely by platform-dependent plugins. Avoid directly linking to any content that requires special software, or an add-on to a browser. It is always preferred to link to a page rendered in normal HTML that contains embedded links to the rich media.
In an instance where a link to rich media is deemed appropriate, an explicit indication of the technology needed to access the content must be given, as in the following examples:
- Interview (along with Lenny Kaye) November 11, 2005 on KEXP; 53 minutes, includes three songs. (Windows Media Player, RealPlayer).
- Berkowitz, Joel, Avrom Goldfaden and the Modern Yiddish Theater: The Bard of Old Constantine (PDF), Pakn Treger, no. 44, Winter 2004, 10–19.
[edit] Avoid undue weight on particular points of view
On articles with multiple points of view, the number of links dedicated to one point of view should not overwhelm the number dedicated to other equal points of view, nor give undue weight to minority views. Add comments to these links informing the reader of their point of view. If one point of view dominates informed opinion, that should be represented first. For more information, see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view—in particular, Wikipedia's guidelines on undue weight.
[edit] Longevity of links
It is very important to consider if the link is likely to remain relevant and acceptable to the article in the foreseeable future. For example, it is not useful to link to a homepage that changes often and merely happens to have a relevant picture or article on its front page at the moment. Similarly, be wary of citing an unstable page as a source.
[edit] What can be done with a dead external link
- See also: Wikipedia:Dead external links
Links to dead URLs in a list of external links are of no use to Wikipedia articles. Such dead links should either be removed, or updated with archived versions, which may be found at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Note however, that the matter can be quite different when these links are references: see Wikipedia:Citing sources#What to do when a reference link "goes dead".
Note that some dead links are caused by vandalism (for example, a vandal disabling links to products competing with the vandal's favored product): it is worth checking to see if there is a working version of the link in an earlier version of article. Some vandalism of this type is quite subtle, such as replacing ASCII letters in the URL with identical-looking Cyrillic letters.
[edit] Hijacked sites
Occasionally a site will be "hijacked", and while the URL is still valid it points to a page with different or altered content. One common cause of this has been the site's domain name expiring and being bought out for a different purpose. This can lead to inappropriate content being linked, including in some cases pornography sites.[1] Sites that have been hijacked should not be linked; they should be handled in the same manner as dead links.
[edit] How to link
Link with no text (code and example output):
[http://example.com/] [1]
Link containing text:
[http://example.com/ The RFC mandated example.com website] The RFC mandated example.com website
All text following a space is taken as the text to use for the link. Embedding wikilinks into the link text is incorrect; instead choose the appropriate words to link.
"The [[RFC]] mandated [http://example.com/ example.com website]". "The RFC mandated example.com website".
[edit] External links section
There are two basic formats for external links. The most common is to add a list of external links at the end of an article. Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. The standard format for these is to have a level 2 header (i.e. == Header ==) named "External links" followed by a bullet list of links. The header should be "External links" (plural) even if there is only a single link listed.
If you link to another website, you should give your reader a good summary of the site's contents, and the reasons why this specific website is relevant to the article in question. If you cite an online article, try to provide as much meaningful citation information as possible.
== External links == * [http://example.com/link_1 Link 1] * [http://example.com/link_2 Link 2]
[edit] References and citation
Sites that have been used as references in the creation of an article should be linked in a references section, not an external links section. See Wikipedia:Attribution and Wikipedia:Citing sources for specific formatting and linking guidelines for citations.
[edit] See also
For more detailed information regarding Wikipedia policy toward and appropriate syntax for external links, see:
- Wikipedia:How to edit a page#Links and URLs
- Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links)
- m:When should I link externally
- Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles
- Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines
- Wikipedia:Links
- Category:External link file type templates
- Maintenance coordination
- {{External links}}
- Wikipedia:Dead external links
- WikiProject Spam helps to coordinate Wikimedian's efforts against external link spamming.
