Making toast on Sunday morning was changed forever in 1928. The invention of the bread slicer provided a change in technology but did not replace the need to slice bread. It’s the same with link references on the web. A new technology doesn’t necessarily change what’s always been done – it just does it faster or makes it easier for the human end-user.
Google determines webpage importance according to the link count to that page. Links end up having a serious impact on your webpage link count and weighting for your page rank. Ever wondered where this came from? Do you think it was Google’s unique idea?
I’m sure they would like to take credit for it but the answer is no. If you have ever gathered a list of references for a paper at university or read any serious non-fiction or scientific book, you’ve probably done or have seen what Google has automated for the Internet world of end-users who search for information constantly.
Traditional references to other articles and book sources are provided in a list at the end of a piece of writing. These are called bibliography. This will lead readers to additional information and tell them what writings the author referred to when creating the book. You may also use it to evaluate the quality of the book you’ve just read – to make sure it has used legitimate information.
Bibliographic index or bibliographic database is a collection of these references which is used to find particular articles, magazines or books. And the reference count is used to determine legitimacy of a particular writing. Is this starting to sound familiar? Since Google uses linking references to rank its page results, this enhances a site’s “legitimacy” automatically, and improves your website’s rank on the Internet according to Google’s system.
An analog search engine was established in 1896. Index cards were used to build a database of books and people could mail in their requests for material. They would then have the information they needed to look up the book at the local library. Some professional indexers still use a method like this today to ensure key words are incorporated into an index. Indexing and inserting key word alternatives are critical to Search Engine Optimization as well.
Bibliographers, such as this one working in the 16th century, provided key historical texts that catalogued important writers in history. Without these types of reference lists, many people would not know that this kind of information was available.
The library that started on clay tablets is now going online. It should be interesting to see how search engines and webmasters cope with the information catalogs of the future. With hard copy formats disappearing, how does one reference a page number? How big is a page? What kind of linking will occur when new types of search engines, such as WolframAlpha, are developed to present information in a different way.
If your site’s reputation online depends on its links and the number of references you have, it would be interesting to keep up with new types of technology that have become available to streamline a basic need. Manage your links and satisfy the need for information – electronically and at your fingertips.
