Thanks For The Link, Mainstream Media — Now Let’s Have More!

I’ve been publishing online about search for nearly 11 years now. My work, or
my comments, have
been quoted in mainstream publications on the topic of search for virtually the same time.
Much more often than not, those references never include a live link back to my web
site, not from the websites of those same mainstream publications where links
are totally possible.

Over the years, I’ve watched others in similar situations get upset about
this. For me, it wasn’t a big of a deal. I was glad to be mentioned, and
not getting links from mainstream publications just seemed part of the territory.
They don’t link. But earlier this month, something different happened. I got a live link from a
New York Times article. Seeing the traffic made me want more.

I’ve been quoted many, many times in the NYT. Heck, I was even

profiled way back in March 2000. Not once do I recall seeing a link to my
site or any of my work. That changed on March 15.

Google Adds a Safeguard on Privacy for Searchers was an article that cited
me at the end, including a link to Search Engine Land.

I don’t know if there’s a policy change there are not. All I know is that I
quickly noticed visits coming in. Hundreds. To date, 645 visits in all. A lot of
people read that article — and hundreds were interested enough in what I said
or in my site to click through from the link.

To me, that underscores why for the mainstream media, enough is enough, when
it comes to not linking. You need to be linking out to sources. For one, it’s
the right thing to do in the ecosystem of the web, where people link back and
forth between each other. Plenty of blogs and other sites point at mainstream
media articles. The mainstream media needs to support the ecosystem by linking
back.

For another, it’s the right thing to do for readers at these sites. As I
said, plenty of people clearly were interested enough in my site to want to
visit. Old school mentality is that outlinking means these people are then lost.
They aren’t. They are people who will appreciate that the New York Times (or
other sites) have provided them with information and made it easy for them to
find out more.

Here’s an example of how not outlinking can be very bad. This week,
Photobucket got

profiled in a Fortune article carried by CNNMoney. But the CNNMoney version
didn’t link to Photobucket at all in the story. The entire story is about
Photobucket, but no link to the service? That’s a bad user experience.

Now, I’ve been guilty of the same thing. Often we’ll write about Google or
Yahoo or Ask but not link to them, simply because we figure our audience pretty
much knows how to get to them. But still, even with these service, we often
link. But in a profile about a service headlined "The biggest Web site you’ve
never heard of," no link to this unknown service? C’mon.

I’m not expecting a situation where every word becomes a link, that every
reference to any company has to get hyperlinked. But it’s probably overdue for
more linking to be happening from the mainstream media sites in particular. I’ve
written before that
I have seen spikes even from non-linked press mentions. I understand that being
mentioned has benefits even without a links, and I’m grateful for those (which,
by the way, often come from spending long amounts of time answering questions
from reporters, nor do you always get a mention — again, that’s part of the
territory).

Still, I want to see more links for everyone. I hope they’ll come.

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.