The Semantic Web and One Way Links

What is the semantic web? In simplest terms, it's the extension of the web into form and format that helps machines better organize and represent information. It's based on human assumptions and learns as it grows.

When the internet first became public, it wasn't very organized. Information relationships were varied and arbitrary.

It's all about relationships

The semantic web brings a relational structure to information and people. It's very similar to a relational database. A relational database allows multiple pieces of seemingly different data to be combined into organized records. Once the relationships are established, the software, or machine, does the rest.

Relationships on the web are made with anchor text with an anchor tag (href tag). These tags point to different files and locations on the same or different websites. The anchor text, the text you actually click on in the link, is what establishes the relationship. The anchor text I use is establishing the relationship between the website and the content on that website.

Thinking in relationships

You'll actually help yourself in your search engine optimization efforts by thinking in relationships. If you want someone to link to your site, you don't want them to use "click here" or "this site" or some other type of generic text as the anchor text. Why? Because it's not establishing a specific relationship. It's simply a way to add a better user experience. But, what may help a user won't help you improve your search engine rankings.

When you place a link, ask yourself, "What's going to serve humans and machines at the same time? You don't want to deceive anyone but you want to make sure the search engines, the machines, are finding and establishing the relationships that will ultimately lead to better search engine rankings.

I've outlined the very basics of the semantic web and what it means in regards to relationships establishment. If you can train yourself to think in terms of the relationships you're creating with your links, you'll come away with a better understanding of how search engines choose to rank websites for specific keyword terms.

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