Deep Linking Cameron Boyle Greg Brown Genevieve Chua XuanHuong Luong

What is Deep Linking? Deep Linking is linking to a web page other than a site’s homepage. This type of linking bypasses the homepage of the document that is being linked to.

What is Deep Linking II: The “deep” refers to the depth of the page in a site’s hierarchical structure of pages. Any page below the top page in the hierarchy can thus be considered deep.

Issues in Deep Linking: Deep linking has only begun to spark mild controversies in recent times as the Web has become more commercialized. One of the fundamental strengths of the Web is the ability for any public document to connect to any other public document.

Issues in Deep Linking II: The legality of deep linking has been called into question in several lawsuits involving well-known corporations. Opponents of deep linking argue that deep linking unfairly eliminates the ability of the homepage to contribute to brand building and ad serving functions.

Issues in Deep Linking III: Proponents of deep linking contend that the ability to link freely is central to the philosophy behind the public internet. They also argue that a deep link is better than NO LINK. Deep linking may even be more profitable than a homepage link if the site has poor navigational structure.

Why Deep Linking? Deep linking is used to offer links to important information that the author wants the user to have easy access to. Educational Use: A student could be sent straight to the article rather than having to waste time searching for the article from the homepage.

Why Deep Linking II: Internal Company Use: A company could add a link that would send an employee straight to the purchasing page to give them easy access to contract information. Commercial Use: A company could use a deep link to get protected material for it’s own profit

Deep Linking is Good Linking: Deep linking enhances usability because it is more likely to satisfy user’s needs. Generic links, such as links to a company’s homepage are less useful than specific links that take users to an individual article of product.

Supporting Deep-Link Users: Tell users their arrival point, and how they can proceed to other parts of the site by including 3 design elements on every single page : 1) Company name or logo. 2) Direct, one click link to the homepage. 3) Search tool.

Supporting Deep-Link Users II: Orient the user relative to the rest of the website. If the site has hierarchical information architecture, a breadcrumb trail is usually the best method of approaching this. Including links to other resources that are directly relevant to the current location.

Supporting Deep-Link Users III: Don’t assume that users have followed a drill-down path to arrive at the current page. They may not have seen information that was contained on higher-level pages.

Ticketmaster vs. Microsoft’s Sidewalk Site: In April 1997, Ticketmaster sued Microsoft Sidewalk Site for deep linking to pages within the Ticketmaster site. Ticketmaster contended that by deep linking, Microsoft was intentionally bypassing advertising and links to other services offered by Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster vs. Microsoft’s Sidewalk Site: Ticketmaster demanded that Microsoft only link to their homepage, so that some sort of control could be exercised over the experience of visitors to the site. The case was settled confidentially in February 1999.

Conclusion: A website is like a house with a million entrances: the front door is simply one among many ways to get in. A good website will accommodate visitors who choose alternate routes.