Editing Internal and external links (section)

{{Short description|Hyperlink to a resource in the same domain or website}}
{{Self reference|For information about internal links in Wikipedia, see [[Help:Link#Wikilinks]]}}
{{Redirect|selfref=yes|External link|information about external links in Wikipedia|Wikipedia:External links}}
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{{more citations needed|date=December 2013}}
{{original research|date=June 2024}}
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An '''internal link''' is a type of [[hyperlink]] on a [[web page]] to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same [[website]] or [[domain name|domain]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283204|title=The Difference Between External and Internal Links|date=11 October 2016|publisher=[[Entrepreneur (magazine)|Entrepreneur]]|access-date=8 March 2022|author=Eric Siu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://whatisdiff.com/difference-between-internal-and-external|title=Internal vs External – Difference Between Internal and External|website=whatisdiff.com| date=23 October 2019 |access-date=8 March 2022}}</ref> It is the opposite of an '''external link''', a link that directs a user to content that is outside its domain.

Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination. Generally, a link to a page outside the same domain or website is considered external, whereas one that points at another section of the same web page or to another page of the same website or domain is considered internal. Both internal and external links allow users of the website to navigate to another web page or resource.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Riley |first1=Julie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erqbaY-QQDwC&q=%22Internal+Link%22+is+a+link&pg=PA54 |title=Microsoft Expression Web 3 : illustrated introductory |date=2011 |publisher=Course Technology Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0538750417 |location=Australia |page=53 |access-date=4 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=8 September 2020 |title=Difference between External link and Internal link |url=https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-external-link-and-internal-link/ |access-date=8 March 2022 |publisher=GeeksforGeeks}}</ref> These definitions become clouded, however, when the same organization operates multiple domains functioning as a single web experience, e.g. when a secure commerce website is used for purchasing things displayed on a [[Secure website|non-secure website]]. In these cases, links that are "external" by the above definition can conceivably be classified as "internal" for some purposes. Ultimately, an internal link points to a web page or resource in the same [[root directory]].

Similarly, seemingly "internal" links are in fact "external" for many purposes, for example in the case of linking among [[subdomain]]s of a main domain, which are not operated by the same person(s). For example, a [[blog]]ging platform, such as [[WordPress]], [[Blogger (service)|Blogger]] or [[Tumblr]] host thousands of different blogs on subdomains, which are entirely unrelated and the authors of which are generally unknown to each other with no control <ref>{{Cite web |last=Khosravi |first=Saeed |date=2024-12-13 |title=Internal vs. External Links: Understanding Their Role in SEO |url=https://www.twylu.com/internal-vs-external-links-understanding-their-role-in-seo/ |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=Twylu |language=en-US}}</ref> over the links outside their own subdomain or blog. In these contexts one might view a link as "internal" only if it linked within the same blog, not to other blogs within the same domain.

The existence of internal links are used in [[Website|websites]] in order to navigate to multiple pages under a domain, making them a requirement if a website were to have more than one page (unless that page is meant to be inaccessible to the average visitor). Internal Links are also commonly used by [[Web crawler|web crawlers]] (e.g. for indexing a website for a [[search engine]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Web Crawlers: Browsing the Web |url=https://webbrowsersintroduction.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206205907/https://webbrowsersintroduction.com/ |archive-date=6 December 2021}}</ref>