Link Analysis: Web 2.0 and Small Business
The hyperlink is the glue of the World Wide Web at the core of Web surfing and the most important element of any Web page. The hyperlinks are also part of sophisticated search engine algorithms and have become a commodity; bought or sold to the highest bidders depending on location, exposure and demand.
The importance of the hyperlink is enough reason to look closely at the hyperlink in numbers. We have data obtained from two samples of Web sites with one being Web 2.0 oriented Web sites and the other is small business Web sites having prominent positions with major search engines.
| Table 1: Link Analysis - Web 2.0 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | Observed Category | % Found | Average | Min | Max | Median | 80 Percentile Range | |
| Links Unique Internal | Web 2.0 Oriented | 97.90 | 46.75 | 1.00 | 465.00 | 8.00 | 6.00 - 121.00 | |
| Links Unique External | Web 2.0 Oriented | 91.94 | 19.90 | 1.00 | 366.00 | 14.00 | 1.00 - 46.00 | |
| Links Internal Total | Web 2.0 Oriented | 97.90 | 66.25 | 1.00 | 865.00 | 10.00 | 7.00 - 157.00 | |
| Links External Total | Web 2.0 Oriented | 91.94 | 28.32 | 1.00 | 1,063.00 | 24.00 | 1.00 - 58.00 | |
| Link Text Length | Web 2.0 Oriented | 98.96 | 12.76 | 1.00 | 179.00 | 12.00 | 7.00 - 19.00 | |
| Meaningful Words in Links | Web 2.0 Oriented | 73.69 | 1.18 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 - 2.00 | |
| Links Total | Web 2.0 Oriented | 99.66 | 91.21 | 2.00 | 1,122.00 | 98.00 | 12.00 - 214.50 | |
| Links Total Unique | Web 2.0 Oriented | 99.66 | 64.28 | 2.00 | 468.00 | 78.00 | 9.00 - 149.50 | |
According to table 1 this sample of Web 2.0 Web sites do not use the nofollow attribute which is in accordance of the view that Web 2.0 Web sites' nature is to link freely to other Web sites. The average length of the links text is very close to the first 11 characters that users see.
| Table 2: Link Analysis - Small Business | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observed Element | Observed Category | % Found | Average | Min | Max | Median | 80 Percentile Range | |
| Links Unique Internal | Small Business | 97.80 | 48.99 | 2.00 | 199.00 | 143.00 | 8.00 - 121.00 | |
| Links Unique External | Small Business | 90.11 | 25.35 | 1.00 | 214.00 | 48.00 | 1.00 - 67.00 | |
| Links Internal Total | Small Business | 97.80 | 67.84 | 2.00 | 393.00 | 295.00 | 13.00 - 158.00 | |
| Links External Total | Small Business | 90.11 | 30.57 | 1.00 | 220.00 | 62.00 | 1.30 - 87.90 | |
| Link Text Length | Small Business | 98.91 | 14.39 | 1.00 | 77.00 | 14.00 | 5.10 - 20.00 | |
| Meaningful Words in Links | Small Business | 79.13 | 1.39 | 1.00 | 8.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 - 2.00 | |
| Links Total | Small Business | 100.00 | 93.90 | 1.00 | 515.00 | 515.00 | 17.00 - 216.80 | |
| Links Total Unique | Small Business | 100.00 | 70.76 | 1.00 | 324.00 | 324.00 | 13.40 - 177.20 | |
| Nofollow Links | Small Business | 1.11 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 - 3.00 | |
Table 2 shows the same data from a sample of small business Web sites having prominent search result positions with major search engines. This sample shows these Web sites are more likely to use the nofollow tag. It also shows that link text is longer, number of links is higher and the number of meaningful words is higher than in the Web 2.0 sample.
Chart 1 shows that overall the small business numbers are higher comparing various link data.
Related links:
