We’ll consider the former further below. But first let’s consider what was previously a key issue; not so much now.
Deep linking refers to the practice of linking to pages within a website rather than to the home page of the site. That was once a problem for some publishers; but it is commonplace and largely unobjectionable now.
Over time, the increasing importance of Google results and, in recent years, the rise of social media, have led to deep linking becoming commonplace and indeed sought after. A large proportion of web links today – billions a day – emanate from “sharing” articles and other web pages and media via Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Effective website design now includes use of facilities which optimise the context of these deep links on social media; meta data tags on the web pages will determine the snippet and image (if any) that will be displayed when a link to that page is shared on social media.
What of links to works which infringe copyright or which are otherwise restricted, for example behind a subscription paywall? According to EU law, these cases hinge on whether and in what circumstance the links “communicate the work to the public”.
1 Don’t link to a site or a particular page if you feel there may be any objection. If a site objects to a link, remove it immediately.
2 Take care when choosing or crafting your link text; context is all. Make clear the subject of your target and don’t mislead.
3 Link at the appropriate level; that URL you copied from your browser is not necessarily the optimum. A parent page or folder or a home page may be more appropriate.
4 Authors and publishers expect to be attributed and appreciate those who take care to do so fully and accurately.
5 Be careful when citing brand names in or in context with your link text.
Image: Links cc by Balrog Daemon on Flickr.