link bait
English
edit
Alternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom link + -bait (manipulation to elicit a particular response).
Noun
edit- (Internet marketing) Articles, infographics, videos, and other content on websites created as part of a strategy to attract links and go viral.
- 2007, Amelia Painter, Opening and Operating a Bed & Breakfast in the 21st Century, page 183:
- Sustainable link bait is rooted in quality content.
- 2009, Susan Rice Lincoln, Mastering Web 2.0:
- A good link bait tool will create 'brand evangelists' — people who will talk positively about you.
- 2011, Susan Gunelius, Content Marketing For Dummies, page 53:
- Link bait content is typically written about a hot, real-time topic such as breaking news.
- 2013, Evan Bailyn, SEO Made Easy:
- I've seen link bait succeed in the form of a downloadable scientific research paper, and I've seen it succeed in the form of a picture of a golden retriever in a tutu.
- (Internet marketing, nonstandard) Provocative headlines designed specifically to persuade people to click or share by using loaded terminology (e.g. incredible, secret, shocking, unbelievable), posing provocative questions, or tying themselves in to hot topics.
- 2010, Douglas Karr, Chantelle Flannery, Corporate Blogging For Dummies, page 384:
- Many bloggers write false story headings about search topics that are trending as well, resulting in high bounce rates, abandonment by subscribers, and raising the ire of other bloggers in the industry. You should never write false headings or try to manipulate your readers with link bait.
- 2014, Sunni Brown, The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently:
- Link bait is content or a feature on a website that is expressly designed to get users' attention so they click through to another website.
- 2017, Jayne Barnett, Advertising Nuggets:
- There is also content that appears on the bottom of many websites with link bait type headlines like, "See the Dinner Hack that Millennials are Crazy for."
- 2017, Anne Ahola Ward, The SEO Battlefield, page 22:
- Further black hat examples could be misleading link bait from ads for poorly _targeted news articles, clicking on links spawning extra windows, or simply only dealing with robots (in a shady way).
Usage notes
edit- Link bait and clickbait may be regarded as similar techniques seen from slightly different perspectives:
- Clickbait is content attached to a link that is designed to entice visitors to follow said link to a desired webpage.
- Link bait is content on a webpage designed to entice content developers of other websites (or users of social media sites) to publish a link to a desired page.