Are co‐linked business web sites really related? A link classification study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520710780403 |
| Date | 14 August 2007 |
| Published date | 14 August 2007 |
| Pages | 440-450 |
| Author | Liwen Vaughan,Margaret Kipp,Yijun Gao |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Are co-linked business web sites
really related? A link
classification study
Liwen Vaughan, Margaret Kipp and Yijun Gao
Faculty of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine the reasons for the creation of co-links between
pairs of business web sites. Specifically, to determine whether co-linked business web sites are really
related.
Design/methodology/approach – Co-links to 32 telecommunications companies were retrieved
using Yahoo! and a random sample of 495 co-linking pages (the page that initiated the co-link) were
selected for a content analysis. The context of the co-link and the content of the co-linking page were
manually examined to record the following data: type of web site and the reason for the creation of the
co-link.
Findings – The study found that 61.4 per cent of co-links were created to connected pairs of highly
related businesses (related companies, related products, and related services). Only 14.7 per cent of
co-links were created for non-business reasons. The remaining 23.8 per cent of co-linked sites showed a
loose or marginal business relationship. The study also found that co-links targeting home pages (as
opposed to non-homepages) were more likely to connect related businesses. Furthermore, co-links
coming from commercial sites (as opposed to other sites such as educational sites) are more likely to
link related businesses.
Originality/value – The findings from this content analysis study confirm results from previous
quantitative studies that showed that web co-links measure relatedness of co-linked sites and that
co-links can be objects of web data mining. The study contributes to our understanding of link
motivations and the web linking phenomenon in general. The difference between links to homepages
and that to non-homepages found in the study can guide us in co-link data collection.
Keywords Worldwide web, Contentmanagement, Business environment
Paper type Research paper
Background of the study
As the web has grown in overall importance, the value of the web to business
development has also increased. Hyperlinks among web sites link businesses,
customers and suppliers in an interconnected network fostering the growth of
e-commerce. Previous studies of business related hyperlinks have shown that these
links contain potentially useful business information. (Reid, 2003; Tan et al., 2002). In
particular, the number of links to a company’s web site (i.e. inlinks) correlates with
standard business performance measures such as revenue and profit (Vaughan, 2004a;
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
This study is part of a larger project funded by the Initiative on the New Economy (INE)
Research Grants program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC).
OIR
31,4
440
Refereed article received
18 September 2006
Revision approved for
publication 27 January 2007
Online Information Review
Vol. 31 No. 4, 2007
pp. 440-450
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520710780403
To continue reading
Request your trial