![]() | This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
Template:Policy-change-warning
![]() | This page in a nutshell: Adding external links can be a service to our readers, but they should be kept to a minimum of those that are meritable, accessible and appropriate to the article |
Manual of Style (MoS) |
---|
Wikipedia articles can often be improved by providing links to web pages outside Wikipedia which contain information that can't or shouldn't be added to the article. These links belong in an External links section near the bottom of the article.
Some external links are welcome (see below), but it is not Wikipedia's purpose to include a comprehensive list of external links related to each topic. If the site or page you want to link to includes information that is not yet a part of the article, consider using it as a source first. Refer to the citation guideline for instructions on citing sources. This guideline refers to external links other than citations.
For policy or technical reasons, editors are restricted from linking to the following, without exception.
There are several things which should be considered when adding an external link.
Each link be considered on its merits, using the following guidelines. As the number of external links in an article grows longer, assessment should become stricter.
Except for a link to a page that is the subject of the article or is an official page of the subject of the article, one should avoid:
Sites that require registration or a paid subscription should be avoided because they are of limited use to most readers. Many online newspapers require registration to access some or all of their content, while some require a subscription. Online magazines frequently require subscriptions to access their sites or for premium content. If old newspaper and magazines articles are archived, there is usually a fee for accessing them.
A site that requires registration or a subscription should not be linked to unless:
English language links are strongly preferred in the English-language Wikipedia. It may be appropriate to have a link to a foreign language site, such as when an official site is unavailable in English, when the link is to the subject's text in its original language or they contain visual aids such as maps, diagrams, or tables, per the guideline on foreign-language sites.
When linking to a site in a foreign language under the exceptions above, label the link with a language icon, available for most languages, using two-letter language codes: for example, ((es icon)), ((fr icon)), etc.
Do not use URL redirection sites in external links. Such sites include tinyurl.com and makeashorterlink.com. Most of these sites are listed in the m:Spam blacklist because they are frequently abused by link spammers, which means that it is not possible to save a page that contains such a link. Since URL redirection sites are added to the blacklist whenever abuse occurs, you may create problems for future editors by using them.
Permanent URL sites, like purl.org, may be a different case, as sometimes the PURL version is considered by the site owner to be a more official URL than the direct URL — in that case, the PURL should be used.
It is generally preferred to link to the exact destination of a link. For instance, if example.com is an automatic redirect to tripod.com/example, it is better to link to the exact page, even if the webmaster considers the redirect address to be more official.
It is acceptable to link to pages rendered in normal HTML or plain text. Check that the content type of page linked to is "text/html", "text/plain", or "application/xhtml+xml" as some pages may instead be rendered solely by platform dependant plugins. Avoid directly linking to any content that requires special software, or an add on to a browser. It is always preferred to link to a page rendered in normal HTML that contains embedded links to the rich media.
In an instance where a link to rich media is deemed appropriate, an explicit indication of the technology needed to access the content must be given, as in the following examples:
On articles with multiple points of view, the number of links dedicated to one point of view should not overwhelm the number dedicated to other equal points of view, nor give undue weight to minority views. Add comments to these links informing the reader of their point of view. If one point of view dominates informed opinion, that should be represented first. For more information, see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view – in particular, Wikipedia's guidelines on undue weight.
It is very important to consider if the link is likely to remain relevant and acceptable to the article in the foreseeable future. For example, it is not useful to link to a homepage that changes often and merely happens to have a relevant picture or article on its front page at the moment. Similarly, be wary of citing an unstable page as a source.
See also: Wikipedia:Dead external links |
Links to dead URLs in a list of external links are of no use to Wikipedia articles. Such dead links should either be removed, or updated with archived versions, which may be found at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Note however, that the matter can be quite different when these links are references: see Wikipedia:Citing sources#What to do when a reference link "goes dead".
Note that some dead links are caused by vandalism (for example, a vandal disabling links to products competing with the vandal's favored product): it is worth checking to see if there is a working version of the link in an earlier version of article. Some vandalism of this type is quite subtle, such as replacing ASCII letters in the URL with identical-looking Cyrillic letters.
Occasionally a site will be "hijacked", and while the URL is still valid it points to a page with different or altered content. One common cause of this has been the site's domain name expiring and being bought out for a different purpose. This can lead to highly inappropriate content being linked to, including in some cases pornography sites.[1] Sites which have been hijacked should not be linked to, and handled in the same manner as dead links.
Link with no text (code and example output):
[http://example.com/] [1]
Link containing text:
[http://example.com/ The RFC mandated example.com website] The RFC mandated example.com website
All text following a space is taken as the text to use for the link. Embedding wikilinks into the link text is incorrect, instead choose the appropriate words to link.
"The [[RFC]] mandated [http://example.com/ example.com website]". "The RFC mandated example.com website".
There are two basic formats for external links. The most common is to add a list of external links at the end of an article. Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. The standard format for these is to have a level 2 header (i.e. == Header ==) named "External links" followed by a bullet list of links.
If you link to another website, you should give your reader a good summary of the site's contents, and the reasons why this specific website is relevant to the article in question. If you cite an online article, try to provide as much meaningful citation information as possible.
=== External links === * [http://example.com/link_1 Link 1] * [http://example.com/link_2 Link 2]
Sites that have been used as references in the creation of an article should be linked to in a references section, not an external links section. See Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Citing sources for specific formatting and linking guidelines for citations.
For more detailed information regarding Wikipedia policy toward and appropriate syntax for external links, see:
((cite web))
: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1=
(help)