Link Farming

(1) The process of exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase search engine optimization. The idea behind link farming is to increase the number of sites that link to yours because search engines such as Google rank sites according to, among other things, the quality and quantity of sites that link to yours. In theory, the more sites that link to yours, the higher your ranking in the search engine results will be because the more links indicate a higher level of popularity among users of the Internet. However, search engines such as Google consider link farming as a form of spam and have been implementing procedures to banish sites that participate in link farming, so the term link farminghas garnered negative connotations across the Internet.

Also see How Web Search Engines Work in the Did You Know . . . ?section of Webopedia.

There are many service providers who promise to help you boost your link popularity by automatically entering you into link exchange programs they operate, often linking your page with Web sites that have nothing to do with your content. But users should be aware of the repercussions of this action as the major search engines penalize sites that participate in link farming, thereby reversing their intended effect. A link farmis a Web page that is nothing more than a page of links to other sites.

(2) In Unix systems, a link farm is a directory tree containing links to files in a master directory tree of files.

Webopedia Staff
Webopedia Staff
Since 1995, more than 100 tech experts and researchers have kept Webopedia’s definitions, articles, and study guides up to date. For more information on current editorial staff, please visit our About page.
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.
Get the Free Newsletter
Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
This email address is invalid.

Related Articles

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts a device's Internet access through a secure server. It is most frequently used for remote employees accessing a...

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule and shows the dependency between tasks and the current schedule...

Input Sanitization

Input sanitization is a cybersecurity measure of checking, cleaning, and filtering data inputs from users, APIs, and web services of any unwanted characters and...

IT Asset Management Software

IT asset management software (ITAM software) is an application for organizing, recording, and tracking all of an organization s hardware and software assets throughout...

ScalaHosting

ScalaHosting is a leading managed hosting provider that offers secure, scalable, and affordable...

HRIS

Human resources information system (HRIS) solutions help businesses manage multiple facets of their...

Best Managed Service Providers...

In today's business world, managed services are more critical than ever. They can...