High-quality linking is a skill like writing. Skilled wikilinking is central to achieving good articles on Wikipedia. It was only eight or nine years after the start of the English Wikipedia that we began to realise the potential for refining wikilinking—how sophisticated decision-making is required to achieve a high standard of linking: what to link, what not to link, how and when to research more focused links, and how to integrate links smoothly into the text. In this respect, linking deserves attention just as our prose. Please keep in mind two things:
- your readers rely on you to guide them toward the best links
- it's highly likely that readers click on links much less than we think they do, especially if the linking is dense
Overlinking. There's been increasing awareness that overlinking damages the linking system through dilution of high-value links in the vicinity, and that sprinkling low-value links through a text degrades its professional appearance and undermines readers' confidence that links will take them somewhere relevant. So there's a trade-off in linking: increased utility needs to be balanced against the disadvantages of diluting other links close by, and of crowding the text with blue. While few editors would disagree that certain items should not be linked, and certain items should be linked, there is a grey area in the middle in which the decision to link or not link is an art rather than a laid-down, universally accepted decision.
Underlinking. We believe this is less of an issue than overlinking; it is nevertheless important to give readers links to articles (or article-sections) that are likely to be focused, relevant, and useful. This is particularly the case in highly technical topics.
Four key tests. Applying these tests will help you to make decisions about linking:
- Relevance: Is the link-target sufficiently relevant and useful to link in the context? (See WP:LINK.)
- Specificity: Does the link lead to the most focused appropriate target? Search for daughter articles and sections at whatever target article you're considering to link: if a narrower theme can be targeted, please do that.
- Uniqueness: Is the linked topic reachable—directly or indirectly—through another link in the vicinity? (If so, consider not linking.)
- WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): Is the link-target clear and obvious to the reader? (See Wikipedia:Principle of least astonishment.)
The exercises: unfolding design. Each exercise below will present you with a portion of text in which you can improve the linking. They are designed to be done in your head, without typing. Each one unfolds in stages that you control: first, the problem text, then a hint to help you along if you need it; then a solution. The underlying syntax appears in coloured text where necessary. Where an item has been linked or unlinked in a solution, it is underlined to show this. The examples are taken from existing Wikipedia articles, from which reference numberings have been removed to avoid clutter.
Before attempting these exercises, we recommend acquaintance with WP:LINK, the style guide that contains advice about linking, internal and external. Feedback on how to improve these exercises is welcome on the talk page.
Pace yourself. You'll get the most out of them by thinking carefully about each stage before clicking on the next one. Monitor your performance for fatigue. The tasks are concentrated, so stop when you've had enough, and return fresh and distant the next day to take up where you left off. "Distributed" practice (that is, spaced over time) is often more effective than attempting all of the exercises at once ("massed" practice).
Self-help writing tutorials:
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