Why do some webmasters avoid putting direct links on their pages?

Why do some webmasters avoid putting direct links on their pages? - If a page has internal and external outgoing links to redirecting URLs, it’s returning 3xx (301, 302, etc.) HTTP status codes standing for redirection. This issue means that the page does not exist on a permanent or temporary basis. It appears on most of the popular web browsers, usually caused by a misconfigured website. However, there are some steps you can take to ensure the issue isn’t on your side. You can find more details about redirecting URLs by reading the Google Search Central overview. In this article, we’ll go over how you can fix the Why do some webmasters avoid putting direct links on their pages? error on your web browser. Problem :

I've seen this more than often in many websites, that the webmaster avoids putting direct links on the page, instead they use a redirect such as following:

http://www.example.com/?url=http://sample.com

1. I just wonder what is the reason for doing so?


2. Is it for statistical purposes?


3. Or is it harmful for the page's SEO ranking?

Solution :

It's done primarily for tracking purposes, and the format you describe is normally seen when the link is on a site like Faceebook or Twitter - i.e. the owner of http://www.example.com.

Without this redirection they'd have no way of tracking links so the owner of http://www.example.com uses this format to see where outgoing links end up. Reasons why you want to track:

1. Making sure that the user of your service is adhering to your terms and conditions. You might only allow a certain number of links to be served.


2. Analysing where people go after visiting your site.


3. Making sure that you don't link to "unsuitable" sites (e.g. porn, mp3 downloads, etc.)

One possibility is anonymizing/hiding the links. Not everybody cares to show up in referer listings.

If the redirect URL is on the same domain, some sites also use this kind of setup in order to show an intermediate page telling you you're leaving their site. This is sometimes due to legal demands and they'll include disclaimers they're not responsible for third-party content and such.

Tracking is often the reason why links are redirected this way. Another reason that is common is to make implementing referral links easier. For example, if you can get a commission from a retailer using a referral link, you'll want to replace this link with the referral link before the user lands on their website. Suppose in 6 months time you want to change the referral link, you are no longer an affiliate or you sign up a new retailer, then you'd need to check potentially thousands of links on your website to update. Having everything run through a "redirector" may make maintenance a little easier.

Some websites do this in order to change the links into affiliate links or similar.

We hope that this article has helped you resolve the redirects, links, error in your web browsers. Enjoy browsing the internet uninterrupted!