A Quick Lesson in Bad Linking Practices

Yesterday when I signed out of my Hotmail account I was thrilled to see an article about grammar called Bad grammar backlash: Facebook groups, CBC show focus on state of the language, and even more pleased to see that it talks a bit about misuse of apostrophes.

However, when I clicked on some of the links in the article to find out more information I was not taken to a relevant site. I was taken to a Windows Live search for the linked text! Sometimes this is appropriate, but if I’m reading an article that mentions the CBC, and it’s linked, I expect to be taken to the CBC‘s web site. The same goes for Facebook groups. If the name of a group is linked it should be linked to that group’s home page. If that is not possible then it either shouldn’t be linked or it should be linked to a page describing the Facebook group, not to a page of search results.

I know that they’re trying to promote the new Live Search, but there’s a right way and there’s a wrong way. Disappointing users when they click links in articles is the wrong way.

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