Exploring the link structure of the Web with network diagrams

Abstract

Web links are used both to connect pages within a web site and to refer to information and resources elsewhere. For pages that are linked to, backlinks are not only a potential source of visitors but an expression of interest in the page contents as well. Links also allow search engine crawlers to index a fraction of the web and are used by some of them to rate target page quality. Hyperlinks are, therefore, important in their own right but are also of sociological interest as arte-facts of predominantly human activity. This article explores the network diagram as a tool to visualize the strength of the interconnection between areas of the web. It is reported that four different link count based weightings are possible, each highlighting a different aspect of the data.