interlinken

Interlinken refers to the practice of linking related items to create a navigable network. In information technology and digital content, interlinking connects documents, pages, datasets, or entities so that users and machines can move between related items easily. The concept is widely used in web sites to connect related articles, products, or sections, and is also central to the broader idea of linked data and semantic networks.

In web contexts, interlinken improves navigation, helps search engines discover content, distributes link authority, and supports contextual relevance. In wikis and knowledge bases, cross-linking related topics enhances findability and coherence of the information space. In data management and the semantic web, interlinking involves using stable identifiers (such as URIs) to connect entities across datasets, enabling integration and reasoning across sources.

Common approaches include manual linking by content creators, automated or semi-automated link generation by software, and the use of standards like RDF, OWL, or JSON-LD to express relationships. Challenges include link rot, maintenance burden, inconsistent linking criteria, and the risk of overwhelming users with excessive or irrelevant links. Best practices emphasize relevance, contextual placement, and periodic validation of links.

Interlinken is thus a foundational technique in information architecture and data integration, contributing to discoverability, navigability, and the interoperability of digital content. See also hyperlinks, internal linking, linked data, and semantic web.