Linkbait

What Does Linkbait Mean?

Linkbait is slang for any Web content geared toward increasing a website’s inbound links to create viral content and, ultimately, increase overall page rank.

Linkbait is used to drive and encourage Web page views, traffic and user links. Linkbait may be a video, image, article or definition of the linkbait term.

Techopedia Explains Linkbait

Linkbait “hooks” and drives Web user traffic with catchy headlines, controversial topics and humorous photos. Page view statistics show that content like images, videos and articles increases user linking and sharing.

There is controversy surrounding the linkbait term, which may be used in a derogatory sense when referring to content solely geared toward acquiring user clicks. Content farms create this type of linkbait by crunching search data and generating pages that appear to answer users’ search engine queries, but really provide little to no useful information.